If a financial statement has a lot of large figures, the accountant may simply dispense with abbreviations. Stating at the top of the report that “all figures are in millions of dollars” should take care of it. What matters is that readers look at the figures and understand the amounts.

• In this example, we intentionally chose a piece of analysis that contained various different units, such as dollars and shares.
• Million can also be represented using “mn” and “m,” so an individual may see $4m, $4mn or simply $4 million.
• In finance and accounting, MM (or lowercase “mm”) commonly denotes that the units of figures presented are in millions.
• Stating at the top of the report that “all figures are in millions of dollars” should take care of it.
• This guide will explore how the notation should be used, as well as alternative symbols that are used in practice.

Another option is to use the “M” for 1,000 and represent $4 million as $4,000M. To avoid confusion, use any and all abbreviations consistently throughout all your financial records. Unfortunately, there isn’t a consistent approach to labeling units. The least ambiguous approach is to simply write them out in words, such as “$ thousands.” This is CFI’s recommended method, to avoid any potential confusion.

Finance

Frequently, in finance and accounting settings now, an analyst will use k to denote thousands and a capitalized M to denote millions. The Roman numerals MM are frequently used to designate that the units used in presenting information (financial and non-financial) are in millions. The example below shows how figures can be portrayed in millions. There are actually a few different ways that 1,000,000 can be expressed when it comes to writing dollar amounts. Million can also be represented using “mn” and “m,” so an individual may see $4m, $4mn or simply $4 million.

While you can make MM stand for millions of anything, it’s important that the reader knows whether you’re talking about dollars, euros, units shipped, etc. If, say, you use it for both units and dollars in the same document, separate the different categories so your readers don’t get confused. Rather than use the barred M, however, accounting went with MM as an abbreviation for a million. For example, 1MM equals 1 million, $34MM equals $34 million and so on. In internet record keeping, for instance, CPM is the cost per thousand impressions of an internet ad. While Roman numerals are technically additive (MM is really 1,000 plus 1,000 or 2,000), MM is still a fairly common way of abbreviating millions, especially in certain industries like oil and gas.

Example of MM in Financial Statements

This guide will explore how the notation should be used, as well as alternative symbols that are used in practice. If you think there’s any possibility of your use of MM being confusing or being misinterpreted, you’re safer writing out the numbers or using “millions.” Upgrading to a paid membership gives you access to our extensive collection of plug-and-play Templates designed to power your performance—as well as CFI’s full course catalog and accredited Certification Programs.

In finance and accounting, MM (or lowercase “mm”) commonly denotes that the units of figures presented are in millions. In this context, MM is the same as writing “M multiplied by M,” which is equal to “1,000 times 1,000,” which equals 1,000,000 (one million). https://adprun.net/crucial-accounting-tips-for-small-start-up/ In accounting speak, a written “MM” means a million, whether the accountant is referring to units, dollars, euros or shares. Rather than writing $400,000,000 or $400 million, the accountant can use the MM abbreviation and write $400MM instead.

Using the MM Abbreviation

You have to be careful when using it or interpreting it because MM can stand for other things too. When preparing financial statements, accountants will typically write a note at the top of the income statement or the balance sheet saying, “All figures are expressed in millions of U.S. dollars,” for example. If the Accounting & Financial Planning Services for Attorneys and Law Firms company sells 26,000 units, the accountant can record that as 26M units. If net income runs to $6,500,000, it goes on the books as $6.5MM. The MM abbreviation works whether the entry is in dollars, some other currency or millions of items or customers. The use of two m’s to denote millions is becoming less common.

In this example, we intentionally chose a piece of analysis that contained various different units, such as dollars and shares. When an analyst must present various different types of units, it is recommended to add a “units” column so that each item A Guide to Nonprofit Accounting for Non-Accountants contains a label for easy reference. Over 1.8 million professionals use CFI to learn accounting, financial analysis, modeling and more. Start with a free account to explore 20+ always-free courses and hundreds of finance templates and cheat sheets.