You’ll find that a lot of UK native speakers won’t even know what “mm” stands for (outside of the “millimeter” measurement that is abbreviated to “mm”). However, it’s fairly uncommon for “Million” to be abbreviated outside of scientific circles. Most native speakers wouldn’t care much about “million” as an abbreviation because they won’t often come across the number in their daily lives. The Notation MM for representing Millions is becoming less contra asset account common as it creates confusion between the representation of M and MM, whereas the M denotes the Thousand. But due to confusion between M and MM, now the alternative notations are used for representing thousands and millions. For Representation of Thousand, K is used as an abbreviation, and for representing Million, Single M is denoted as an abbreviation.
Different Abbreviations for Thousand, Million & Billion
As stated above, MM is generally used in business to represent millions since the letter M by itself has historically meant 1,000. That said, if your organization uses M and it doesn’t cause confusion, you are free to use M to abbreviate one million. Regardless of why you are trying to abbreviate the word “million,” you have come to the right place. In this article, we will teach you how to abbreviate the word and how to use the abbreviation for “million.” Let’s first understand what million means. “mm” is often left uncapitalized (though there are no specific rules that state which way it should be written).
Alternative Approaches
- 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.
- While abbreviations like “M” and “MM” are commonly used in informal contexts, such as social media or casual conversations, it’s essential to maintain a formal tone and standard in formal writing.
- 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.
- There are a few different ways to abbreviate billion, most are similar to the million abbreviations.
- To save time, space, and enhance readability, professionals have developed standard abbreviations for “million” that convey the same meaning while being concise and visually efficient.
- Stating at the top of the report that “all figures are in millions of dollars” should take care of it.
Review a few examples of sentences that feature common abbreviations for billion. Review a few examples of sentences that feature common abbreviations for million. However, if you’re working on a project focused on investment banking or targeting specific regions, incorporating “MM” might be more suitable to align with industry standards and regional practices. While “M” is generally accepted in various industries, it’s essential to consider your audience and the specific context you’re writing for. Unfortunately, there isn’t a consistent approach to labeling units.
- Whether you’re working in corporate finance, investment banking, or financial analysis, using “M” as an abbreviation for “million” will help you communicate efficiently.
- The finance, business, and informal sectors frequently use “M” for million.
- Here, we’ll explore the various application domains and provide insights to help you navigate the world of abbreviations effortlessly.
- Before “k” was adopted as the colloquial way of writing a thousand (i.e. $35k to mean $35,000), it was common to use “M” instead; “M” being the Roman Numeral for 1,000.
In finance, the most used terms are:
It is Latin for multiplying one “thousand” by itself to create the “million” mm meaning number. You might not put a lot of thought into your abbreviations, and that’s okay. However, there are official abbreviations out there that you might come across, and it would help to know about them. We’ll explain the correct abbreviation for “million” in this article.
- K is also used in computing to mean “kilobyte,” but mostly in commercial contexts as a shortening of KB (see CMOS 10.49).
- 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.”
- What matters is that readers look at the figures and understand the amounts.
- Mixing both abbreviations can lead to confusion and render your writing less effective.
- Accountants and other businesspeople will use m instead of writing all six zeros.
For the past 52 years, Harold Averkamp (CPA, MBA) hasworked as an accounting supervisor, manager, consultant, university instructor, and innovator in teaching accounting online. He is the Certified Bookkeeper sole author of all the materials on AccountingCoach.com. Internet advertisers are familiar with CPM which is the cost per thousand impressions. For the past 52 years, Harold Averkamp (CPA, MBA) has worked as an accounting supervisor, manager, consultant, university instructor, and innovator in teaching accounting online. Yes, “M” is widely recognized across international finance and business sectors.
