38 terms starting with S
Salary sacrifice is an agreement with your employer to receive less salary in return for benefits paid from pre-tax pay, such as extra super or a novated lease.
Read definitionA sale and leaseback is a finance transaction where a business sells an asset to a lessor and immediately leases it back, releasing cash without losing use of it.
Read definitionSales aid finance is a vendor's point-of-sale finance program that lets customers pay for a purchase in regular repayments while the lender pays the vendor at settlement.
Read definitionSalvage value is the informal name for what AASB 116 calls an asset's residual value: what it will fetch at the end of its useful life.
Read definitionSanctions checks are screening steps that test whether a person, company or transaction is subject to government sanctions, such as asset freezes, before a lender deals with them.
Read definitionA secured loan is a loan backed by an asset the lender can repossess and sell if the borrower defaults, which usually lowers the cost.
Read definitionSecuritisation is the process of pooling loans, leases or receivables into a separate vehicle that issues securities to investors, so the originator raises funding and transfers risk.
Read definitionSecurity (collateral) is an asset or legal interest a borrower grants a lender, which the lender can take and sell to recover the debt if the borrower defaults.
Read definitionA security deposit is an upfront cash contribution a borrower pays towards the purchase price of a financed asset, reducing the amount the lender funds.
Read definitionA self-managed super fund (SMSF) is a private superannuation fund of up to six members who run it themselves as trustees, taking on the fund's investment and compliance duties.
Read definitionSelf-regulation is the practice of an industry setting and enforcing its own conduct standards through voluntary codes rather than legislation; it is how most Australian commercial finance is governed.
Read definitionServiceability is a lender's test of whether you can afford the repayments on a loan from your income, after living costs, existing debts and a rate buffer.
Read definitionSettlement is the final stage of a finance deal, where the lender releases funds, security is registered and you take delivery of the asset.
Read definitionA shareholder is a person or entity that owns shares in a company, giving them a share of its profits and value while the directors run the business.
Read definitionShariah finance is a system of finance based on Islamic law that prohibits interest and requires asset-backed transactions, so returns come from trade, leasing or profit-sharing.
Read definitionA short term loan is credit with a relatively small principal and a short repayment horizon, usually twelve months or less.
Read definitionSimple interest is interest calculated only on the original principal, never on interest already added, which keeps the charge flat across the term.
Read definitionA small amount credit contract (SACC) is the statutory label for a small, short-term, unsecured consumer loan from a non-bank lender, typically a payday loan, with capped fees.
Read definitionSmall and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are businesses that fall below size thresholds set by government agencies, regulators and lenders, usually measured by employee headcount or aggregated annual turnover.
Read definitionA small-ticket lease is an equipment lease for relatively low-value assets, where the lessor keeps legal title and you pay fixed lease payments over an agreed term.
Read definitionA soft asset is a business asset with limited resale or repossession value, such as a fit-out, IT hardware, office furniture or a software licence.
Read definitionSoft costs are the indirect expenses of a construction project: professional fees, approvals, finance and marketing costs that support delivery but are not built into the fabric.
Read definitionA soft loan is a loan on better terms than the market offers, such as a below-market interest rate, a longer term or a repayment grace period.
Read definitionA sole trader is the simplest Australian business structure: one person owns and runs the business, keeps the profits, and is personally liable for its debts.
Read definitionSpecialist lenders for temporary residents are non-bank lenders, mortgage managers, credit unions and boutique banks that write home loans major banks decline on visa grounds.
Read definitionA spread is the difference between two related rates or prices, such as a lender's rate and its benchmark, or an asset's buy and sell price.
Read definitionA stage payment is a pre-agreed instalment of a building contract price, paid when a defined stage of work such as slab or frame is complete.
Read definitionA start-up is a new business built to find a repeatable, scalable business model under uncertainty, marked by innovation, growth intent and rapid testing rather than steady income.
Read definitionA statutory demand is a formal written demand for a company debt under the Corporations Act that, if ignored, creates a presumption of insolvency and can lead to liquidation.
Read definitionStocking finance is a short-term facility that funds a dealer's inventory unit by unit: the lender pays the supplier and the dealer repays each advance when that unit sells.
Read definitionStraight-line depreciation is a method that spreads an asset's cost, less its expected salvage value, evenly over its useful life so the same amount is deducted each year.
Read definitionStudent visa loan eligibility is the set of rules deciding whether a student visa holder can borrow from government schemes or private lenders, and on what conditions.
Read definitionSub-broking is a commercial arrangement where an individual or firm without its own licence introduces customers, generates leads or assists with transactions for a licensed broker or licence holder.
Read definitionSub-prime is the credit tier for borrowers and loans that carry materially higher risk than prime, because of a low credit score, unstable income, high debt or past defaults.
Read definitionSubordination is an agreement that ranks one debt behind another, so the subordinated lender is paid only after the senior lender has been repaid.
Read definitionSuperannuation is money set aside during your working life to fund retirement, held in a fund you generally cannot access until you reach preservation age.
Read definitionThe superannuation guarantee rate is the percentage of an employee's qualifying earnings that an employer must pay into super, set at 12% for 2026-27.
Read definitionA supplier is the party that sells the asset being financed, whether a vehicle dealer, equipment distributor, manufacturer or private seller, and is usually paid by the lender at settlement.
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