COB vs. EOD: What Each Means & How to Use Them

Businesses generally use plenty of acronyms and therefore, as an employee or an entrepreneur, you should familiarize yourself with some of the most important acronyms when communicating with different stakeholders. Most people regularly communicate within their offices including peers, supervisors/managers, team leads; whereas most people may also need to communicate outside office (including people in different time zones) such as with vendors, clients, customers, support teams etc. In such scenarios, EOD and COB are common terms that are used by businesses to communicate timelines.

Since these terms are often interchangeable, they can be quite confusing and land you in situations where timelines can be missed due to improper understanding of terms. Let us look at the standard definitions of both these terms and how they can be used correctly.

COB (Close of business)

Close of Business, as denoted by the acronym COB - is a widely used term in the USA to represent the end of a financial day at work on a business day. This term is extensively used worldwide to represent the closing of business hours especially in tandem with the NY stock exchange timeline.

Definition and meaning of COB

COB is defined as the Close of business hour for business professionals worldwide. It adheres to the end of the working hours on a business day and is closely related to the end of financial day at the NY stock exchange. This therefore becomes a timeline for those who are working on the EST (Eastern Standard Time) in the USA.

COB is interchangeably used with Close of Play (COP), End of Play (EOP) and End of Business (EOB) all of which mean the same thing in a general sense as they all relate to the end of the financial day in the city of NY based on the stock exchange timeline. So those who are in the finance and trading related business adapted this acronym and has now become the norm.

Typical business hours and closing times

Most businesses in the US operate between 9am and 5pm. Although some may open later and stay open till later as well, the 9 to 5 is generally considered as business hours between the business days in the USA (Mon through friday). This is in strong correlation with the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) timing as it denotes the opening and closing of the financial day in NY.

Even if your specific business does not work 9 to 5pm, if someone mentions in their email or verbally that they need something by COB or COB Eastern, it means by 5pm EST.

Practical application of COB in daily work

COB is used very commonly in the USA especially when setting deadlines or timelines for projects and submissions. For those who are in this industry, it is important to know the meaning and relevance of this term as most managerial works are expected to be turned in at COB so they can be analyzed and/or forwarded the next day.

• Deadlines and deliverables

Most projects or daily tasks that are assigned to employees or deliverables that are promised to various stakeholders such as clients, customers, vendors or lenders, mostly are assigned with the COB term. So when someone assigns a task or asks of you to promise a deliverable to a stakeholder, you can assume to go by a specific COB timeline that works on the eastern time.

• Communication and response expectations

When communicating with various stakeholders such as clients, high value customers, lenders, suppliers, vendors or investors - the term COB can be of significance. It denotes that the business runs on the financial standard of NYSE and also helps in clarifying timelines for all possible communications between the various stakeholders even if they work in different time zones across the world.

• Planning and scheduling

When a business promises deliveries, deadlines and timelines on COB basis, it can be worked in reverse so that all planning and scheduling can be done in the same way. This is especially useful for offices that are spread in various cities and work in different time zones. When business plans and schedules are based on COB deliverables, they can be communicated and executed accordingly without any misinterpretations.

EOD (End of day)

End of Day is pretty much similar to COB except for the fact that EOD is most commonly used for inter office communication or for communicating with clients or customers within the same time zone. Since the people who use this term are all from the same time zone, instead of COB, they can refer to their own end of day as it is much likely to be the same - which is 5pm. Without the need of mentioning EST or the close of the financial day at NYSE, you can use EOD as a colloquial or a common term for deadlines and deliverables that are promised at the end of day via email or verbally.

Definition and meaning of EOD

The actual definition of EOD is ‘the end of business day in the sender's time zone’. Since this terminology is mostly used by the businesses in New York and pretty much everyone has the sense of what the end of business timing is in the eastern zone (which is 5pm), they conveniently use EOD instead of COB as a common term for their deadlines.

For example: If in an email, your manager sets a deadline for a report at Tuesday EOD, it means that it is set for Tuesday end of day which is at 5pm. Since there is mention of the time zone, one can assume that it is the sender’s time zone that is referred to in this case (i.e., eastern).

Interpretation and variation across industries

EOD typically means the end of the financial day of a business day which is between 9am to 5pm and from monday through friday. Saturday is a working day for many sectors but they are not considered business days. If you are someone doing business in the eastern time zone, you can simply send an email requesting submission of reports or files or payments with a deadline marked for EOD instead of COB as it is understood that the end of day is 5pm and between Monday through Friday. Any other day will be mentioned especially such as Saturday or a public holiday, if your offices would be open.

How EOD differs from COB

Many people use COB and EOD interchangeably but they actually hold two different meanings since it has more to do with businesses spread across globally and businesses in the eastern time zone. If you are someone who does business in the eastern time zone and all your communications are by default set to this time, then EOD makes most sense, that is the actual end of financial day in NY.

But if you are someone who is communicating to perhaps another office in a different time zone or in a different country altogether, then the use of COB is more apt as the receiver can check and convert the deadline to 5pm Eastern Standard Time.

Simply put EOD is more colloquially used between businesses and various clients/customers or small businesses in the eastern time zone area whereas COB is used for communicating on a global basis including the rest of the US as they all have different time zones.

How to use COB and EOD effectively

If you are someone who needs to be using these terms within your business communication scope, then you should be using them with the utmost clarity. Both COB and EOD refer to EST or the Eastern standard time but COB is used for global access so that people who are in different time zones can adhere to the financial end of day according to the NY Stock exchange. On the other hand, EOD is commonly used by all small and large businesses within the EST time zone as they all have the same financial end of business day hour.

For example: Using COB in an email example

Here, the sender is clearly stating the latest the report needs to be sent is 5pm on Friday so even if the receiver is in a different timezone, they can simply convert and adhere to this time.

Using EOD in an example:

In this example, the sender has not mentioned any timeline but since it is expressed as EOD, it is assumed that the deadline is for the next day at 5pm in Eastern time as the sender is from the eastern time zone.

Conclusion

Communicating different timelines is an important part of work and can include many crucial tasks including submission of reports, deliverables to customers/clients or presentation to various stakeholders in a business. Knowing the difference between EOD and COB can help you become a powerful communicator and using them effectively can help you set clear timelines and interpret timelines that are set for you.

With these definitions and real life examples given above, you are now equipped with 2 of the most commonly used business acronyms in the USA and therefore can put them to best use when sending emails or setting timelines for your work.