6 ms·

What the fuck does the title mean?

by andoon 9y ago

arethuza 9y ago
"Going concern" pretty much means has no threat of going into liquidation any time soon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_concern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_concern
- michaelbrooks 9y ago
  Seems to me like they should reword the title. From reading the post, it's more likely they meant "Growing Concern".
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - ajdlinux 9y ago
    No, "going concern" is a standard term of art in accounting and corporate governance.
    - michaelbrooks 9y ago
      I re-read the post and it does make sense when looking at the term in Wikipedia. It's odd because someone said that it's more of a UK phrase, but being from the UK, I have never heard it before.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
italophil 9y ago
That they might need to liquidate wihtin 12 month. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_concern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_concern
- tgb 9y ago
  Any idea where this awkward phrase came from? I can't find any history of its origin.
  - acalderaro 9y ago
    It's an accounting term, that's relatively recent (~500 years). It's literally a "concern" about the company's ability to "go" on. A going concern. It could also reference the concerns that are ongoing - namely operational concerns - that need to be addressed. For more about the history of the field of accounting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luca_Pacioli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luca_Pacioli Source: Am CPA
    - tgb 9y ago
      I still don't understand: wouldn't "going concern" if it had that origin mean the opposite - i.e. that it was going to fail soon? I would naively say it's "without a going concern" for a stable business.
      - mirimir 9y ago
        So "concern" is something that matters to someone. Here, a business. And "going" means that it can keep going, that it won't stop because of some failure or limitation.
      - jerf 9y ago
        English has changed a lot over the centuries. I, um, don't mean that as a snarky comment or anything; it really is in a lot of ways the best explanation. It's weird and fascinating how words slowly shift over time and how ever though "go" or "concern" never necessarily quite "changed their meaning", it still sometimes wanders a little bit and over the course of centuries it can add up to a surprising amount. Phrases sometimes can get "stuck" and survive past their constituent words having their meanings shift away.
    - FabHK 9y ago
      No, it's not a "concern" in the sense of "worries". It's a concern in the sense of "commercial enterprise, entity". Similarly, it's not "going" in the sense of "leaving" or "going out of business", but "going" as in "ongoing, viable". So, "going concern" is not a negative thing, meaning "bankruptcy worries" or so, but a positive thing, meaning "viable enterprise". (Note: not replying to you specifically, but the whole sub-thread :-)
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
bryanrasmussen 9y ago
Toshiba just announced "We are unlikely to continue being a business for much longer"
cptskippy 9y ago
I believe the title was suppose to be "Toshiba Warns of Its Inability to Continue as Growing Concern".
- cptskippy 9y ago
  I've never heard that saying before.
iplaw 9y ago
Apparently "going concern" is a common term that laymen understand. It is not jargon.
- jsolson 9y ago
  It's... an extremely common accounting term? First day of Accounting 1 or so? It's common enough that it's been used as the title for a pop animated sitcom episode -- Archer (S2E2).
  - Dylan16807 9y ago
    It never came up in the accounting class I took. I've never seen it and I probably read more about stocks than most people.
- teh_klev 9y ago
  The term "going concern" is fairly standard terminology in the accounting world. I'm quite amazed more people haven't come across this term. It's certainly used heavily in the UK when discussing whether or not a business is able to function or not. For example, "we bought the business as a going concern" would be its use in a typical sentence.
  - cat199 9y ago
    ... USian here who has lived in the UK - My gut feeling is that these days the phrase is used more commonly in the vernacular in the UK than the US, with US usage being much more restricted to the pure 'business' professions (e.g. managers, accountants, etc), and not so much elsewhere. Common day-to-day usage to express same would tend more towards more nebulous or incorrect terms as 'successful/profitable business' or perhaps 'liquid/insolvent', or something like that.
    - wccrawford 9y ago
      USian here, born and raised. It's definitely "business speak", but I'm surprised anyone with a job like programming doesn't know it. Prior to this, I would have assumed that basically anyone would know the phrase.

