Factor

A financial institution that buys a firm's accounts receivable and collects the accounts.

Factor

A third party that buys a firm's accounts receivable. If a firm is not confident in its ability to collect on its credit sales, it may sell the right to receive payment to the factor at a discount. The factor then assumes the credit risk associated with the accounts receivable. This provides the firm immediate access to working capital, which is important, especially if the firm has a cash flow problem. The price of factoring is determined by the creditworthiness of the firm's customer, not of the firm itself. It is also known as accounts receivable financing.

factor

A firm that purchases accounts receivable from another firm at a discount. The purchasing firm then attempts to collect the receivables.

factor

To sell accounts receivable to another party at a discount from face value. Thus, a firm in need of cash to pay down short-term debt may decide to factor its accounts receivable to another firm.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms for Today's Investor by David L. Scott. Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.

factor

a firm that purchases TRADE DEBTS from client firms. See FACTORING.
a firm that buys in bulk and performs a WHOLESALING function.
an input (for example raw material, labour, capital) which is used to produce a good or provide a service.

factor

1a FACTOR INPUT that is used in production (see NATURAL RESOURCES, LABOUR, CAPITAL).
a business that buys in bulk and performs a WHOLESALING function.
a business that buys trade debts from client firms (at some agreed price below the nominal value of the debts) and then arranges to recover them for itself. See FACTOR MARKET, FACTORING.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Blood clotting, which involves the interplay of cellular elements called platelets and a number of clotting factors that bear common and Roman numeral names, plays an important role in maintaining the integrity of blood vessels.

A primer on hemophilia

The slight reduction in clotting factor XII activity (53 IU/dL; reference interval 70-150 IU/dL) was considered secondary.

A 77-year-old man with a prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time

The proteins in plasma include the major clotting factors and intrinsic anticoagulants.

Fresh frozen plasma

To manage the disorder, blood clotting factor is infused (injected) to replace the missing protein.

Medicare cuts endanger hemophilia sufferers

Using stem cell transplantation, we might be able to produce a mouse fetus able to synthesize the necessary missing clotting factor. A significant percent of hemophiliacs are born to known carrier mothers.

New hope for chronic illnesses

In 2001, Medicare's outpatient expenditures for blood clotting factor used to treat the estimated 1,100 beneficiaries with hemophilia totaled about $105 million, or more than 2 percent of total Medicare spending on outpatient drugs.

Medicare: Payment for Blood Clotting Factor Exceeds Providers' Acquisition Cost

This project will determine whether blood clotting factor homologues are expressed in fiber type-specific muscle exposed to the atrophy of simulated microgravity.

The effects of microgravity on blood clotting factor gene expression. (South Carolina Junior Academy Of Sciences Abstracts)

Gene therapy appears to partially correct hemophilia in dogs while avoiding an immune reaction that can destroy the life-saving replacement clotting factor used to treat the disease.

Gene therapy partially corrects hemophila in dogs

* The five behaviors that qualified as high-risk were, for hemophiliacs, having received clotting factor concentrations; for men, ever having had sex with another man since 1980; ever having taken street drugs by needle since 1980; ever having traded sex for money since 1980; and ever having had sex with a person who fits any of the above descriptions.

Whether Americans seek HIV testing is linked to race and perceived risk. (Digests)

Unfavourable blood fat profiles and higher levels of the blood clotting factor fibrinogen, both of which increase the risk of heart disease, were also strongly associated with shorter legs.

Short legs link to heart disease

The patient records data on the secure site, such as the type and site of a bleed and how quickly a clotting factor was administered.

e-business: US doctors look to Web for heart treatment

This means their blood lacks an essential clotting factor.

2,000 Midlanders afflicted by disease caused by faulty gene