$m or $mm when abbreviating Million
$m or $mm?
I prefer $m.
There is only one 'm' in millions.
While M = 1000 in Roman numerology and M^2 = MM, that's a weak-arse justification and an unnecessary letter.
The second m is redundant. Who the hell would confuse $m as referring to anything other than millions.
Can anyone justify $mm on any basis other than "it's a stupid industry custom"?
Educate me.
M vs MM for finance abbreviations
When it comes to abbreviating million in financial documents and presentations, it is a matter of preference. Each firm will have a different preference and you should abide by what your firm's rule is. If you are working on a project independently you should simply pick one format and stick with it as consistency is what matters.
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My previous company used $mm. Current one uses $m. Honestly I'm indifferent but inconsistency causes confusion. If I had to pick one, I would pick $m though. In oil and gas, m is used for thousands and mm is for millions.
Based on that O&G usage, I prefer $Mm.
Is there any particular reason why oil and gas uses M instead of K for thousands?
Because of how natural gas is quoted. The standard unit of measure is dollars per million BTU's (mmBtu). As a result, reserves get reported in mmBtu as well.
https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/energy/natural-gas/natural-gas_contrac…
I prefer "MM" for consistency. Since "BN" stands for billion, I would rather use a two-letter abbreviation for million as well.
I use MM out of habit and find that most friends and colleagues are the same.
In Roman numerals, M with a dash above it is equal to a million, not MM. A billion would have two dashes above it.
Our US offices use 'MM' and we use 'M'.
yeah but the "dash above" just means to multiply by 1000. So in roman numerals, M=1000, thus M*M is equal to a million. Thats why you are supposed to use "MM" because it denotes 1000*1000 aka a million
taking this even further, if you a quote a bond trader $5mmm they will take that as 5 billion (unless it's obvious you mistyped and meant 5mm)
I go with $Mm and and $Bn because it's consistency. For me, two letters make the notation a bit clearer. That's really it.
Out of interest, why not use 'Mn' and 'Bn'?
If it's just a number, then I use Mn or Bn. If it's for currencies and dollar amounts, I always indicate with a currency symbol to indicate one, I'm talking about money, and two, the currency I'm using.
Don't think it matters either way, but I've always preferred $mm
It is $MM for millions. Latin for Mille which means thousand.
"mm" because I'm not a communist.
I use $MM for no reason other than my first boss chewed me a new asshole for putting a single M in a book during my first month of work and it's stuck for nearly 2 decades.
$MM looks like more money.
I hate the mm bullshit. I'll spell million before writing that. Also I write with a red pen.
I'm pretty sure that mm is short for mmm as in, mmm that money looks tasty
+1
Mm for trading.
I prefer to us $Mn and $Bn, it should be obvious to anyone with a quarter of a brain. Capitalized MM or BN just look weird to me.
This is great banter guys
As long as people don't use nationalistic crap like "Mio." all is good.
Isn't it $mm because M = 1,000 and MM (1,0001,000) = 1,000,000?
You're being micro-aggressive.
Fuck this MM bullshit, and fuck the guys who first started using MM, and fuck the guys who made MM into a thing in finance, and fuck the guys who still use MM now
TL;DR MM can go fuck itself
+1 SB. Would give more if I could.
Do you even trade bonds?
$MM simply because I am used to it now in my current company. When I first left college, I was shocked and appalled at some numbers I was reviewing in a pitch book since I perceived $M as millions.
My group does $100M, $100B, $100k, so I stick with those. Don't know anyone who uses MM, hate it personally.
No confusion if you use $MM. That being said, it really messes up your reading comprehension on financial headlines as everything looks like small potatoes.
If you really want to stand out. Use $MMM for billions.
My group does $mm for millions but a single $B for billions. Can't explain why, but I've just gotten used to it at this point.
$m is actually European and $mm is American. So if you work at a European bank you'll probably be using the former. Not sure what other countries use.
People use $Bn for billion, so idk why $Mn isn't a thing for million
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