Meaning & use
true up
Last updated
Meanings
verbphrasal verbbusiness
To adjust figures, accounts, or estimates so they agree with the real amounts once the actual results are known.
Grammar: Takes an object, which can sit before or after up: true up the accounts or true the accounts up.
Patterns
- true up something
- true something up
- true up with someone
We true up the budget at the end of each quarter.
Finance will true up the estimates against the invoices next week.
The two companies agreed to true up their payments after the audit.
verbphrasal verbtechnical
To adjust a part, such as a wheel or board, so that it is straight, level, or properly aligned.
Grammar: Also takes an object, mainly in woodworking and cycling: true up the wheel.
Patterns
- true up a wheel
- true something up
The mechanic trued up the bent wheel in ten minutes.
He planed the edge of the board to true it up.
Before assembling the frame, we trued up each corner.
nouncountablebusiness
A correction made at a set time to make recorded amounts match what actually happened.
Grammar: Usually written true-up as a noun: a quarterly true-up.
Patterns
- a true-up of something
- a true-up payment
The annual true-up showed we owed the vendor a small amount.
A tax true-up arrived in the spring.
She prepared the true-up before the board meeting.
Word forms
| third person singular | trues up |
|---|---|
| past tense | trued up |
| past participle | trued up |
| -ing form | truing up |
| noun plural | true-ups |
Common combinations
- true up the books
- The accountant trued up the books before the audit.
- true up the budget
- We will true up the budget next month.
- quarterly true-up
- The quarterly true-up caught two billing errors.
- year-end true-up
- A year-end true-up adjusted the bonus pool.
- true up a wheel
- He trued up the wheel after hitting a pothole.
Synonyms and how they differ
- reconcile
- Reconcile means to compare two sets of records and fix differences, while true up is the adjustment itself, often in business slang.
- adjust
- Adjust is general and can mean any change, whereas true up always means bringing something into line with actual or correct values.
- square up
- Square up usually means settling a debt or what you owe, while true up means correcting an estimate or alignment.
- align
- Align stresses putting things in a straight line or agreement and is used in many contexts; true up is narrower and technical.
Word family
Commonly confused: true up or true-ups?
true up vs true-ups
This is simply the plural noun; it is not a different verb, so say we do two true-ups a year, not we true-ups twice.
Practice
The finance team will ___ the forecast once the real sales numbers arrive.
Choose one answer.
True up means to correct estimates so they match actual figures. Wrap up means finish and fill up means make full, so neither suits this context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “true up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.