What the fuck does the title mean?

by andoon 9y ago

What the fuck does the title mean?

"Going concern" pretty much means has no threat of going into liquidation any time soon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_concern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_concern

michaelbrooks 9y ago
Seems to me like they should reword the title. From reading the post, it's more likely they meant "Growing Concern".
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- ajdlinux 9y ago
  No, "going concern" is a standard term of art in accounting and corporate governance.
  - michaelbrooks 9y ago
    I re-read the post and it does make sense when looking at the term in Wikipedia. It's odd because someone said that it's more of a UK phrase, but being from the UK, I have never heard it before.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

italophil 9y ago

That they might need to liquidate wihtin 12 month. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_concern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_concern

tgb 9y ago
Any idea where this awkward phrase came from? I can't find any history of its origin.
- acalderaro 9y ago
  It's an accounting term, that's relatively recent (~500 years). It's literally a "concern" about the company's ability to "go" on. A going concern. It could also reference the concerns that are ongoing - namely operational concerns - that need to be addressed. For more about the history of the field of accounting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luca_Pacioli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luca_Pacioli Source: Am CPA
  - tgb 9y ago
    I still don't understand: wouldn't "going concern" if it had that origin mean the opposite - i.e. that it was going to fail soon? I would naively say it's "without a going concern" for a stable business.
    - mirimir 9y ago
      So "concern" is something that matters to someone. Here, a business. And "going" means that it can keep going, that it won't stop because of some failure or limitation.
    - jerf 9y ago
      English has changed a lot over the centuries. I, um, don't mean that as a snarky comment or anything; it really is in a lot of ways the best explanation. It's weird and fascinating how words slowly shift over time and how ever though "go" or "concern" never necessarily quite "changed their meaning", it still sometimes wanders a little bit and over the course of centuries it can add up to a surprising amount. Phrases sometimes can get "stuck" and survive past their constituent words having their meanings shift away.
  - FabHK 9y ago
    No, it's not a "concern" in the sense of "worries". It's a concern in the sense of "commercial enterprise, entity". Similarly, it's not "going" in the sense of "leaving" or "going out of business", but "going" as in "ongoing, viable". So, "going concern" is not a negative thing, meaning "bankruptcy worries" or so, but a positive thing, meaning "viable enterprise". (Note: not replying to you specifically, but the whole sub-thread :-)

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

bryanrasmussen 9y ago

Toshiba just announced "We are unlikely to continue being a business for much longer"

cptskippy 9y ago

I believe the title was suppose to be "Toshiba Warns of Its Inability to Continue as Growing Concern".

cptskippy 9y ago
I've never heard that saying before.

iplaw 9y ago

Apparently "going concern" is a common term that laymen understand. It is not jargon.

jsolson 9y ago
It's... an extremely common accounting term? First day of Accounting 1 or so? It's common enough that it's been used as the title for a pop animated sitcom episode -- Archer (S2E2).
- Dylan16807 9y ago
  It never came up in the accounting class I took. I've never seen it and I probably read more about stocks than most people.
teh_klev 9y ago
The term "going concern" is fairly standard terminology in the accounting world. I'm quite amazed more people haven't come across this term. It's certainly used heavily in the UK when discussing whether or not a business is able to function or not. For example, "we bought the business as a going concern" would be its use in a typical sentence.
- cat199 9y ago
  ... USian here who has lived in the UK - My gut feeling is that these days the phrase is used more commonly in the vernacular in the UK than the US, with US usage being much more restricted to the pure 'business' professions (e.g. managers, accountants, etc), and not so much elsewhere. Common day-to-day usage to express same would tend more towards more nebulous or incorrect terms as 'successful/profitable business' or perhaps 'liquid/insolvent', or something like that.
  - wccrawford 9y ago
    USian here, born and raised. It's definitely "business speak", but I'm surprised anyone with a job like programming doesn't know it. Prior to this, I would have assumed that basically anyone would know the phrase.