N

Narrative

A comment appended to an entry in a journal. It can be used to describe the nature of the transaction. and often in particular. where the other side of the entry went to (or came from).

Nominal ledger

A ledger which holds all the nominal accounts of a business. Where the business uses a subsidiary ledger like the sales ledger to hold customer details. the nominal ledger will usually include a control account to show the total balance of the subsidiary ledger (a control account can be termed ´nominal´ because it doesn´t relate to a specific person).

Niche marketing

A method of marketing that targets specific market segments for a firm’s goods and services, rather than attempting to enter the mass market. An example is Rolls Royce with their luxury/ultra high price niche.

Nominal account

A set of accounts held in the nominal ledger. They are termed ´nominal´ because they don´t usually relate to an individual person. The accounts which make up a Profit and Loss account are nominal accounts (as is the Profit and Loss account itself). whereas an account opened for a specific customer is usually held in a subsidiary ledger (the sales ledger in this case) and these are referred to as personal accounts.

Net of tax

The price less any tax. eg. if you sold some goods for Rs. 12 inclusive of Rs. 2 sales tax. then the ´net of tax´ price would be Rs. 10

Net loss

The value of expenses less sales assuming that the expenses are greater (ie. if the profit and loss account shows a debit balance).

Net profit

The value of sales less expenses assuming that the sales are greater (ie. if the profit and loss account shows a credit balance).

Normalize

This term can be applied to many aspects of accounting. It means to average or smooth out a set of figures so they are more consistent with the general trend of the business. This is usually done using a Moving average.