A bond is a fixed-income instrument representing a loan made by an investor to a borrower that could be firms or government. They pay interest annually. A loan is a debt-instrument provided by financial institutions or banks to individuals or corporates.
The biggest similarity between stocks and bonds is that both of them are financial securities sold to investors to raise money. With stocks, the company sells a part of itself in exchange for cash. With bonds, the entity gets a loan from the investor and pays it back with interest.
Shares are part-ownership in a company, bonds are IOUs
Simply put, when an investor buys shares they are buying part of a company; when they buy bonds, they are lending money to a company. Shareholders OWN part of a company whereas bondholders are OWED money by a company.
Deferred credit is money that is received by a company but not immediately reported as income because it has not yet been earned.
An incentive is an object, item of value, or desired action or event that spurs an employee to do more of whatever was encouraged by the employer through the chosen incentive.