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Accounting
by leon on April 1, 2009
Last week, I did a blog entry on how the plans for the US to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) had slammed into reverse. The market meltdown has created widespread opposition t...
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risk
by leon on March 31, 2009
If anyone thinks recovery is just around the corner, they should read this speech from OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría. He paints a very grim picture.With trade flows expected to fall by 9% in 20...
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markets
by leon on March 30, 2009
Who would want to be a car chief today? It's become one of the world's worst jobs. Two have been sacked and there's more to come.First we have the Obama administration forcing General Mot...
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markets
by leon on March 30, 2009
The Japanese economy is sinking fast with the industrial output of the world's second biggest economy shrinking 9.4%.Last week, we had reports of retail sales in Japan falling 5.8% and Macquarie ...
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risk
by leon on March 28, 2009
London is bracing itself for the G20 protests with warnings from one of the organizers that there could be "real bankers hanging from lamp posts". Regardless of the hyperbole, it's anot...
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markets
by leon on March 28, 2009
There are lots of businesses that are cashing in on the recession and doing brilliantly. Not just pawnshops and discount stores but also alcohol, gaming and strangely enough, gardening supply special...
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risk
by leon on March 27, 2009
Last week, I did a blog entry on the International Monetary Fund warning that there might be a small recovery next year if there are comprehensive and co-ordinated global policies, and if commodity p...
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Information About
, markets
by leon on March 27, 2009
People are losing jobs and money but they're healthier than before.So says economics professor Chris Ruhm from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In this interview , Ruhm says peopl...
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markets
by leon on March 27, 2009
George Soros is having a very good crisis. When the wheels started coming off in 2007, Soros came out of semi-retirement and took back control of his Quantum investment fund. By year's end, Quant...
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regulators
by leon on March 27, 2009
With Bloomberg reporting that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is moving to tighten up the rules for monster hedge funds, private- equity firms and derivatives markets, it's worth looking at w...
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Accounting
by leon on March 26, 2009
Earlier this month, I ran an interview with International Accounting Standards Board member Warren McGregor on a number of issues including the question of whether the United States would adopt the g...
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strategy
by leon on March 26, 2009
And so the newspaper carnage continues with reports that the Ann Arbor News will fold after 174 years of operations and news that the Daily Mail in England will cut 1000 jobs because advertising is d...
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markets
by leon on March 24, 2009
Sometimes I really struggle to understand investors and markets. They get overrun by the spirits of irrational exuberance and sent to another planet.Yesterday, the Dow soared 7% as investors embraced...
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markets
by leon on March 24, 2009
Economist and forecaster Harry S Dent has predicted that over the next twenty years, the US dollar will lose its power as the world's reserve currency. He reckons the the premier currency in Asia...
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regulators
by leon on March 23, 2009
So Timothy Geithner outlines his plan to save the US financial system this morning in The Wall Street Journal. in that piece, he unveils the Public Private Investment Program which will use US Treasu...
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strategy
by leon on March 23, 2009
It definitely is, says Professor Eric Clemons from The Wharton School.In this TechCrunch piece , Clemons argues that the drop in Internet advertising was not unpredictable and was always going to happ...
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Ethics
by leon on March 23, 2009
The International Herald Tribune reports that Barack Obama is about to give itself increased oversight of executive pay at banks and Wall Street firms. The new rules, it's said, are likely to tie...
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risk
by leon on March 21, 2009
Some of the most disturbing reports now coming out of the US tell us that AIG employees are now living in fear. Now we're told employees have been told to avoid sporting the company logo and to t...
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strategy
by leon on March 20, 2009
The Walt Disney Company seems to have stunned everyone with its latest corporate responsibility report which says it will aim for zero net greenhouse gas emissions and reducing indirect greenhouse ga...
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markets
by leon on March 20, 2009
There will be no turnaround this year, or next if the latest International Monetary Fund report is anything to go by. The IMF says global GDP has fallen by an unprecedented 5% in the fourth quarter a...
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Ethics
by leon on March 20, 2009
Is this a warning of things to come?An alarming story out of the Los Angeles Times about looting in a supermarket in Israel that went bankrupt. According to the piece, ex-employees took their revenge...
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corporate crime
by leon on March 19, 2009
The US Securities and Exchange Commission charging Bernard Madoff's accountant David G. Friehling, with securities fraud, aiding and abetting investment adviser fraud, and four counts of filing f...
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Accounting
by leon on March 19, 2009
What happens when you are not happy with the accounting rule-makers? Bring in a new one.That seems to be the proposal from Edward L. Yingling from the American Bankers' Assocation. He has recomme...
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Accounting
by leon on March 19, 2009
The rule maker for accounting standards is coming under pressure again. Once more the Europeans are putting the heat on the International Accounting Standards Board to change the rules and let the ba...
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executive pay
by leon on March 18, 2009
With shareholders up in arms about massive pay packages, it's worth looking at two interesting proposals.The first comes from corporate governance watchdog Regnan which has recommended capping &q...
