The Veira business glossary.
34 Kenyan SME terms explained in plain English. Every entry connects to a tool, a feature or a guide.
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Side-by-side: Till vs Paybill, eTIMS vs ETR and more
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Answers
Direct answers to the questions owners search
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Free tools
Calculators for VAT, PAYE, margin and M-Pesa fees
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Blog
Full guides on eTIMS, M-Pesa and running a shop
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Finance
Gross Profit Margin
Profit kept on every shilling of sale, before operating costs.
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Net Profit Margin
Profit kept after all costs, expressed as % of sales.
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Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
The direct cost of what you actually sold in a period.
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Markup vs Margin
Markup uses cost as the base. Margin uses selling price.
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Cash Flow
Money in minus money out, in a period.
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Working Capital
Current assets minus current liabilities.
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Cash Conversion Cycle
Days from buying stock to collecting cash.
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Inventory
Inventory Turnover
How many times your stock cycles in a year.
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Days of Inventory (DOH)
How many days your current stock would last at current sales.
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Dead Stock
Inventory that has not sold within a category threshold.
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Stock Reorder Point (ROP)
The stock level that triggers a reorder.
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Safety Stock
Buffer inventory to absorb demand spikes and supplier delays.
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Lead Time
Days from order placed to stock received.
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Stock Shrinkage
The gap between recorded and actual stock.
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Sales & POS
Point of Sale (POS)
The system that takes payment and prints a receipt.
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Average Transaction Value (ATV)
Revenue divided by number of transactions.
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M-Pesa
Kenya’s dominant mobile money platform.
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Till vs Paybill
Till = walk-in counter. Paybill = invoiced with reference.
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Till Reconciliation
Matching POS sales to physical/M-Pesa receipts at end of day.
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Sales Conversion Rate
Percentage of visitors who become buyers.
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eTIMS & KRA
ETR (Electronic Tax Register)
Kenya's legacy electronic tax receipt system, now replaced by eTIMS.
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ETR Receipt
A tax-recognised sales receipt issued through an Electronic Tax Register.
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ETR Machine
The physical device VAT businesses once had to use to issue tax-compliant receipts.
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Electronic Tax Register
A digital system that records sales for tax compliance, now usually software.
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eTIMS (Electronic Tax Invoice Management System)
KRA’s digital invoicing system that replaced ETR.
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VAT Invoice
A tax invoice that shows net, VAT and gross.
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VAT Return
Monthly KRA filing of output VAT minus input VAT.
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KRA PIN
Personal Identification Number issued by KRA for tax matters.
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HR & Payroll
PAYE (Pay As You Earn)
Monthly income tax deducted from salaries by employers.
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SHIF (Social Health Insurance Fund)
The 2.75% health contribution that replaced NHIF in October 2024.
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NSSF (National Social Security Fund)
Pension contribution: 6% employee + 6% employer up to KES 108,000 (from Feb 2026).
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Gross Salary
Salary before any deductions.
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Net Salary
Take-home pay after all statutory deductions.
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