Filed in archive
Ethics
by leon on October 31, 2008
People blame the market meltdown on greed. But that's simplistic.The downturn has been created by perverse systems in organizations. I explain all that in my column here.
Filed in archive
shareholder activism
by leon on October 31, 2008
The other day. I did a blog entry looking at whether credit cards would be the next shoe to drop. Clearly, with the US economy imploding and jobless claims up more than 44% on the year before, more w...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 30, 2008
There is a wonderful irony in the way hedge funds now are up for billions of dollars in losses after making a wrong bet on Germany's Volkswagen. As The Wall Street Journal tells us, they bet that...
Filed in archive
Accounting
by leon on October 30, 2008
Several weeks ago, I did a blog entry looking at American International Group's appalling accounting. There are serious questions about how this company claimed to be solvent when it was stopping...
Filed in archive
risk
by leon on October 29, 2008
Banks are tightening up, even cutting back, on credit cards as defaults rise, reports investors.com. With the percentage of credit card loans written off as not being paid on the rise, it is clear th...
Filed in archive
Accounting
by leon on October 29, 2008
The fight over fair value continues with a Securities and Exchange Commission roundtable set to look at the fair value, or mark-to-market issue. As CNN suggests, we can expect to see some fireworks. ...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 28, 2008
Home sales in the US have risen unexpectedly but let's hold off on the cheering. Look closely at the figures and you'll see that the US housing market is still in bad shape.Sales are still lo...
Filed in archive
strategy
by leon on October 28, 2008
Yesterday, I did a blog entry looking at how all these failed companies were lining up at the trough to get some of the $700 billion Paulson bailout package.Now, The Wall Street Journal tells us that...
Filed in archive
Ethics
by leon on October 27, 2008
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) working group on bribery has published a special review of the UK's record in fighting foreign bribery and it's not pret...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 27, 2008
The name of the game now is competing for a slice of the bailout. Insurers, automakers, securities dealers and banking types are all lining up for a slice of the action with the Financial Services Ro...
Filed in archive
regulators
by leon on October 26, 2008
In his book The Age of Turbulence, former Fed chief Alan Greenspan proclaimed that subprime was a good thing for America. "The gains were especially dramatic among Hispanics and blacks, as incre...
Filed in archive
Ethics
by leon on October 24, 2008
In another sign that the global economy is deteriorating fast, the European car industry is in serious strife.First, we have Fiat admitting that it's burning cash and it warns that its profit cou...
Filed in archive
corporate crime
by leon on October 24, 2008
Jailed for more than six years for Fraud, Conrad Black is "working", even if it's for gratis, for Tina Brown's web venture The Daily Beast.The disgraced businessman has taken to giv...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 23, 2008
So what are the bets for how long we will be in recession? In Britain, the Financial Times suggests one year with a one in three chance that it will last longer.Finland's Finance Minister Jyrki K...
Filed in archive
Ethics
by leon on October 23, 2008
As the search for culprits behind the meltdown continues, ratings agencies have found themselves in the gun. Executives from Moody's and Standard & Poor's have told Congress that the prob...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 22, 2008
A fascinating theory put up by the irrepressible Daniel Gross at Newseek that there is a correlation between the concentration of Starbucks outlets in a country's financial capital and the likeli...
Filed in archive
risk
by leon on October 22, 2008
Britain is about to enter a bad recession, warns the Bank of England Governor Mervyn King.The problem in Britain has been the ocean of credit that fueled the housing price bubble. Now that ocean is d...
Filed in archive
risk
by leon on October 22, 2008
Try and figure out the mind of the market, it's always a mystery. Shares in American Express rose 9% after it beat analysts estimates for third quarter earnings. That's despite a 23% drop in ...
Filed in archive
executive pay
by leon on October 22, 2008
Brother, can you spare a yacht. Times must be getting really tough with billionaire Carl Icahn planning to sell his 177 foot yacht for a cool $37 million.Cityfile provides us with the brochure showin...
Filed in archive
Ethics
by leon on October 20, 2008
It's bad enough that AIG presented a completely false picture of its finances in its 2007 annual report, including a sign off from the world's biggest audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers that e...
Filed in archive
corporate governance
by leon on October 20, 2008
Further evidence that US regulators are not at all interested in fixing the corporate governance mess that helped speed up the meltdown.As part of the $700 billion bailout package, the US Treasury sa...
Filed in archive
risk
by leon on October 20, 2008
The Bush administration's top economic adviser has finally told us something the world knew long ago: part of the US are already in deep recession. Nice to have a government that's in touch w...
Filed in archive
regulators
by leon on October 18, 2008
There are many explanations for the crash. Some blame it on greedy bankers and investment strategies that shunned trust and integrity. Others blame it on cheap money and low interest rates. But the m...
Filed in archive
risk
by leon on October 18, 2008
Why does the subprime meltdown remind me of our inability to deal with climate change? Both are the result of market failure, both are symptoms of the inability of government and markets to plan for ...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 18, 2008
Earlier this week, I did a blog entry on those who were able to predict the financial apocalypse now upon us.You can add financier George Soros. As John Cassidy suggests in the New York Review of Boo...
