Confidential Information

Privileged communication shared with only a few people for furthering certain purposes, such as with an attorney for a legal matter, or with a doctor for treatment of a disease. Receiver of confidential information is generally prohibited from using it to take advantage of the giver. Also called privileged information. See also proprietary information.

Confidential information is in the Corporate, Commercial, & General Law subject.

Confidential information appears in the definitions of the following terms: unauthorized access, accountant client privilege, trade secret, privileged information, and breach of confidence.

Special Resolution

Extraordinary resolution regarding an important decision, such as for altering the terms of the articles of association or the memorandum of association, or making some other major or fundamental changes in an organization. A special resolution typically requires (1) not less than 21 days notice to the members of the intention to propose the resolution, (2) not less than three-fourth of the votes of the members present in person or by proxy for approval, and (3) to be filed with the competent authority (such as the registrar of companies in the UK), within 15 days of being approved.

Special resolution is in the Corporate, Commercial, & General Law and Entrepreneurship, Management, & Small Business subjects.

Special resolution appears in the definitions of the following terms: extraordinary resolution, dormant firm, company name, ordinary resolution, and resolution.

Pro Rata Proportionate allocation or distribution of a quantity (such as costs, income, shares, taxes) on the basis of a common factor. For example, profit is generally divided among several stockholders (shareholders) on the basis of the amount of stock (number of shares) held by each. Latin for, according to the rate.

Pro rata is in the Accounting & Auditing, Banking, Commerce, Credit, & Finance and Corporate, Commercial, & General Law subjects.

Pro rata appears in the definitions of the following terms: cancelable insurance, measured day work (MDW), proration, performance of contract, and jointly and severally.

Laffer curve

Graphical representation of a conceptual relationship between marginal tax rates and total tax collections. Named after the US economics professor Arthur Laffer who proposed that lower taxes encourage additional output (supply) and thus increase aggregate income. Laffer curve is used by the supporters of supply side economics to back their claim that low income tax policies spur non-inflationary growth by encouraging new investment.

Laffer curve is in the Economics, Politics, & Society subject.

Laffer curve appears in the definition of the following term: supply side economics

Merger

Voluntary amalgamation of two firms on roughly equal terms into one new legal entity. Mergers are effected by exchange of the pre-merger stock (shares) for the stock of the new firm. Owners of each pre-merger firm continue as owners, and the resources of the merging entities are pooled for the benefit of the new entity. If the merged entities were competitors, the merger is called horizontal integration, if they were supplier or customer of one another, it is called vertical integration.

Merger is in the Banking, Commerce, Credit, & Finance, Decision Making, Problem Solving, & Strategy, Economics, Politics, & Society and Entrepreneurship, Management, & Small Business subjects.

Merger appears in the definitions of the following terms: downsizing, push-down accounting, consolidation, congeneric merger, and Clayton Act.