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Year To Date (YTD) in its strict meaning is the period of time from the beginning of the current year up to the day's date. But in a company's financial reporting it means the time from the start of the fiscal year to the end of the latest calendar period (assessment period).
If, for example, the fiscal year starts 1 January and one looks at the financial position in May after the outcome of April, the result YTD is the same as the cumulative result during the year up to 30 April.
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A yo-yo market is a slang term for a very volatile (variable) securities market. The name comes from the movement of the toy yo-yo. In a yo-yo market the price of the securities fluctuates a lot and is usually not following the general movements (index) on an established exchange.
Investments in a yo-yo market entail therefore very high risks and are very stressful for investors. You must have strong mind if you want to be active on a yo-yo market. On the other hand, a yo-yo market can also be very profitable - if you can buy and sell at the right time. In a true yo-yo market after a downturn there will always be an upturn, sooner or later.
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Zero base calculation - the examination starts at zero and revenues and costs in the order of priority.
In budgeting, zero based budgeting is sometimes used. This is a budgeting method in which each expenditure item is examined systematically. All costs are valued and prioritized according to the utility they have in the business. Sometimes called bottom-up budgeting.
A Zombie is a company that continues its activity even though it is insolvent or close to bankruptcy. A typical zombie has very high operating costs, for example because of the extensive research and development.
The development of a zombie is very unpredictable - the company may go bankrupt or may become a great success. Investment in a zombie is therefore extremely risky and not suitable for investors who do not understand the risk.
Example of a zombie could be a small biotech company with small funds that is attempting to create a blockbuster drug by concentrating its investments to research and development. Drug development is known to be a very expensive affair and it takes long time. If the development of the drug fails, the company can go bankrupt, but if the development is successful, it can make high profits by either selling the drug or license to a large well-established pharmaceutical company.
Expectations of return in case of success are usually very high as investors in zombies in the worst case can lose all the invested capital. The high risk must therefore be compensated with possible high returns.
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ZOPA stands for "Zone Of Potential Agreement" and describes the areas of negotiation (the zone) within which two parties may come together and reach an agreement. If the parties are outside of the zone, and cannot come together, it is not possible to reach an agreement.
In conjunction with a negotiation it is important early on both to understand one's own ZOPA and to try to position oneself within the counterparty's ZOPA. Successful negotiations require an understanding of both hard and soft terms and conditions, and of specific interests and values. If the parties' ZOPAs overlap each other, there is a chance of negotiating an agreement which the parties will accept.
Example: Assume that you want to sell your business and think that it is worth €100M – €150M. A buyer is prepared to pay €80M – 120M. Here there is a positive ZOPA. Another buyer is prepared to pay a maximum of €95M. If that buyer is not willing to move into the area of €100M - €150M, or you are not willing to change the lower boundary from €100M to €95M, there is no ZOPA. A soft factor in your ZOPA may be that, in addition to the price, you will insist that regard has to be taken to the employees in the company and that the offices and production must therefore not be moved from its existing location.
Understanding and analysis of the parties' ZOPAs can of course be used in different types of negotiations -- not just in business transactions. And if there are more than two parties, the analysis, understanding and acceptance of the various parties' ZOPAs is even more complicated.
An alternative way of expressing "ZOPA" is to say that it is necessary to understand and accept the counterparty's agenda in order to be able to reach an agreement.
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