Download or read book The Number written by Alex Berenson and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2004-04-13 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a new Afterword by the author and a new Foreword by Mark Cuban In this commanding big-picture analysis of what went wrong in corporate America, Alex Berenson, a top financial investigative reporter for The New York Times, examines the common thread connecting Enron, Worldcom, Halliburton, Computer Associates, Tyco, and other recent corporate scandals: the cult of the number. Every three months, 14,000 publicly traded companies report sales and profits to their shareholders. Nothing is more important in these quarterly announcements than earnings per share, the lodestar that investors—and these days, that’s most of us—use to judge the health of corporate America. earnings per share is the number for which all other numbers are sacrificed. It is the distilled truth of a company’s health. Too bad it’s often a lie. Alex Berenson’s The Number provides a comprehensiv, brutally factual overview of how Wall Street and corporate America lost their way during the great bull market that began in 1982. With wit and a broad historical perspective, Berenson puts recent corporate accounting (or accountability) disasters in their proper context. He explains how the wheels came off the wagon, giving readers the information and analysis they need to understand Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Halliburton, and the rest of the corporate calamities of our times.

Download or read book Kiplinger s Personal Finance written by and published by . This book was released on 2003-06 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most trustworthy source of information available today on savings and investments, taxes, money management, home ownership and many other personal finance topics.

Download or read book Earnings Magic and the Unbalance Sheet written by Gary Giroux and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2006-03-20 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for Earnings Magic and the Unbalance Sheet "Gary Giroux brings a breezy, entertaining writing style thatreally helps the reader untangle arcane accounting practices,including stock options, pensions, off-balance sheet items, and therest of his 'dirty thirty.'" —Edward Swanson, Durst Chair and Professor of Accounting,Texas A&M University "Earnings Magic and the Unbalance Sheet provides equityinvestors with clear explanations of today's financial environmenttogether with specific analysis tools to assess the quality ofearnings. Gary Giroux provides a valuable and easy-to-use scoringsystem where investors assign grades to help them in theirinvestment decisions. Earnings Magic is a must-read for anyinvestor in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow 30). Girouxthoroughly analyzes some of the biggest and best knowncompanies." —Andrew McLelland, Assistant Professor of Accounting, AuburnUniversity YOUR KEY TO EVALUATING A COMPANY'S EARNINGS QUALITY Wouldn't you like to know as much as you could about a companybefore you invest in it? Financial information on companies isreadily available, but not necessarily easy to interpret. With shrewd tips and state-of-the-art analytical tools,Earnings Magic and the Unbalance Sheet arms you with the keystrategies and principles to help you evaluate whether a company'sbottom line is headed toward excellence or financial abuse. Thiseye-opening guide expertly walks you through the tangle ofpotentially inflated earnings and misleading accounting disclosuresto determine a company's financial reality.

Download or read book Accounting Fraud written by Gary Giroux and published by Business Expert Press. This book was released on 2017-12-26 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scandals relating to manipulation and fraud have dominated much of the history of business and the accounting profession in America since it’s founding. Crooks, corruption, scandals, and panics have been regular features of the business landscape, with regulations and the expansion of financial disclosure, auditing, and regulatory agencies following major debacles. Prior to the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the 1930s and the development of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), few accounting rules existed and it is difficult to identify “accounting” scandals. Beginning with the New Deal of the 1930s, regulations of financial markets (including the SEC); the creation of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and organizations to improve and keep GAAP current (now in the hands of the Financial Accounting Standards Board); and auditing (currently under the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) improved accounting and audit practices and financial disclosures. Despite these efforts, accounting frauds continue—many in new and innovative ways. This book brings to light the importance of incentive structures of key players, consideration of economic and psychological perspectives on behavior, and the need for increasingly effective regulation, which become more obvious by considering decades of abuse. Executive compensation, pensions, market values, special purpose entities, and derivatives continue to be problematic accounting issues as they have for decades. Inside, you’ll get exposure to financial disclosure issues and other accounting risks, plus additional knowledge of accounting fraud and risk areas.

