Industries and Sectors for Financial Earnings Calls

Financial earnings calls often fall into different industries or sectors, and knowing a particular industry or sector's specific terminology can be very helpful.

As I mentioned before, searching for the industry or sector name along with the word "glossary" in Google can often turn up some helpful websites. It is a good idea to read through the list or at least scan it prior to your call so you have an idea of some of the terminology and it won't sound as foreign to you as you start transcribing.

Below is a list of helpful sites for some typical industries or sectors you may encounter when doing financial earnings calls. Some others to include may be medical research and the pharmaceutical industries.

Some useful glossaries for specialized industries:

Energy
http://www.energy.ca.gov/glossary/
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumerinfo/glossary.html
http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/index.html
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/default.cfm

Financial Services and Banking
http://www.finance-glossary.com
http://www.americanbanker.com/features/glossary.jsp
http://biotechterms.org/sourcebook/index.phtml
http://www.geneed.com/glossary/
http://www.rxlist.com/96top.htm

Semiconductors
http://semiconductorglossary.com/

Technology
http://whatis.techtarget.com/
http://www.oasismanagement.com/TECHNOLOGY/GLOSSARY/

Retail
http://retailindustry.about.com/library/terms/blglossary.htm

Insurance
http://sb.thehartford.com/learn_insurance/jargon.asp