Warm-up
Finance, Budgets & Approximation
Finance, Budgets & Approximation
After this lesson you'll be able to...
- Use key finance and budget vocabulary
- Talk about quantities with the correct quantifier (much, many, a number of, a great deal of)
- Approximate figures naturally: about, roughly, just over, almost
- Chase an overdue payment politely and discuss cutting costs
Get to know each other (3 minutes)
- Do you work with budgets or numbers in your job?
- What is the biggest cost for your team or company?
- Have you ever had to chase someone for a payment?
- Which is more important to you: profit or growth?
Say it out loud
Practise a simple approximation. → Revenue was roughly two million euros, which is just over ten percent more than last year.
Fact worth knowing
Vocabulary
Finance vocabulary
Useful finance phrases
| Revenue rose by about 10% in the third quarter. | Дохід зріс приблизно на 10% у третьому кварталі. |
| Roughly a third of our costs are salaries. | Приблизно третина наших витрат — це зарплати. |
| The majority of customers pay on time. | Більшість клієнтів платить вчасно. |
| A large number of invoices are overdue. | Велика кількість рахунків прострочена. |
| We spent just under 50,000 euros. | Ми витратили трохи менше ніж 50 000 євро. |
| Almost half of our income comes from one client. | Майже половина нашого доходу — від одного клієнта. |
| We don't have much cash at the moment. | У нас зараз небагато готівки. |
| Could you send the payment by Friday? | Чи могли б ви надіслати платіж до п'ятниці? |
Try out the new words
Say whether your company is in the red, breaking even or making a profit. → My company is … because …
Name one cost you would cut first. → I would cut … first because …
Which word is it?
Fill in the missing word
Choose the correct word
Translate the phrase
Write each phrase in English. Several answers are possible.
Grammar
Quantifiers and approximation
| Countable only | many, a large number of, several, a few / few, a couple of: We sent a large number of invoices. Few clients paid late. |
| Uncountable only | much, a great deal of, a large amount of, a little / little: We don't have much cash. A great deal of money was spent on marketing. |
| Both | a lot of, plenty of, some, any, no, most, the majority of: A lot of customers paid. Most of the budget was spent. |
| Careful! | much and many are mostly used in questions and negatives (How much money? We haven't got many clients.). In positive sentences use a lot of. |
| Approximation | about, around, roughly, approximately (≈); nearly, almost (a little less); just over, a little more than (a little more); just under, a little less than; more or less. |
| Fractions and percentages | half of, a third of, two thirds of, a quarter of, the majority of (more than half), a minority of (less than half): Two thirds of our revenue comes from exports. |
| Change | by = the amount of change: Revenue rose by 10%. to = the new level: Revenue rose to 2.2 million. |
Countable or uncountable?
Choose the correct quantifier
Fill in the missing word
Rewrite with the word in brackets
Rewrite the sentence with the word or phrase in brackets.
Correcting mistakes
Each sentence has one mistake. Write the correct sentence.
Put the words in order
Put the words in the right order and write the full sentence.
Say it about your own work
Describe one figure at your company with an approximation and a quantifier. → Roughly … of our … comes from … / A large number of …
Reading
Read: a quarterly finance update
Subject: Q3 results — short summary
Hi everyone, here are the main figures for the third quarter. Revenue rose by about 8% year-on-year, to roughly 2.4 million euros. Profit was just under 180,000 euros, which gives a profit margin of nearly 7.5%. This is better than expected, but there are two problems.
First, a large number of customers — about 15 out of 120 — still have overdue invoices, and the total amount is just over 90,000 euros. As a result, cash flow is tight, and we don't have much cash for new equipment. Second, overheads are growing: rent and electricity now take up almost a quarter of all expenses.
Next quarter, we are going to chase the overdue invoices, forecast cash flow every month, and cut costs by about 5% — mainly by reviewing a few software subscriptions we hardly use. If we succeed, we expect to reach a profit margin of around 9%. Please send me your questions by Friday. Thanks, Roman, Finance Manager
True or false?
Revenue fell compared with last year.
The company made a profit of just under 180,000 euros.
Most customers have overdue invoices.
Cash flow is tight.
Overheads take up almost a quarter of all expenses.
The plan is to cut costs by about 20%.
Answer the questions
What was the profit margin?
Why is cash flow tight?
How will costs be cut?
What margin do they expect next quarter?
Find the approximations and quantifiers
Write the phrase from the text.
Fill in from the text
Why is this a good update?
Your own opinion
- Is a 7.5% margin good? What would you want to know?
