American English Question "Brown/green Money" ????

OK, I am an English teacher in Japan and I have a very good student. Her English is near perfect as she works for a Canadian company in Tokyo. Anyway, she is an accountant and her boss it from Texas, he keeps talking about "brown money" and "green money". I have a business degree and have no idea what this means. She has asked me to find out for here. I can make an educated guess that it means either.

1) money made legal and brown money is from the grey market.

or

2)Brown money is money made from activities that have an adverse effect on the environment and green money has a positive effects, but these are just guesses.

Any ideas? It is an accounting American English term.

Well, Google certainly draws a blank. The only even remotely plausible answer I could find is the physical colour of coins (brown) and notes (green). Other than that, I have no idea

doing a little googling i found this:

"Within certain groups nonsupport of children is a way of life. While the earnings of the father and/or mother go to the leaders of these groups children have worked for “brown money” i.e. food stamps or dumpster dived for food. "

from here: http://islamiclawetc.wordpress.com/2006/11/26/linked-is-there-a-case-for-legalizing-polygamy-becker/feed/

i know, weird source, but it seems like it could be a legit definition...

green money: real money you can spend on anything as legal tender.
brown money: documents like food stamps have some specific inherent value and could conceivably be used to barter as if they were money (if not at full face value).

Thanks guys, but its in an accounting context.

well how is that not accounting context?

it could easily apply. real/actual money versus things that are not "legal tender" but still have value.

i also found this, but i think it's further from where you were going:

"My recollection of poker of my grandmother’s house rules was nickel ante and a maximum bet of a quarter. I think there was a limit of three raises. I definitely remember that they didn’t want any “brown money” on the table, so leave those pennies at home."

from: http://davidernst.net/blog/2005/09/12/the-effects-of-tv-on-poker/

i'm also sort of hitting some things that may or not be real since my proxy server won't let me touch them. they seem to have to do with money laudering and/or money from native american corporations. it's hard to tell without being able to get to the links.

eric said:

it could easily apply. real/actual money versus things that are not "legal tender" but still have value.

Click to expand...

This is called intangible assets in both the UK and US, this is the first thing we spoke about.

eric said:

i also found this, but i think it's further from where you were going:

"My recollection of poker of my grandmother’s house rules was nickel ante and a maximum bet of a quarter. I think there was a limit of three raises. I definitely remember that they didn’t want any “brown money” on the table, so leave those pennies at home."

from: http://davidernst.net/blog/2005/09/12/the-effects-of-tv-on-poker/

Click to expand...

I see what your getting at, but the firm earns millions a year. But thanks, its a difficult one.

Why do you guys use the term pennies? It seems a bit werid since you use cent.

can't there be different forms of intangible assets? plus, there are a multitude of slang terms for all sorts of things that have "real" terms. and plenty of them have to do with money...

two bits, greenbacks, a "grand", benjammins, fiver, loot, bread, dough, etc

When she asked her boss what he means, he says don't worry. And they already talk about intangible assets anyway. If that was the case he would just say that they mean the same.

Also the company being in Japan they wouldn't use the nickname for US money and they work in Canadian Dollars.

Nothing seems to fit the context, its really annoying! Thanks for your help.

if he said "don't worry", maybe it is something shady and/or illegal. perhaps it is a money laundering term (pre-laundered = brown maybe?).

that seems to make sense...

Why would the company report it on their finacial statements?

Canada's twenties are green and before we switched to the Twoonie, the two dollar bill was brown...

That probably has nothing to do with it.

??? said:

Why do you guys use the term pennies? It seems a bit werid since you use cent.

Click to expand...

When something of another culture doesn't seem to make sense, its probably just tradition. "Penny" just happens to be our name for the coin that equals 1 cent. I'd guess that it comes from the British pence, which was used for a long time in the US before we won our independence.

http://www.magicpenny.org/engpennyhistory.htm
This may help.

Brown money may mean Brown Zone

Could brown money mean company shares?

http://home.comcast.net/~dmitton/1830ahqb.htm