The offering, promising, giving, accepting or soliciting of an advantage as an inducement for an action which is illegal, unethical or a breach of trust. Inducements can take the form of gifts, loans, fees, rewards or other advantages (taxes, services, donations, favours etc.).

A beneficial owner is the real person who ultimately owns, controls or benefits from a company or trust fund and the income it generates. The term is used to contrast with the legal or nominee company owners and with trustees, all of whom might be registered the legal owners of an asset without actually possessing the right to enjoy its benefits. Complex and opaque corporate structures set up across different jurisdictions, make it easy to hide the beneficial owner, especially when nominees are used in their place and when part of the structure is incorporated in a secrecy jurisdiction.

Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) refers to the erosion of a national tax base and one process by which this happens. This process is when multinational companies shift the profits generated in the country outside and into jurisdictions such as offshore financial centres with lower or zero tax, thus minimising their tax burden. This practice is legal, but aside from eroding the tax base of countries where the profits have been made it also creates an unbalanced playing field, since small and medium sized businesses do not normally have access to these profit shifting schemes and therefore pay much higher taxes than multinationals.

Automatic Exchange of Information (AIE) is when the tax authorities of two or more states share financial information related to all types of wealth (including immovable property such as houses or land) and taxable activity (e.g. dividends, interests, royalties, salaries, pensions, VAT refunds, etc.) on an automatic, periodic basis. In this system information is routinely collected in the country where the taxable activity occurs or the wealth is held, and shared with the country where taxes are due without a formal request being required. The system can be formalised in either bilateral or multilateral agreements between state parties.

An internal or external examination of an organisation’s accounts, processes, functions and performance to produce an independent and credible assessment of their compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Asset recovery is the legal process through which a country, government and/or its citizens recover from another jurisdiction the resources and other assets that were stolen through corruption.

The concept  that individuals, agencies and organisations (public, private and civil society) are held responsible for reporting their activities and executing their powers properly. It also includes the responsibility for money or other entrusted property.

The right by law – often through freedom of information legislation (acts or laws) – to access key facts and data from the government and any public body based on the notion that citizens can obtain information which is in the possession of the state.