PHR CERTIFICATION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Accounts Payable - Answers -Money an organization owes its vendors and suppliers.
Accounts Receivable - Answers -Money an organization's customers owe the
organization.
Action Plans - Answers -Detailed steps a unit, department, or team will take in order to
achieve short-term objectives.
Amendment - Answers -Modification or the Constitution or a law; modification may be
either formal (written) or informal (unwritten).
Assets - Answers -Financial, physical, and sometiems intangible properties an
organization owns.
Balance Sheet - Answers -Statement of a firm's financial position at a particular time.
Balanced scorecard - Answers -Measurement approach that provides an overall picture
of an organization's performance as measured against goals in finance, customers,
internal business processes, and learning and growth.
Bill - Answers -Proposal presented to a legislative body for possible enactment as a law.
Break-even analysis - Answers -Analysis that shows point in time at which total revenue
associated with a program is equal to the total cost of the program.
Business Case - Answers -Description of an organizational challenge and possible
alternative solutions, arguing for specific solution.
Capacity - Answers -To an operations department, the ability to yield output.
Cash flow statement - Answers -Record of how much cash is flowing into and out of an
organization, including its sources or destinations.
Centralization - Answers -Degree to which decision-making authority is restricted to
higher levels of management in an organization.
Code of ethics - Answers -Principles of conduct within an organization that guide
decision making and behavior.
Consumer price index - Answers -Measure of the average change over time in the
prices paid by consumers for goods and services.
Control - Answers -To an operations department, an after-the-fact evaluation of a
company's ability to meet its own specifications and its customers' needs.
,Formula budgeting - Answers -Form of budgeting in which an average cost is applied to
comparable expenses and general funding is changed by a specific amount.
Functional structure - Answers -Organizational structure that defines departments by
what services they contribute to the organization's overall mission.
Gantt chart - Answers -Project planning tool that graphically displays activities of a
project in sequential order and plots them against time.
Generation X - Answers -Group of people born roughly between the years of 1965 -
1980
Correlation - Answers -Measure that indicates the relationship between two variables.
Cost-benefit analysis - Answers -Ratio of value created to cost of creating that value;
allows management to determine the financial impact particular activities and programs
have on an organization's profitability.
Decentralization - Answers -Degree to which decision-making authority is given to lower
levels in an organization's hierarchy.
Departmentalization - Answers -Way an organization groups jobs to coordinate work.
Divestiture - Answers -Sale by a company of an asset that is not performing well, that is
not core to the company's business, or that is worth more as a separate entity.
Divisional structure - Answers -Organizational structure in which segments ae
separated by product, customer or market, or region.
Due diligence - Answers -Process of conducting an intensive investigation of an
organization as one of the first steps in a pending merger or acquisition.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) - Answers -Act that makes it unlawful to
intercept messages in transmission, access stored information on electronic
communication services, or disclose this information.
Enterprise management - Answers -Integrated processes and tools to allow information
sharing and process management across functions, sometimes even with external
partners, such as suppliers.
Environmental scanning - Answers -Process that involves a systematic survey and
interpretation of relevant data to identify external opportunities and threats.
Equity - Answers -Amount of owners' or shareholders' portion of a business.
, Ethics - Answers -System of moral principles and values that establish appropriate
conduct.
Extended organization - Answers -Alliance between organizations to create processes
and information channels that allow communication and collaboration.
Financial ratios - Answers -Calculations designed to describe an organization's financial
health and performance from various perspectives.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) - Answers -Prohibits American companies from
making corrupt payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping
business.
Generation Y - Answers -Group of people born after 1980.
Gross domestic product (GDP) - Answers -Estimate of the total value of goods and
services produced in a country in a given year.
Gross profit margin - Answers -Ratio of gross profit to net sales.
HR audit - Answers -Process to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of HR
programs and positions.
Human capital - Answers -Combined knowledge, skills, and experience of a company's
employees.
Human resource information system (HRIS) - Answers -Systematic tool for gathering,
storing, maintaining, retrieving, and revising HR data.
Human resource management (HRM) - Answers -Design of formal systems in an
organization that ensure the effective and efficient use of human capital to accomplish
organizational goals.
Income statement - Answers -Statement comparing revenues, expenses, and profits
over a specified period of time, usually a year or a quarter.
Incremental budgeting - Answers -Form of budgeting in which the prior budget is the
basis for allocation of funds.
Inventory - Answers -To an operations department, an organization's major asset after
physical buildings and equipment.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) - Answers -Quantifiable measures of performances
used to gauge progress toward strategic objectives or agreed standards of
performance.
