Английски за счетоводна дейност

Talking About Expenses

Hello again, and welcome to Lesson 4.2 — Talking About Expenses.

Today we’re going to take a deep look at the language of costs — not just vocabulary, but exactly how to use those words so your English is useful the next time you write a report, explain figures to a supplier, or prepare management notes. I’ll pause to explain grammar, collocations, pronunciation and register (how formal or simple to be), and I’ll give you short spoken drills you can read aloud.

You will probably need to think while you speak — that’s normal. I’ll show you how to reduce hesitation by using ready-made frames.

Start simple in your head: when you talk about expenses you are usually doing one of three things:

1. Identifying the type of cost (what it is).
2. Giving the amount (how much).
3. Explaining the movement or reason (why it changed / what it means).

A professional sentence almost always follows that order: type → figure → reason/impact. Keep that frame in mind and your sentences will sound structured and confident.

Винаги започвайте с това какъв е разходът, след това кажете сумата и накрая защо се е променил.

Now, let’s focus on a few word collocations so you could insert them into the structure we just discussed and you could sound professional and natural.

• the fixed expense — фиксиран разход
  (the fixed expense does not change with production)
• the variable expense — променлив разход
  (the variable expense fluctuates with activity)
• the direct expense — пряк разход
  (the direct expense is directly tied to producing goods/services)
• the indirect expense — непряк разход
  (the indirect expense supports operations but isn’t traceable to one product)
• the overhead / the operating expense — общи/оперативни разходи
• the depreciation expense — разход за амортизация
• the tax expense — данъчен разход
• to allocate (costs) — да разпределя (разходи)
• to capitalise (an expense) — да капитализирам (разход)

Say each item aloud with its article — “the fixed expense,” “the direct expense,” “the overhead” — this helps you form natural-sounding phrases like “the fixed expense amounted to…” rather than the choppier “fixed expense amounted to…”. Try to remember these collocations and their meaning and in the next sections of this video, you’ll see how to use them in sentences in different situations.

In order to describe a type of expense you could use the follwong frame: the [type] + (item) + verb + amount + (period) + because / due to / as a result of + reason.

Example:

“The fixed expense for rent amounted to €5,000 per month, due to the long-term lease agreement.”

Breakdown:

• the fixed expense for rent — names the cost precisely (type + item).
• amounted to €5,000 per month — neutral professional verb amounted to (preferred in reports).
• due to the long-term lease agreement — reason clause. Use due to or because of to signal cause. Because + full clause is slightly less formal but still fine.

Variation (spoken):

“Rent is a fixed expense of €5,000 a month.”
This is present simple — good for stating facts.

When you describe changes use verbs like to rise / to increase / to fall / to decrease / to remain stable / to fluctuate. Use the preposition by with percentages or amounts: “Costs rose by 10%”; use to for target levels: “Costs rose to €12,000”.

These verb + noun pairs are high-frequency and sound professional. Learn them as chunks:

• to amount to (the expense amounted to €X) — neutral, formal.
• to total (operating expenses totalled €X) — reporting style.
• to account for (X accounts for Y% of total costs) — when talking proportions.
• to represent / constitute (constitute 30% of expenses) — formal writing.
• to increase by / decrease by — quantify change.
• to rise to / fall to — specify the result level.
• to remain stable / remain unchanged — no significant change.
• to fluctuate — variability, seasonal.
• to be attributable to — passive, useful to show cause in formal reports.

Read these aloud with amounts:

• “Operating expenses totalled €48,000.”
• “Utilities account for 12% of our monthly costs.”
• “Variable costs increased by 7% this quarter.”

Of course, when talking about anything in English, including expenses, we need to beware of some important grammatical notes which apply to specific situations like this one. Here we have to make the difference between reports expressed using the active voice and reports expressed using the passive voice (или на български – разликите между деятелен и страдателен залог, които се използват, когато изготвяме доклади от всякакъв вид, включително и такива за разходи.) So, let’s look at a short grammar point that matters in reports:

• Active voice: “We reduced indirect costs by outsourcing.” — direct, shows action and responsibility. Good for internal operational notes.
• Passive voice: “Indirect costs were reduced through outsourcing.” — impersonal, good for formal reports or when you don’t want to emphasise the agent.

With auditors or external stakeholders, use more neutral, passive voice for objectivity; with your manager, active voice shows initiative.

For better explanation of this grammar you can take a look at our General English online courses or with a tutor.

Finance language often needs nuance — don’t just say the verb increase in a simple sentence; choose the right word for the scale and speed and make your explanation as clear as possible. You can do that by adding different adverbs which will help you express your thoughts as precisely as possible. Here are some examples:

• slightly / marginally / modestly = small change
• significantly / substantially / sharply = large change
• gradually / steadily = slow sustained change
• suddenly / sharply = quick change
• to stabilise / to level off = stop changing

• “Utility costs rose sharply in January due to the cold snap.” — sharp signals an unexpected spike.
• “Over the past year, indirect costs have gradually fallen after restructuring.” — gradually shows sustained effect.

You could swap all of these adverbs: “Variable expenses rose by 8%”.  Try on your own to pronounce this example using different adverbs (for instance: slightly / sharply / steadily) and notice how the meaning changes.

That’s it for today’s lesson. I’ve given you the vocabulary, the professional sentence frames, pronunciation tips, register advice so you can apply this directly at work.

Until next time.