Download or read book The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour written by Alan Lewis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-02-15 with total page 1240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has recently been an escalated interest in the interface between psychology and economics. The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour is a valuable reference dedicated to improving our understanding of the economic mind and economic behaviour. Employing empirical methods - including laboratory and field experiments, observations, questionnaires and interviews - the Handbook provides comprehensive coverage of theory and method, financial and consumer behaviour, the environment and biological perspectives. This second edition also includes new chapters on topics such as neuroeconomics, unemployment, debt, behavioural public finance, and cutting-edge work on fuzzy trace theory and robots, cyborgs and consumption. With distinguished contributors from a variety of countries and theoretical backgrounds, the Handbook is an important step forward in the improvement of communications between the disciplines of psychology and economics that will appeal to academic researchers and graduates in economic psychology and behavioral economics.

Download or read book A Critical History of Financial Crises written by Haim Kedar-Levy and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2015-11-26 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "While each financial crisis is unique and has its own special features, there are a lot of similarities in the dynamics leading to a crisis and also in their resolutions. Some of the financial crises are caused by the lack of appropriate regulation, but often the regulators were ignoring the signals of imminent crises, while serving implicitly or explicitly, the financial industry. In his book, Prof. Kedar-Levy is providing a fresh look at many famous financial crises around the globe, analysing their causes and effects. The special role of regulators is highlighted, including the "Capture Theory" in practice. This book is suitable for economist as well as for those interested in economic history, and for all those concerned with the stability of current international financial markets. Professor Dan GalaiThe Hebrew University, Jerusalem"--

Download or read book Engineering A Financial Bloodbath How Sub prime Securitization Destroyed The Legitimacy Of Financial Capitalism written by Justin O'brien and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2009-07-13 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In July 2007, the then chief executive of Citigroup, Charles Prince, captured the hubris of a market dangerously addicted to debt: “When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as long as music is playing, you have got to get up and dance. We're still dancing.” By the end of the year, Mr Prince was forced to resign along with some of the most influential bankers on Wall Street. Global investment houses in the United States and Europe were forced to turn to sovereign wealth funds for emergency funding. Their rescue comes at a significant material and reputational price.This book investigates the origins and implications of the securitization crisis, described by the chief executive of ANZ as a “financial services bloodbath”. Based on extensive interviews, it offers an integrated series of case studies drawn from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. A central purpose is to not only chart what went wrong within the investment houses and why the regulatory systems failed, but also provide policy guidance. The book therefore combines the empirical with the normative. In so doing, it provides a route map to navigate one of the most significant financial and regulatory failures in modern times./a

Download or read book Critical History Of Financial Crises A Why Would Politicians And Regulators Spoil Financial Giants written by Haim Kedar-levy and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2015-11-26 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are pleased to announce that A Critical History of Financial Crises has been included in CHOICE Magazine's Outstanding Academic Title list. Only the most outstanding works have been selected for their excellence in scholarship and presentation, the significance of their contribution to the field, and their value as important — often the first — treatment of their subject.For more information on CHOICE Magazine's Outstanding Academic Title list, please visit the following link: www.choice360.org/products/magazine /remove 'While each financial crisis is unique and has its own special features, there are a lot of similarities in the dynamics leading to a crisis and also in their resolutions. Some of the financial crises are caused by the lack of appropriate regulation, but often the regulators were ignoring the signals of imminent crises, while serving implicitly or explicitly, the financial industry.In his book, Prof. Kedar-Levy is providing a fresh look at many famous financial crises around the globe, analysing their causes and effects. The special role of regulators is highlighted, including the 'Capture Theory' in practice. This book is suitable for economist as well as for those interested in economic history, and for all those concerned with the stability of current international financial markets.'Professor Dan GalaiThe Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Download or read book Human Frailties written by Ronald J. Burke and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-13 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every day we hear stories about the consequences of human frailties for individuals, their families and friends, and their organizations. Some of these stories are about alcohol and drug addiction and other harmful lifestyle choices, but human frailty also leads to all kinds of unethical and illegal behaviour. Individuals are convicted of bribery and corruption, price fixing, theft and fraud, sexual harassment and abuse of authority. Politicians fiddle their expenses, sports people cheat and fix matches and school and university students and teachers cheat to enhance exam results. Studies have shown that business students cheat more than others and efforts to teach ethical behaviour in business schools make little difference. The media who bring us stories of others' frailties themselves engage in unethical and illegal conduct in pursuit of an edge over their rivals. The contributions to this latest addition to Gower's Psychological and Behavioural Aspects of Risk Series place the spotlight on individuals, their behavioural choices and the consequences that follow for theirs and others' lives and careers. The conclusion is that people do have choices and options and that, whilst there are no easy or quick fixes in addressing self-limiting behaviours, successful avoidance of the worst outcomes can been achieved. This book provides guidance on the practical steps that need to be taken in order to gain a sense of proportion of what is important and of how we are doing, if we are to address our frailties and stop making unethical choices.

