Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 15.2 > Subtitle I > Chapter 7 > Article 2 - General Powers; County Manager Plan.

• Accident and sickness insurance: means insurance against loss resulting from sickness, or from bodily injury or death by accident or accidental means, or from a combination of any or all of these perils. See Virginia Code 38.2-109
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annual percentage rate: The cost of credit at a yearly rate. It is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan so borrowers can compare loans. Lenders are required by law to disclose a card account's APR. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• annuity: shall be deemed to include "variable annuity" and "modified guaranteed annuity" and shall be deemed to include a contract under which a lump sum cash settlement is an alternative to the option of periodic payments. See Virginia Code 38.2-106
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Associated company: means any company in the same corporate system with a pure captive insurer. See Virginia Code 38.2-1101
• Association captive insurer: means any domestic insurer transacting the business of insurance and reinsurance only on risks, hazards, and liabilities of the members of an insurance association. See Virginia Code 38.2-1101
• Assurance: means any form of expressed or implied opinion or conclusion about the conformity of a financial statement with any recognition, measurement, presentation, or disclosure principles for financial statements. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Attest services: means audit, review, or other engagements performed in accordance with the standards that have been established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, by the Auditing Standards Board or the Accounting and Review Services Committee of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, or by any successor standard-setting authorities. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• baby formula: means any food manufactured, packaged and labeled specifically for sale for consumption by a child under the age of two years. See Virginia Code 54.1-4300
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the Virginia Board of Accountancy. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Board of supervisors: means the governing body of a county. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Bond with surety: includes the payment in cash of the full amount of the required bond and, in such case, no surety shall be required. See Virginia Code 1-205
• business of insurance: include solicitation, negotiations preliminary to execution, execution of an insurance contract, and the transaction of matters subsequent to execution of the contract and arising out of it. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Captive insurer: means any pure captive insurer or any association captive insurer. See Virginia Code 38.2-1101
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Company: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Compilation services: means compiling financial statements in accordance with standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or by any successor standard-setting authorities. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuing professional education: means the education that a person obtains after passing the CPA examination and that relates to services provided to or on behalf of an employer in academia, government, or industry or to services provided to the public. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• CPA: means certified public accountant. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• CPA examination: means the national uniform CPA examination approved and administered by the board of accountancy of a state or by the board's designee. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• En banc: In the bench or "full bench." Refers to court sessions with the entire membership of a court participating rather than the usual quorum. U.S. courts of appeals usually sit in panels of three judges, but may expand to a larger number in certain cases. They are then said to be sitting en banc.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executive Director: means the Executive Director of the Board. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Experience: means employment in academia, a firm, government, or an industry in any capacity involving the substantial use of accounting, financial, tax, or other skills that are relevant, as determined by the Board, to provide services to or on behalf of an employer or to the public. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Financial statement: means a presentation of historical or prospective financial information about one or more persons or entities. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Financial statement preparation services: means engaging a licensee in public practice for financial statement preparation services executed in accordance with the standards established by the Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or by any successor standard-setting authorities. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Firm: means an entity formed by one or more licensees as a sole proprietorship, a partnership, a corporation, a limited liability company, or any other type of entity permitted by law with the purpose of providing professional services to the public. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Health services plan: means any arrangement for offering or administering health services or similar or related services by a corporation licensed under Virginia Code 38.2-100
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Insurance association: means any group of individuals, corporations, partnerships, associations, or governmental units or agencies whose members collectively own, control, or hold with power to vote all of the outstanding voting securities of an association captive insurer. See Virginia Code 38.2-1101
• insurance policies: shall include contracts of fidelity, indemnity, guaranty and suretyship. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Insurer: means an insurance company. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Itinerant merchant: means a merchant who transports an inventory of new merchandise to a building, vacant lot, or other location and who, at that location, displays, sells or offers to sell the new merchandise to the public. See Virginia Code 54.1-4300
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License of another state: means the license that is issued by the board of accountancy of a state other than Virginia that gives a person the privilege of using the CPA title in that state or that gives a firm the privilege of providing attest services, compilation services, and financial statement preparation services to persons and entities located in that state. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Licensed: means holding a Virginia license or the license of another state. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Licensee: means a person or firm holding a Virginia license or the license of another state. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life insurance: includes policies that also provide (i) endowment benefits; (ii) additional benefits incidental to a loss in the event of death, dismemberment, or loss by accident or accidental means; (iii) additional benefits to safeguard the contract from lapse or to provide a special surrender value, a special benefit or an annuity, in the event of total and permanent disability of the insured; and (iv) optional modes of settlement of proceeds. See Virginia Code 38.2-102
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• New merchandise: means goods or products which are not used but are in a similar condition as the goods or products wholesaled by manufacturers or suppliers to established retail stores for first-time purchase by consumers. See Virginia Code 54.1-4300
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parent: means a corporation, partnership, governmental unit or agency, or individual who directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds, with power to vote, more than fifty percent of the outstanding voting securities of a pure captive insurer. See Virginia Code 38.2-1101
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Peer review: means a review of a firm's attest services, compilation services, and financial statements preparation services that is conducted in accordance with the applicable monitoring program of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or its successor, or with another monitoring program approved by the Board. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Person: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Practice of public accounting: means the performance of professional services for a client by a licensee or licensee's firm. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Professional services: means all services requiring substantial use of accountancy or related skills that are performed by a licensee for a client or for an employer. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Providing services to or on behalf of an employer: means the performance of professional services while employed or engaged on a contractual basis by a licensee to or on behalf of an entity. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Providing services to the public: means providing services that are subject to the guidance of the standard-setting authorities listed in the standards of conduct and practice in subdivisions 5 and 6 of § Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Pure captive insurer: means any domestic insurer transacting the business of insurance and reinsurance only on risks, hazards, and liabilities of its parent, subsidiary companies of its parent, and associated and affiliated companies. See Virginia Code 38.2-1101
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• rates: means any rate of premium, policy fee, membership fee or any other charge made by an insurer for or in connection with a contract or policy of insurance. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sponsoring organization: means a Board-approved professional society or other organization responsible for the facilitation and administration of peer reviews through use of its peer review program and applicable peer review standards. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• State: means any commonwealth, state, territory, district or insular possession of the United States. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• State: means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any territory of the United States that is a recognized jurisdiction by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy or its successor. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subscriber: means a person obligated under a reciprocal insurance agreement. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• Virginia license: means a license that is issued by the Board giving a person or firm the privilege of using the CPA title in Virginia or a firm the privilege of providing attest services, compilation services, and financial statement preparation services to persons and entities located in Virginia. See Virginia Code 54.1-4400
• Voter: means a qualified voter as defined in § Virginia Code 15.2-102