account

1. Accounting: Chronological record of changes in the value of an entity's assets, liabilities, and the owners' equity; each of which is represented by a separate page in the ledger. See also accounting equation and accounts.

2. Banking: Continuing financial relationship between a bank and a customer, in which deposits and debts are held and processed within a framework of established rules and procedures.

3. Commerce: On-going contractual relationship between a buyer and seller whereby payment for goods received is made at a later time (usually 30 days). See also charge account and open account.

4. Law: Obligation of each party to a contract or partnership to account to other(s) for amounts received or due.

5. Services: Client of an advertising, brokerage, consulting, marketing, or public relations firm.

Do an analysis of how profitable each of your customers are. Often, the results will surprise you, because the biggest customers can often be less profitable than initially thought once all the time spent catering to their unique manufacturing and service requests is taken into account. Focus on the most profitable clients and figure out a way to make the less profitable ones more profitable. And once you have done this analysis on your business, do it on your competitors and go heavily after your competitor's most profitable clients. Leave them with the low-margin fruit.

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