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regulators
by leon on March 17, 2009
Mortgage fraud is on the rise, up 26%, and it's a serious problem. Fewer loans are being processed but there's more fraud, suggesting there is a real sickness in the system. It means people a...
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strategy
by leon on March 17, 2009
The obituaries for the newspaper industry are rolling in with the death of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer .The Financial Times says there might be two hopes for the industry: that charitable endowmen...
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risk
by leon on March 16, 2009
Earlier this month, I did a blog entry suggesting that we should not expect any deal to come out of Copenhagen at the end of this year to stop climate change.Now more alarmingly, we have the Copenhag...
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regulators
by leon on March 16, 2009
The political fallout from the AIG bailout will be massive. With $165 million in US taxpayers' money going to pay executive bonuses, the Obama administration is bailing itself for a backlash. It ...
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markets
by leon on March 14, 2009
Forget the irresponsible headline in Forbes, Tide Turns For Wall Street following this week's solid trading figures.Maybe they should have a cold shower, or at least check the fundamentals. This ...
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regulators
by leon on March 13, 2009
So Bernard Madoff is now in jail after pleading guilty to 11 charges including securities fraud. And he has apologised to the investors he scammed, claiming he was "painfully aware" that he...
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strategy
by leon on March 13, 2009
Some fascinating Gallup research showing that 41% of Americans think that global warming is exaggerated (for that read, a hoax). What's fascinating here is that the numbers are on the rise. Two y...
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strategy
by leon on March 12, 2009
Last month, I did a blog entry on how newspapers were dying.Now we have Gawker reporting that San Francisco Chronicle journalists are talking to investors about buying the paper and restructuring it ...
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markets
by leon on March 12, 2009
Shed a tear for the rich. In some of the most cringe-making reporting I've seen yet, we have the news that number of millionaires in the United States has fallen by more than a quarter because of...
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Accounting
by leon on March 11, 2009
I recently had a chat with Warren McGregor who is a member of the International Accounting Standards Board. Here is the interview.SOX FIRST: Last year, the IASB got rolled by the Europeans and was fo...
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strategy
by leon on March 11, 2009
All over the world, financial services firms are sacking workers. An International Labor Organisation (ILO) report says there were 325,000 layoffs around the world between August 2007 and 12 February...
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markets
by leon on March 11, 2009
Last week, I did a blog entry on how the crash will reshape America's geography, starting with the observation that you can buy a good sized family home in Detroit for $7500 (that's right: se...
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markets
by leon on March 10, 2009
Back last year, I did a blog entry asking how long the recession would last. At the time, I said it could take as long as five years to work its way through the system which would take it up to 2013....
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risk
by leon on March 9, 2009
The chances of reaching a global accord on climate change are sinking fast, according to two leading climate scientists. The Times reports that Professor Kevin Anderson, director of the Tyndall Centr...
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risk
by leon on March 9, 2009
Looks like the United States is going to drag the rest of the world into a global recession with the World Bank warning that the global economy is going to shrink for the first time since World War T...
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risk
by leon on March 8, 2009
Fascinating to read the corporate speak in GM's FastLane blog which, as you would expect, plays down any prospect of the company going bust.The company's Vice President, Global Communications...
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regulators
by leon on March 6, 2009
Whether you call it restructuring or nationalization, it's a play on words. The banks will have to be taken over to restore them back to health.As Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf says, &quo...
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risk
by leon on March 6, 2009
When the history of GM is finally written, 2009 will go down as the year of the dead man walking.The New York Times reports that auditors Deloitte say GM's survival is in serious doubt, and that&...
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markets
by leon on March 5, 2009
Stocks around the world have risen in the hope that China will build on its efforts to restore growth. That's in response to Chinese premier Wen Jiabao pledging that China will hit its 8% growth ...
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markets
by leon on March 5, 2009
In case you've spent the last few months under a rock, things are looking very bad for the rest of this year. As Forbes reports, the US Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book shows that the US e...
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, strategy
by leon on March 4, 2009
Another sign that the US economy is headed down the tube with the New York Times reporting that debt collectors are now targeting the next of kin of the dead to collect debts. It's a new marke...
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risk
by leon on March 3, 2009
Yesterday, I did a blog entry giving Warren Buffett's warning that the US economy will remain in a shambles for at least all of 2009. But if yesterday's performance of the Dow Jones Industria...
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risk
by leon on March 3, 2009
The recession sweeping through America will reshape the major cities. One of the most obvious places is Detroit which, according to this news report, would have the cheapest houses in the country. Th...
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markets
by leon on March 3, 2009
Some dire predictions from billionaire Warren Buffett.In his letter to shareholders, in Berkshire Hathaway's 2008 annual report Buffett says the economy will remain a shambles this year "and...
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risk
by leon on March 2, 2009
Early last month, I did a blog entry looking at how the global downturn was creating urban unrest and violence and how it, in a replay of what we saw in the 1930s, was threatening democracy.Now added...