Download or read book The Public Company Transformed written by Brian Cheffins and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-28 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For decades, the public company has played a dominant role in the American economy. Since the middle of the 20th century, the nature of the public company has changed considerably. The transformation has been a fascinating one, marked by scandals, political controversy, wide swings in investor and public sentiment, mismanagement, entrepreneurial verve, noisy corporate "raiders" and various other larger-than-life personalities. Nevertheless, amidst a voluminous literature on corporations, a systematic historical analysis of the changes that have occurred is lacking. The Public Company Transformed correspondingly analyzes how the public company has been recast from the mid-20th century through to the present day, with particular emphasis on senior corporate executives and the constraints affecting the choices available to them. The chronological point of departure is the managerial capitalism era, which prevailed in large American corporations following World War II. The book explores managerial capitalism's rise, its 1950s and 1960s heyday, and its fall in the 1970s and 1980s. It describes the American public companies and executives that enjoyed prosperity during the 1990s, and the reversal of fortunes in the 2000s precipitated by corporate scandals and the financial crisis of 2008. The book also considers the regulation of public companies in detail, and discusses developments in shareholder activism, company boards, chief executives, and concerns about oligopoly. The volume concludes by offering conjectures on the future of the public corporation, and suggests that predictions of the demise of the public company have been exaggerated.

Download or read book Wall Street on Trial written by Justin O'Brien and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2005-01-21 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The politics of business have become the business of politics. Across the world the lesson is clear: just as too much governmental interference leads to dysfunctional economies, left to its own devices the market is incapable of adequate self-regulation. The corporate malfeasance crisis in the United States has transformed global perceptions about the efficacy of regulatory structures in combating corrupt practices in private and public sectors. The design of effective corporate governance structures depends not just on internal factors but also on the inter-relationship between various actors that constitute wider governance: politicians, lobbyists, corporations and regulators. A Corrupted State: Wall Street on Trial breaks new ground by deconstructing the systemic flaws inherent in the model itself. It reveals that the 'rotten apple' theory, positing the problems in corporate America as merely the result of deviancy by an individual or a single firm, is an intellectual deceit not supported by the facts.

Download or read book Common Sense School Reform written by Frederick M. Hess and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forget everything you think you know about school reform. Cutting through the cant, sentiment, and obfuscation characterizing the current school reform debate, Frederick M. Hess lacerates the conventional "status quo" reform efforts and exposes the naivete underlying reform strategies that rest on solutions like class size reduction, small schools, and enhanced professional development. He explains that real improvement requires a bracing regime of common sense reforms that create a culture of competence by rewarding excellence, punishing failure, and giving educators the freedom and flexibility to do their work. He documents the scope of the challenges we face and then provides concrete recommendations for addressing them through reforms to promote accountability, competition, a 21st-century workforce, effective school leadership, and sensible reinvention. Engagingly written and drawing on real world experiences and examples, Common Sense School Reform will generate debate and help set the agenda for the future.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Governance written by Mike Wright and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-03-28 with total page 832 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The behavior of managers-such as the rewards they obtain for poor performance, the role of boards of directors in monitoring managers, and the regulatory framework covering the corporate governance mechanisms that are put in place to ensure managers' accountability to shareholder and other stakeholders-has been the subject of extensive media and policy scrutiny in light of the financial crisis of the early 2000s. However, corporate governance covers a much broader set of issues, which requires detailed assessment as a central issue of concern to business and society. Critiques of traditional governance research based on agency theory have noted its "under-contextualized" nature and its inability to compare accurately and explain the diversity of corporate governance arrangements across different institutional contexts. The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Governance aims at closing these theoretical and empirical gaps. It considers corporate governance issues at multiple levels of analysis-the individual manager, firms, institutions, industries, and nations-and presents international evidence to reflect the wide variety of perspectives. In analyzing the effects of corporate governance on performance, a variety of indicators are considered, such as accounting profit, economic profit, productivity growth, market share, proxies for environmental and social performance, such as diversity and other aspects of corporate social responsibility, and of course, share price effects. In addition to providing a high level review and analysis of the existing literature, each chapter develops an agenda for further research on a specific aspect of corporate governance. This Handbook constitutes the definitive source of academic research on corporate governance, synthesizing studies from economics, strategy, international business, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, business ethics, accounting, finance, and law.

