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strategy
by leon on July 31, 2008
So Starbucks is sliding to its first quarterly loss, announcing it would close 650 cafes and cut 13,000 jobs. The Financial Times puts it down to the poor US economy with high gas prices and other ec...
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corporate governance
by leon on July 31, 2008
All eyes will be on Yahoo this Friday with the company's annual shareholder meeting. The meeting was supposed to be showdown between founder Jerry Yang and activist investor Carl Icahn until they...
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litigation
by leon on July 30, 2008
It's clear that the subprime debacle has resulted in an outpouring of litigation. The trend was fairly obvious just months ago when I looked at the issue here.Now, the trned seems to be gathering...
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SOX
by leon on July 30, 2008
Is the SOX pain over? Are audit fees really on the way down, or is it a temporary blip?That seems to be the suggestion from the latest Compliance Week analysis, reported in this press release here.St...
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markets
by leon on July 29, 2008
Merrill Lynch has shocked the market by announcing it plans to clean up its toxic balance sheet by raising $8.5 billion through a public share offering. That's after revealing another $5.7 billio...
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markets
by leon on July 29, 2008
Last week, I did a blog entry attacking the Securities and Exchange Commission for its stunt cracking down on "naked" short selling. At the time, I said it would do nothing to stop market m...
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litigation
by leon on July 28, 2008
Earlier this month, I did a blog entry on how Swiss bank UBS was aiding and abetting tax cheats.Then last week, we had news reports that New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Thursday has brou...
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corporate crime
by leon on July 28, 2008
The first Siemens manager has been convicted in the trial into the engineering group's bribery and corruption, according to the latest news.Reinhard Siekaczek (pictured above) has been given a he...
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corporate crime
by leon on July 25, 2008
A lot of focus has gone into the pressures that drive managers into committing fraud. Everything from incentive systems to pressure from analysts. But what about their own behavior? What about their ...
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regulators
by leon on July 25, 2008
The Free Enterprise Fund has never been a big fan of tree huggers and progressives but this time it's gone too far. Its head in the sand mentality is just too bizarre.It has now asked the Securit...
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regulators
by leon on July 24, 2008
The Lowy family, which is the biggest shopping mall owner in the world, is under investigation for its alleged use of tax shelters in Liechtenstein. And it is making rich families around the world ve...
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regulators
by leon on July 24, 2008
Tough talk from Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox last week when he announced an emergency order against "naked" short selling. For the uninitiated and pure at hea...
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SOX
by leon on July 23, 2008
That's the fascinating question raised in a new Association of Certified Fraud Examiners report.First of all, the report finds that despite the purported intentions of Sarbanes-Oxley to increase ...
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regulators
by leon on July 23, 2008
It's taken longer than Long March and the great leap forward but China is finally introducing an anti-trust law, reports The Economist.Anyone who has worked in China would know that this has been...
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risk
by leon on July 22, 2008
Last week, I did a blog entry looking at whether Web 2.0 applications were vulnerable to hackers and cyber crooks.That's what interested in a recent entry from the folks at Network Observations s...
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Accounting
by leon on July 22, 2008
Funny thing about this recession. It seems to be affecting everyone except for accountants. In the past I have done entries, such as this one, looking at the phenomenon.No surprises then that we have...
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corporate crime
by leon on July 22, 2008
The endless case of Conrad Black has moved into its latest phase, After the court rejected a plea to toss his conviction on fraud and lying about looting $6.1 million from his media empire, he is app...
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boards of directors
by leon on July 21, 2008
While heads have rolled in response to the financial crisis, boards of directors have remained relatively unscathed.As the Financial Times points out, there is a real shortage of director talent when...
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corporate crime
by leon on July 18, 2008
Never stand between an accounting firm and a bag of money.In the past we have seen KPMG getting embroiled in peddling tax havens for the rich. Now we are seeing revelations that UBS has been helping t...
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strategy
by leon on July 18, 2008
The crisis is the result of Orthodox business strategy.That's the view put forward by strategic adviser Umair Haque in his entry on the Harvard Business Review blog site, titled Saving Strategy F...
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markets
by leon on July 17, 2008
Some worrying news coming out of China.The Chinese economic juggernaut is slowing down and although it is still maintaining double digit growth, there is a problem with inflation and global setbacks ...
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corporate crime
by leon on July 17, 2008
Some traditions die hard. Corruption in the old Soviet Union was always an issue. But now it's taken on a very different form: corporate raiding.According to this article in the Moscow Times, the...
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Accounting
by leon on July 16, 2008
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the centerpiece of the sarbanes-oxley legislation, is under serious legal threat, reports Bloomberg's Jane Bryant Quinn.The legal challenge, brought...
