Glossary – Letter W

Warrant

A certificate giving the holder the right to purchase securities at a stipulated price within a specified time limit. Warrants are usually issued along with a new issue of securities as an inducement or sweetener to investors to buy the new issue.

Working capital

Is a financial measure of a business’ or organization’s funds available for their daily operations. For example, Net Working Capital is calculated by subtracting current liabilities from current assets of a company.

Working capital ratio

Current assets of a company divided by its current liabilities. This is a measure of a company’s liquidity.

Working control

Theoretically, ownership of 51% of a company’s voting stock is necessary to exercise control. In practice, and this is particularly true in the case of a large corporation, effective control sometimes can be exerted through ownership, individually or by a group acting in concert, of less than 50%.

Wrap account

A type of fully discretionary account (in which a client has given specific written authorization to a partner, director or qualified portfolio manager of an investment dealer to select securities and execute trades for him or her). A single annual fee, based on the account’s total assets, is charged instead of commissions and service charges being levied separately for each transaction. The account is then managed separately from all other wrap accounts, but is kept consistent with a model portfolio suitable to clients with similar objectives. This is also known as a wrap fee program.