What Does "MM" Mean in Accounting?

"MM" is the Roman numeral representation of one million.

Roman numerals are letters of the Latin alphabet used to represent numbers. The Roman numeral system has been used since classical antiquity and is still widely used in the early 21st century. Some examples of the usage of Roman numerals are: for naming generations in families, the scale degree in music theory, sections in legal and technical documents, the production year of films, television shows and literature, and as a monetary suffix in accounting.

Meaning

In accounting, the abbreviation "MM" is actually the Roman numeral representation of one million. "M" represents one thousand. Thus, "MM" means one thousand thousands, or one million, writes Math Forum.

Use

"MM" is placed after a number to designate that figure as being in the millions. Zeros representing millions are omitted from the number. For example, $100,000,000 is depicted as $100MM.

Confusion

The suffix "MM" often causes a lot of confusion. The lowercase "mm" represents millimeters, a measurement of length. In common use, a single "M" is often used to represent one million---not one thousand. Rather, this is an informal abbreviation that means "mega." In this case, "K," meaning "kilo," is used to represent one thousand.

References

• Abbreviations.com: What Does MM Stand for?
• The Math Forum: K as an Abbreviation for Thousands
• YourDictionary.com: Roman Numerals

Resources

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Accountants and Auditors