Download or read book Fraud written by Edward J. Balleisen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-12-18 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive history of fraud in America, from the early nineteenth century to the subprime mortgage crisis In America, fraud has always been a key feature of business, and the national worship of entrepreneurial freedom complicates the task of distinguishing salesmanship from deceit. In this sweeping narrative, Edward Balleisen traces the history of fraud in America—and the evolving efforts to combat it—from the age of P. T. Barnum through the eras of Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff. This unprecedented account describes the slow, piecemeal construction of modern institutions to protect consumers and investors—from the Gilded Age through the New Deal and the Great Society. It concludes with the more recent era of deregulation, which has brought with it a spate of costly frauds, including corporate accounting scandals and the mortgage-marketing debacle. By tracing how Americans have struggled to foster a vibrant economy without encouraging a corrosive level of cheating, Fraud reminds us that American capitalism rests on an uneasy foundation of social trust.

Download or read book Hidden Financial Risk written by J. Edward Ketz and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2003-08-08 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insider's guide to understanding and eliminating accounting fraud How do these high-profile accounting scandals occur and what could have been done to prevent them. Hidden Financial Risk fills that void by examining methods for off balance sheet accounting, with a particular emphasis on special purpose entities (SPE), the accounting ruse of choice at Enron and other beleaguered companies. J. Edward Ketz identifies the incentives for managers to deceive investors and creditors about financial risk and also shows investors how to protect their investments in a world filled with accounting and auditing frauds. J. Edward Ketz, PhD (State College, PA) is MBA Faculty Director and Associate Professor of Accounting at Penn State's Smeal College of Business. He has been cited in the press nearly 300 times since Enron's bankruptcy, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.. He has a regular column in Accounting Today.

Download or read book Enron and World Finance written by P. Dembinski and published by Springer. This book was released on 2005-12-16 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four years after the debacle, the term 'Enron' has earned its place in the everyday vocabulary of business ethics. Hardly anyone understands the business intricacies of what really happened with the sophisticated energy conglomerate. Even fewer are those able to envision, beyond the business case, the ethical questions and dilemmas facing actors at any one stage of the drama. Using the collapse of Enron as a case study, this book not only shows how and where ethics came into play, but also draws lessons and discusses possible remedies that may prevent the whole financial system from falling apart as a result of either excessive greed or over-regulation.

Download or read book Following Oil written by Thomas A. Petrie and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2013-12-17 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a forty-year career as an oil and gas investment analyst and as an investment banker and strategic adviser on petroleum-sector mergers, acquisitions, and financings, Thomas A. Petrie has witnessed dramatic changes in the business. In Following Oil, he shares useful lessons he has learned about domestic and global trends in population and economic growth, a maturing resource base, variable national energy policies, and dynamic changes in geopolitical forces—and how these variables affect energy markets. More important, he applies those lessons to charting a course of energy development for the nation as the twenty-first century unfolds. By the 1970s, when Petrie began analyzing publicly traded securities in the energy sector, the petroleum investment market was depressed. The rise of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pushed energy to the center of the national security calculus of the United States and its allies. Price volatility would continue to whipsaw global markets for decades, while for consumers, cheap gasoline prices soon became a fond memory. Eventually, as Petrie puts it, finding oil on Wall Street became cheaper than drilling for it. Petrie uses this dramatic period in oil business history to relate what he has learned from “following oil” as a securities analyst and investment banker. But the title also refers to energy sources that could become available following eventual shrinkage of conventional-oil supplies. Addressing the current need for greener, more sustainable energy sources, Petrie points to recent large domestic gas discoveries and the use of new technologies such as horizontal drilling to unlock unconventional hydrocarbons. With these new sources, the United States can increase production and ensure itself enough oil and gas to sustain economic growth during the next several decades. Petrie urges the pursuit of cleaner fossil fuel development in order to buy the time to develop the technical advances needed to bridge the nation to a greener energy future, when wind, solar, and other technologies advance sufficiently to play a larger role.