Filed in archive
risk
by leon on October 16, 2008
How did Barclays end up with Lehman Brothers contracts that it never meant to buy? Blame it on a formatting error involving an Excel spreadsheet.In a fascinating case, reported by The Register, Barcl...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 16, 2008
JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon summed it up well: "If you are not fearful, you're crazy."And that sound you hear, with the Dow Jones suffering its biggest drop since 1987, is hedge funds g...
Filed in archive
Ethics
by leon on October 15, 2008
What does the implosion of markets teach us about ethics? Britain's Business In The Community business development director Mallen Baker has some interesting insights in his piece Financial ethic...
Filed in archive
Ethics
by leon on October 15, 2008
Stunning CNN revelations about the US Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service and its so-called "cult of corruption".A report shows that the energy industry was lavishing t...
Filed in archive
Accounting
by leon on October 15, 2008
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is under attack for giving companies guidance on valuing assets in inactive markets, without changing the fair value rule.The FASB has sought to clarify the r...
Filed in archive
Accounting
by leon on October 15, 2008
In the downturn, companies are going to need to adjust their key performance indicators very quickly.In a boom market, the KPIs need to be build around getting the products and services out as quickl...
Filed in archive
Accounting
by leon on October 13, 2008
The churn rate for chief financial officers is continuing at the same level as last year, reports CFO.com.That is somewhat surprising but it will be interesting to see how it pans out in the economic...
Filed in archive
risk
by leon on October 13, 2008
With forecasts that the world is headed for its worst recession in 25 years, if it's lucky, the Huffington Post has run a timely piece on the ones who predicted the economic firestorm.They includ...
Filed in archive
strategy
by leon on October 12, 2008
Nothing concentrates a man's mind more than his execution.No surprises then that The Wall Street Journal reports that GM is now in talks with Chrysler about a merger. If the merger goes ahead, an...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 11, 2008
Fear and panic have gripped the world's markets. On Friday, Wall Street continued its plunge, with losses for the year reaching an amazing $8.3 trillion.But if you look at the data closely, you w...
Filed in archive
risk
by leon on October 11, 2008
That General Motors and Ford are in serious trouble is no big surprise. Standard & Poor's says it might cut their rating deeper into junk and specialists have told Bloomberg their liquidity l...
Filed in archive
corporate crime
by leon on October 9, 2008
Federal prosecutors, who are already prosecuting Bear Stearns hedge fund managers, have expanded their probe and there is a string of other fraud investigations under way.No surprises then that a con...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 9, 2008
A few weeks ago, I did a blog entry condemning the way regulators around the world had cracked down on short selling. At the time, I maintained that short sellers play an important role in the market...
Filed in archive
Accounting
by leon on October 8, 2008
Alarming stuff coming out with the House of Representative's Committee on Oversight and Government Reform probe into the debacle that is American International Group. A good summary from Business...
Filed in archive
risk
by leon on October 8, 2008
The US economy is even worse shape than expected if the latest figures are anything to go by.Consumer credit, or borrowing by consumers, has fallen to its lowest level on record and with the middle c...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 7, 2008
If Americans think they're doing it hard in this crisis, spare a thought for the folk in Iceland. The "Land of Fire and Ice" is close to bankruptcy because of the taste for debt, and th...
Filed in archive
Ethics
by leon on October 7, 2008
Last month, i did a blog entry . The issue there was the size of the bonuses given out in the lead up to the bankruptcy. Which raises the obvious question of whether they knew they were going down th...
Filed in archive
Ethics
by leon on October 6, 2008
More evidence that the US Government is cracking down on tax evasion. In April, actor Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years jail for tax evasion. As expected, he is appealing that sentence.Then ...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 6, 2008
Anyone who thinks Paulson's $700 billion bailout, which privatizes profits and socializes debt, will save the US economy, should think again.London-based investment consultancy Independent Strate...
Filed in archive
strategy
by leon on October 3, 2008
We are now seeing news reports that retirement is about to become a thing of the past. If only out of economic necessity. Boomers can't afford to retire now that the market has damaged retirement...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 3, 2008
The International Monetary Fund in its latest report warns that the US is headed for recession. And that is regardless of what happens with any bailout package. "The financial turmoil that began...
Filed in archive
SOX
by leon on October 2, 2008
For many years now, we have had an ongoing debate about whether Sarbanes-Oxley is forcing foreign companies to quit US equity markets.Now we have a new study Why do foreign firms leave U.S. equity ma...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 2, 2008
Now that the Senate has passed through the Senate, the heat is on the House to give it the green light. But take a look at the Bill, full of pork barrelling give-aways - including ridiculous items li...
Filed in archive
markets
by leon on October 1, 2008
A few weeks ago, I did a blog entry looking at how investment in renewable energy will eclipse the amount of money that poured into the Internet.?That's one big call. Still, now we have a Univers...
Filed in archive
corporate crime
by leon on October 1, 2008
Defense contractor BAE Systems is reeling from allegations that it was involved in bribery and corruption in relation to the Al-Yamamah arms contract with Saudi Arabia. As a result, the Financial Tim...