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risk
by leon on July 16, 2008
How bad has it become at the once all-powerful General Motors?It was only the other day that the company's embattled chief executive Rick Wagoner was dismissing rumors of bankruptcy, claiming tha...
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markets
by leon on July 15, 2008
The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Max continue to raise questions.The US government's plan to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got the initial tick. The big investors supported a $US3 billio...
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Information About
, risk
by leon on July 15, 2008
How vulnerable are Web 2.0 applications to hackers and cyber crooks and adware threats?It's a question worth considering. Web 2.0 is designed to maximise participation, information sharing and c...
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risk
by leon on July 14, 2008
Back in March, we saw the bail out of Bear Stearns. But the US Treasury and US Federal Reserve rescue plan for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is much more serious and problematic. Bear Stearns was just a...
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markets
by leon on July 14, 2008
With Delta Air Line shareholders to vote in September on the prospective merger with Northwest Airlines, creating America's biggest airline, concerns are being raised about how anti-competitive t...
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Information About
, markets
by leon on July 12, 2008
An alarming survey from credit insurance giant Atradius.The 14-country survey found that a vast majority of companies, particularly those in the US, were expecting an impact down the track than what...
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Accounting
by leon on July 12, 2008
A case in the Pennsylvania supreme court in a case involving PricewaterhouseCoopers could set a precedent for accountant liability.At the center of the case is the creditor's committee for the ba...
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markets
by leon on July 11, 2008
Those ratings agencies have been bad.According to a Securities and Exchange Commission study, reported here, the agencies were assigning top ratings to junk investments, and the analysts knew exactly...
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corporate crime
by leon on July 11, 2008
Arms dealer BAE might be vowing to clean up after the Saudi bribery scandal but trouble is not going away.Swiss authorities have expanded their investigations into BAE following allegations that the ...
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corporate crime
by leon on July 10, 2008
In another sign that the administration is easing up on its fight against corporate crime, the US Justice Department is backing off from its hard-line that forces corporations to turn over confidenti...
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strategy
by leon on July 10, 2008
Is the end nigh for the US auto industry. Will the big three turn into two?That's the question raised by The Economist as it ponders the fate of GM, Ford and Chrysler. GM's stock has fallen t...
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Accounting
by leon on July 9, 2008
Interesting piece in CFO.com about the Securities and Exchange Commission round table about fair value. The session is expected to be a nuanced affair, which is hardly surprising given that the big f...
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risk
by leon on July 9, 2008
You would think at a time when the world is aware of the effects of climate change, that companies would be getting ready with some risk analysis. Think again.A new report from the Economist Intellig...
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Ethics
by leon on July 8, 2008
Australian tax authorities have enlisted the aid of the US Internal Revenue Service to pull in Crocodile Dundee star, millionaire Australian actor Paul Hogan, for tax liabilities, according to news r...
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risk
by leon on July 7, 2008
Another sign of desperate times! Expect a record number of arson incidents with the growing number of mortgage defaults, reports Bloomberg.Still, you would have to ask why people would do it when, as...
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risk
by leon on July 7, 2008
Some 12,000 Americans lose their laptops at airports every year, according to a Ponemon Institute study reported here.Still, let's get it in context. The study was sponsored by Dell which is usin...
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markets
by leon on July 4, 2008
This interview with financier George Soros in Stern magazine makes depressing reading.We are not only in the midst of the worst financial crisis in 30 years, says Soros. It's going to get a lot w...
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risk
by leon on July 4, 2008
Ratings agency Moody's has admitted that it incorrectly graded several European mortgage debt instruments because of a computer bug.The agency admits that it incorrectly gave its highest AAA rati...
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corporate crime
by leon on July 3, 2008
The Siemens saga goes from bad to worse. Already under investigation in Germany and by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice, the company has been hit with charges...
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SOX
by leon on July 3, 2008
When Sarbanes-Oxley was introduced nearly six years ago, it was supposed to improve the way audit committees and companies handled risk. Think again.Most companies are struggling to deal with risk, l...
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SOX
by leon on July 2, 2008
Plenty has been written about Sarbanes-Oxley being a licence to print money for accountants. But it's also done wonderful things for the shredding business, according to this news report.Since Sa...
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Compliance
by leon on July 2, 2008
Last month, I did a blog entry looking at how accountants were not ready for Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) which is supposed to make it easier for investors to analyze financial data....
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Ethics
by leon on July 2, 2008
Disturbing revelations from investigative reporter and tax expert David Cay Johnston on GE's Brazilian tax schemes.All the details are revealed in his piece Blame It on Rio: GE's Brazilian He...
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risk
by leon on July 2, 2008
If you thought we are over the worst of the economic slowdown, think again.In its latest report, the Bank for International Settlements warns that we could be at a "tipping point" and thing...
