Annual accounts present a view of a company's household, insofar as it can be expressed in terms of sums of money. All annual accounts are made up of four parts: the balance sheet, the income statement, the notes and the social balance sheet, which have their own entry in this glossary.

Action which consists in buying and selling or borrowing and lending simultaneously in order to take advantage of price or interest rate differentials. The effect of arbitrage is to equalise prices or interest rates.

In order to monitor the macroeconomic and exchange rate policies of its member countries, the IMF holds annual bilateral consultations with individual countries on their national economic and monetary policy. The IMF then issues an opinion and may make recommendations concerning the country’s policy. However, the recommendations are not binding. Twice a year, the global economic situation is discussed in ‘The World Economic Outlook’.

Paper money backed by property confiscated from the clergy and the nobility, placed in circulation by France from 19 December 1789 to 19 February 1796.