The Front office or reception is an area where visitors arrive and first encounter a staff at a place of business. Front office staff will deal with whatever question the visitor has, and put them in contact with a relevant person at the company. Broadly speaking, the front office includes roles that affect the right side (revenues) of trading statement of the business. The term front office is in contrast to the term "back office" which refers to a company's operations, personnel, accounting, payroll and financial departments which do not interact directly with customers.