- Is cutting software subscriptions a good first step? Why?
- How would you chase the overdue invoices?
Practice
Picture the numbers
Income → Profit → Invoices → Cut costs. Round the numbers and say clearly what they mean.
Match the phrase to its function
Put the words in order
Put the words in the right order and write the full sentence.
Fill in the missing phrase
Chase a payment politely
Write a polite sentence.
Translate into English
Write each sentence in English. Several answers are possible.
A finance fact
Speaking — Talk Numbers
How to use this section
Your tutor plays a manager, a client or a colleague from finance. React in real time — present figures, explain a problem, chase a payment and discuss cutting costs. Round numbers and use quantifiers accurately.
Presenting quarterly figures
Task: present three figures (revenue, profit, margin) for last quarter in 45 seconds. Round the numbers.
Starter: "Revenue rose by about 8% to roughly 2.4 million euros. Profit was just under 180,000, which gives a margin of nearly 7.5%."
Explaining a problem
Manager: "Why is cash flow so tight if profit is good?"
Starter: "A large number of customers still have overdue invoices — about 15 out of 120 — so we don't have much cash at the moment."
Chasing a payment
Task: call a client about an invoice that is two weeks overdue. Stay polite but clear.
Starter: "I'm calling about invoice 2041, which was due two weeks ago. Could you tell me when we can expect the payment?"
Negotiating a payment plan
Client: "We can't pay everything now."
Starter: "I understand. Could you pay half this week and the rest by the end of the month? That would work for us."
Discussing cutting costs
Task: suggest three ways to cut costs by about 5% and explain which you recommend.
Starter: "Overheads take up almost a quarter of our expenses. I suggest reviewing software subscriptions first, because we hardly use some of them."
Asking for a budget
Task: ask your manager for a budget for a new project. Give the amount, the reason and the expected result.
Starter: "I'd like to request a budget of around 15,000 euros for a new website. We expect it to bring in roughly 20% more enquiries."
Answering a tough question
Investor: "Will you break even this year?"
Starter: "We hope to, but it depends on a couple of factors. If the overdue invoices are paid, we should break even by October."
Full finance meeting — no stopping
Run a full finance meeting with your tutor: figures, one problem, a payment chase and a cost-cutting plan — entirely in English, rounding every number.
Let's talk — reflection
- Which approximation phrase felt most natural?
- Did you use much, many and a number of correctly?
- What number would you like to be able to explain better?
Cool down
Now I can...
- Use key finance and budget vocabulary
- Talk about quantities with the correct quantifier (much, many, a number of, a great deal of)
- Approximate figures naturally: about, roughly, just over, almost
- Chase an overdue payment politely and discuss cutting costs
Quick self-check
Which is correct: "a large number of money" or "a large amount of money"?
What is the difference between "rose by 10%" and "rose to 10%"?
What does "just under 50,000" mean?
One more thing before you go
Tell your tutor one figure from your work that you could present with approximation. → At work, roughly … of … is …
Homework
- Do the exercises below and press Check in each one. Green = correct. Red shows what was expected.
- Do the writing and speaking tasks and tick them when they are done.
- Write your name and press Copy my result, then send the text to your tutor.
Words to remember
| revenue | дохід, виручка |
| profit | прибуток |
| a loss | збиток |
| expenses | витрати |
| cash flow | рух грошових коштів |
| an invoice | рахунок-фактура |
| overdue | прострочений |
| a profit margin | маржа прибутку |
| to cut costs | скорочувати витрати |
| to forecast | прогнозувати |
| to break even | вийти на беззбитковість |
| overheads | накладні витрати |
| to invest | інвестувати |
| a quarter | квартал |
| year-on-year | порівняно з минулим роком |
| to be in the red | бути у мінусі |
Fill in the missing word
Choose the correct quantifier
Rewrite the sentence
Rewrite the sentence with the word or phrase in brackets.
Correct the mistake
Each sentence has one mistake. Write the correct sentence.
Translate the phrase
Write each phrase in English. Several answers are possible.
Write it yourself
Write a short finance summary (6–8 sentences) for a real or imaginary company: revenue, profit, one problem, one plan. Include at least four approximations or quantifiers.
Practise out loud
Say your finance summary aloud in about one minute. Check that every number is rounded and clear.
Read aloud
Read the quarterly finance update from the Reading section aloud twice before the next lesson.
- 8.7 I wrote a finance summary (6–8 sentences)
- 8.8 I said my finance summary aloud in about one minute
- 8.9 I read the quarterly update aloud twice