Accounts Payable - Answers -Money an organization owes its vendors and suppliers.
Accounts Receivable - Answers -Money an organization's customers owe the
organization.
Action Plans - Answers -Detailed steps a unit, department, or team will take in order to
achieve short-term objectives.
Amendment - Answers -Modification or the Constitution or a law; modification may be
either formal (written) or informal (unwritten).
Assets - Answers -Financial, physical, and sometiems intangible properties an
organization owns.
Balance Sheet - Answers -Statement of a firm's financial position at a particular time.
Balanced scorecard - Answers -Measurement approach that provides an overall picture
of an organization's performance as measured against goals in finance, customers,
internal business processes, and learning and growth.
Bill - Answers -Proposal presented to a legislative body for possible enactment as a law.
Break-even analysis - Answers -Analysis that shows point in time at which total revenue
associated with a program is equal to the total cost of the program.
Business Case - Answers -Description of an organizational challenge and possible
alternative solutions, arguing for specific solution.
Capacity - Answers -To an operations department, the ability to yield output.
Cash flow statement - Answers -Record of how much cash is flowing into and out of an
organization, including its sources or destinations.
Centralization - Answers -Degree to which decision-making authority is restricted to
higher levels of management in an organization.
Code of ethics - Answers -Principles of conduct within an organization that guide
decision making and behavior.
Consumer price index - Answers -Measure of the average change over time in the
prices paid by consumers for goods and services.
Control - Answers -To an operations department, an after-the-fact evaluation of a
company's ability to meet its own specifications and its customers' needs.
,Formula budgeting - Answers -Form of budgeting in which an average cost is applied to
comparable expenses and general funding is changed by a specific amount.
Functional structure - Answers -Organizational structure that defines departments by
what services they contribute to the organization's overall mission.
Gantt chart - Answers -Project planning tool that graphically displays activities of a
project in sequential order and plots them against time.
Generation X - Answers -Group of people born roughly between the years of 1965 -
1980
Correlation - Answers -Measure that indicates the relationship between two variables.
Cost-benefit analysis - Answers -Ratio of value created to cost of creating that value;
allows management to determine the financial impact particular activities and programs
have on an organization's profitability.
Decentralization - Answers -Degree to which decision-making authority is given to lower
levels in an organization's hierarchy.
Departmentalization - Answers -Way an organization groups jobs to coordinate work.
Divestiture - Answers -Sale by a company of an asset that is not performing well, that is
not core to the company's business, or that is worth more as a separate entity.
Divisional structure - Answers -Organizational structure in which segments ae
separated by product, customer or market, or region.
Due diligence - Answers -Process of conducting an intensive investigation of an
organization as one of the first steps in a pending merger or acquisition.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) - Answers -Act that makes it unlawful to
intercept messages in transmission, access stored information on electronic
communication services, or disclose this information.
Enterprise management - Answers -Integrated processes and tools to allow information
sharing and process management across functions, sometimes even with external
partners, such as suppliers.
Environmental scanning - Answers -Process that involves a systematic survey and
interpretation of relevant data to identify external opportunities and threats.
Equity - Answers -Amount of owners' or shareholders' portion of a business.
, Ethics - Answers -System of moral principles and values that establish appropriate
conduct.
Extended organization - Answers -Alliance between organizations to create processes
and information channels that allow communication and collaboration.
Financial ratios - Answers -Calculations designed to describe an organization's financial
health and performance from various perspectives.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) - Answers -Prohibits American companies from
making corrupt payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping
business.
Generation Y - Answers -Group of people born after 1980.
Gross domestic product (GDP) - Answers -Estimate of the total value of goods and
services produced in a country in a given year.
Gross profit margin - Answers -Ratio of gross profit to net sales.
HR audit - Answers -Process to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of HR
programs and positions.
Human capital - Answers -Combined knowledge, skills, and experience of a company's
employees.
Human resource information system (HRIS) - Answers -Systematic tool for gathering,
storing, maintaining, retrieving, and revising HR data.
Human resource management (HRM) - Answers -Design of formal systems in an
organization that ensure the effective and efficient use of human capital to accomplish
organizational goals.
Income statement - Answers -Statement comparing revenues, expenses, and profits
over a specified period of time, usually a year or a quarter.
Incremental budgeting - Answers -Form of budgeting in which the prior budget is the
basis for allocation of funds.
Inventory - Answers -To an operations department, an organization's major asset after
physical buildings and equipment.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) - Answers -Quantifiable measures of performances
used to gauge progress toward strategic objectives or agreed standards of
performance.
