appropriation

1) An allocation of the net profit of organizations in its accounts. Some payments may be treated as expenses and deducted before arriving at net profit; other payments are deemed to be appropriations of profit, once that profit has been ascertained. Examples of the former are such normal trade expenses as wages and salaries of employees, motor running expenses, light and heat, and most interest payments on external finance. Appropriations of the net profit include dividends or scrip dividends to shareholders, transfers to reserves, and amounts for taxation. In the case of partnerships, appropriations include salaries, interest on capital, and profit. See also accumulated profits

2) The allocation of payments to a particular debt out of several owed by a debtor to one creditor. The right to make the appropriation belongs first to the debtor but if the debtor fails to do so, the creditor is entitled to. A document identifying a particular batch of goods to be supplied in fulfilment of a forward contract for a commodity. In some cases, for example, a forward contract may call for goods to be shipped in six months' time. At the time the contract is made the goods may not be identifiable. As the period for shipment approaches the supplier will notify the customer exactly which parcel of goods he is going to ship against the contract by identifying them (e. g. by the marks and numbers on the packages) in an appropriation.