Financial Terms Glossary

Definitions of key financial and platform-specific terms used throughout Levelup.

This glossary defines the financial and platform-specific terms you will encounter while using Levelup. Terms are listed alphabetically.

A

Access Level

The permission level granted when a company is shared with another organization. Levelup supports two access levels:

Read -- The recipient organization can view the company's financial data but cannot modify it.
Write -- The recipient organization can view and modify the company's financial data.

Within the recipient organization, individual members may be further restricted based on their organization role.

Accounts Receivable (AR)

Money owed to a company by its customers for goods or services that have been delivered but not yet paid for. In Levelup, AR is tracked on the balance sheet and used in several KPI calculations including Accounts Receivable Turnover and the Cash Conversion Cycle.

AI Normalization

The process by which Levelup uses artificial intelligence to automatically map a company's chart of accounts to the platform's standardized chart of accounts. When a company's accounting data is synced, each account is classified into a standard category (such as "Total Income," "Total Direct Costs," or "Current Assets") so that financial data can be compared consistently across companies. See also: Standardized Chart of Accounts.

B

Balance Sheet

A financial statement that shows a company's assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific point in time. In Levelup, balance sheet data is pulled automatically from the connected accounting software and updated with each sync. Balance sheet accounts are categorized as Current Assets, Non-Current Assets, Current Liabilities, Non-Current Liabilities, and Equity.

Billing Responsibility

When sharing a company, the organization sharing the company can choose who pays for the subscription seat:

Sponsor -- The sharing organization continues to pay for the company.
Transfer on Accept -- Billing responsibility transfers to the receiving organization once the share is accepted.

C

Cash Flow Statement

A financial statement that shows the inflows and outflows of cash over a period. Levelup organizes cash flows into three categories: Operating Activities, Investing Activities, and Financing Activities, plus an Ending Bank Balance.

Chart of Accounts (COA)

A structured list of all the financial accounts used by a company to record transactions in its accounting system. Each account has a name, type (asset, liability, equity, income, or expense), and is assigned to a category. In Levelup, the COA is imported from the connected accounting software during sync.

Consolidation

The process of combining financial data from multiple companies into a single set of financial statements. In Levelup, you create a Consolidation Group, add companies to it, and define elimination rules to remove intercompany transactions. The result is a consolidated Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and other statements that represent the group as a whole.

Consolidation Group

A named collection of companies whose financial data is combined into consolidated statements. Each group belongs to an organization and includes companies owned by that organization.

D

Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO)

The average number of days a company holds inventory before selling it. Calculated as part of the Cash Conversion Cycle. Lower DIO means the company sells inventory faster.

Days Payable Outstanding (DPO)

The average number of days a company takes to pay its suppliers. Calculated as part of the Cash Conversion Cycle. Higher DPO means the company holds onto its cash longer before paying suppliers.

Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)

The average number of days it takes a company to collect payment after making a sale. Calculated as part of the Cash Conversion Cycle. Lower DSO means faster collections.

E

EBIT

Earnings Before Interest and Taxes. Calculated as Total Income minus Total Direct Costs minus Total Operating Expenses. Used in the Altman Z-Score and other KPI calculations.

Elimination Rules

Rules defined within a Consolidation Group that remove intercompany transactions from consolidated statements. For example, if Company A owes money to Company B and both are in the same consolidation group, an elimination rule removes this intercompany balance so it does not inflate the group's total assets and liabilities.

G

General Ledger Sync

The process by which Levelup pulls financial data from a connected accounting system (QuickBooks Online or Xero). A sync retrieves updated income statements, balance sheets, and chart of accounts data. Syncs can be triggered manually or run automatically on a schedule.

I

Income Statement

A financial statement that shows a company's revenues, costs, and expenses over a period of time. Also called a Profit and Loss (P&L) statement. In Levelup, the income statement is organized by Total Income, Total Direct Costs (Cost of Goods Sold), Gross Profit, Total Expenses, Operating Profit, Other Income/Expenses, and Net Income.

Integration

A connection between Levelup and an external accounting system (currently QuickBooks Online or Xero). An integration allows Levelup to pull financial data from the accounting software automatically. Each integration is tied to a specific company and accounting system.

K

KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

A measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Levelup calculates over 40 KPIs automatically from normalized financial data. KPIs are organized by the 5 C's: Cash, Capacity, Credit, Collateral, and Cost/Expense. See the KPI Glossary for the full list.

N

NAICS Code

The North American Industry Classification System code assigned to a company. Levelup uses the NAICS code to look up industry-specific benchmarks for KPIs so you can compare a company's performance against its peers.

Normalization

See AI Normalization.

O

OAuth

The authorization protocol used to connect Levelup to accounting software. When you connect QuickBooks Online or Xero, you are redirected to the accounting provider's login page where you grant Levelup permission to access the data. Levelup never stores your accounting software credentials.

Organization

The top-level entity in Levelup that groups users and companies together. Every user belongs to at least one organization. Companies are owned by organizations, and sharing happens between organizations. Organization members are assigned roles (Owner, Admin, or Member) that control their permissions.

P

Period-over-Period Comparison

A method of analyzing financial data by comparing a metric from one time period to the same metric from a prior period. In Levelup, many KPI charts support period-over-period comparison, showing the current period's data alongside the previous period's data on the same chart.

Portfolio Company

A company that belongs to your organization or has been shared with your organization. Your portfolio is the collection of all companies you can access through Levelup.

R

Remap (COA Remap)

The process of re-running AI normalization on a company's chart of accounts, typically triggered after a user manually overrides an account mapping. The remap ensures all related financial calculations are updated based on the new mappings.

S

A unique, cryptographically secure token generated when a company is shared via email invitation. The recipient uses this token to accept the share and add the company to their organization. Share tokens have an expiration date and can only be used once.

Standardized Chart of Accounts (Standardized COA)

Levelup's internal chart of accounts structure used to normalize financial data across all companies regardless of their original accounting setup. The standardized COA defines categories like Total Income, Total Direct Costs, Current Assets, Current Liabilities, and so on. Every company account is mapped to one of these standardized categories, either through AI normalization or manual override.

Sync

See General Ledger Sync.

T

Trailing Twelve Months (TTM)

A calculation method that sums or averages data over the most recent 12-month period. Levelup uses TTM calculations for several KPIs (such as Return on Assets, Return on Equity, and Inventory Turnover) to smooth out seasonal variations and provide more stable metrics.

W

Working Capital

Current Assets minus Current Liabilities. Represents the short-term financial health of a company. Positive working capital means the company has enough short-term assets to cover its short-term debts. Used in the Altman Z-Score calculation.

KPI Glossary

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