W

What-if analysis

A method of model manipulation in which questions of a "what-if" nature are asked and the necessary variables or characteristics of the model are changed to see how the changes impact the outcomes of the model. For example an electronic spreadsheet may have been created to model the sales forecast of a company. The question "what if market share falls by 3%, but total market rises by 5%" is asked, and the variables containing data on organisational market share and total market are varied accordingly. See also sensitivity analysis.

Warranty

A promise by a vendor that the product or service sold is of a particular quality and that they will repair or replace the item within a specified time period if the item malfunctions.

Wholesaler

A type of business that purchases product direct from the manufacturer at a discounted price, then resells the product to retailers who then sell to the end consumer. This is sometimes called the channel of distribution. For example a software wholesaler purchases a large quantity of a software product from the producer, and then sells it to computer shops, who sell the software to the end user.

Wages

Payments made to the employees of a business for their work on behalf of the business. These are classed as expense items and must not be confused with ´drawings´ taken by sole-proprietors and partnerships.

Write-off

Simply speaking. depreciating an asset to zero in one go.

Work-in-progress

The value of partly finished (ie. partly manufactured) goods.