...America's largest corporations. Enron's collapse affected the lives of thousands of employees, many pension funds and shook Wall Street to its very core. To this day, many wonder how a company so big and so powerful disappeared almost overnight. How did it manage to fool the regulators and the Wall Street community for so long, with fake off-the-books corporations? What is the overall lasting impact that Enron has had on the investment community and the country in general? Tutorial: Introduction To Accounting Collapse of a Wall Street Darling By the fall of 2000, Enron was starting to crumble under its own weight. CEO Jeffrey Skilling had a way of hiding the financial losses of the trading business and other operations of the company; it was called mark-to-market accounting. This is used in the trading of securities, when you determine what the actual value of the security is at the moment. This can work well for securities, but it can be disastrous for other businesses. In Enron's case, the company would build an asset, such as a power plant, and immediately claim the projected profit on its books, even though it hadn't made one dime from it. If the revenue from the power plant was less than the projected amount, instead of taking the loss, the company would then transfer these assets to an off-the-books corporation, where the loss would go unreported. This type of accounting created the attitude that the company did not need profits, and that, by using the mark-to-market...
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...Accounting scandals are political or business scandals which arise with the disclosure of financial misdeeds by trusted executives of corporations or governments. Such misdeeds typically involve complex methods for misusing or misdirecting funds, overstating revenues, understating expenses, overstating the value of corporate assets or underreporting the existence of liabilities, sometimes with the cooperation of officials in other corporations or affiliates. In public companies, this type of "creative accounting" can amount to fraud, and investigations are typically launched by government oversight agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States. Causes: It is fairly easy for a top executive to reduce the price of his/her company's stock – due to information asymmetry. The executive can accelerate accounting of expected expenses, delay accounting of expected revenue, engage in off balance sheet transactions to make the company's profitability appear temporarily poorer, or simply promote and report severely conservative (e.g. pessimistic) estimates of future earnings. Such seemingly adverse earnings news will be likely to (at least temporarily) reduce share price. (This is again due to information asymmetries since it is more common for top executives to do everything they can to window dress their company's earnings forecasts). There are typically very few legal risks to being 'too conservative' in one's accounting and earnings estimates...
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...[pic] Case Analysis The COLLAPSE OF BARING BANK (Individual Assignment) BU 041 Why Corporate Social Responsibility Matters Name: Ou Yang Ning Xiao Term: January 2012 Lecturer: Mr. Issac Leung Due Date: 29th February 2012 Words count: 2133 words TABLE OF CONTENT Executive Summary-----------------------------------------------------Page 3 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------- Page 4 CSR Problem within the Barings Bank----------------------------- Page 5 FIVE Acts to Prevented Leeson from Destroying the Bank---- Page 7 Why SOX not Prevent the Fraud------------------------------------ Page 9 How monitor the ethical standard----------------------------------- Page 10 Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------- Page 11 Reference----------------------------------------------------------------- Page 12 Executive Summary This report is through the case analysis about the collapse of Baring Bank, to talk about how the corporate social responsibility influences a company. Through the related CSR problems in Baring bank and trying to find what matters that the organization lack of. In addition to know more about how CSR effect the global business environment, depends on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the report talk about the five acts can possibly prevented Leeson to destroy the company. And also discuss why the SOX act is not effective which lead...
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...BFF9515 Options, Futures and Risk management Group assignment Semester 1, 2014 Due date: 16.05.2014 BFF5915 Group Assignment Part 1 1. Compute Beta * Method: First, compute the returns of each stocks and the return of the index. They can be calculated using excel with the formula: (current price / the previous price) – 1, Second, use covariance and variance function in excel to calculate the beta of each stock. Third, multiply each beta with the corresponding weight to calculate the portfolio beta. * The beta for each stocks and the beta for portfolio (see table 1.1) Details can be seen in sheet “EquityReturnData” in the data file “Data.xlsx”. Table 1.1 The Beta(s) of Stocks and Portfolio Name | Code | Weight | Beta | CROWN RESORTS | 51333T(RI) | 7.25% | 0.8039 | COMMONWEALTH BK.OF AUS. | 314054(RI) | 7.26% | 0.8950 | NATIONAL AUS.BANK | 901842(RI) | 3.74% | 1.1317 | COCHLEAR | 871051(RI) | 3.96% | 0.8402 | WESTFIELD GROUP | 912307(RI) | 2.56% | 0.7096 | TELSTRA | 871685(RI) | 4.60% | 0.5050 | MACQUARIE GROUP | 865438(RI) | 4.36% | 1.4238 | INVOCARE | 28047X(RI) | 3.87% | 0.7210 | FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GP. | 871048(RI) | 4.28% | 1.0063 | CSL | 131775(RI) | 4.89% | 0.6488 | SLATER & GORDON | 50509L(RI) | 4.79% | 0.3001 | JB HI-FI | 27736M(RI) | 4.50% | 0.8261 | CARSALES.COM | 67967W(RI) | 4.54% | 0.8459 | WOOLWORTHS | 322714(RI) | 4.86% | 0.5500 | FORTESCUE METALS GP. | 314160(RI) | 7.15% | 1.8687 | The Portfolio...
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...EMBA - OT “GLOBAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK & STRATEGIES” INDIVIDUAL PAPER “ ENRON CASE” Name : Suharto NIM : 13262051 “ Analyze Enron’s Case as PTCV according to the 5 Theory in and Relation to Act no 40/2007” Executive Summary Piercing the corporate veil is the judicial act of imposing personal liability on otherwise immune corporate officers, directors, and shareholders for the corporation’s wrongful act (Black Law Dictionary). In other words, courts may pierce the "veil" that the law uses to divide the corporation (and its liabilities and assets) from the people behind the corporation. The veil creates a separate, legally recognized corporate entity and shields the people behind the corporation from personal liability. In Enron Case , mulltiple corporate governance mechanisms, both internal and external, failed to constrain the actions of Enron's management team: • In particular, Enron's board failed to oversee management and apparently did not understand the risks inherent in the firm's business strategy. • It also appears that several board members and the external auditor faced potential conflicts of interest that attenuated their role as monitors. • Further, the board, analysts (credit and equity), external auditors, and federal agencies failed to identify problems at Enron or did not respond to obvious signs that there were problems at the firm. • Finally, Enron's role as a dominant player in nascent and inefficient markets, afforded the firm's management the opportunity to...
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...Enterprise Risk Management at Hydro One (A) An early adopter of Enterprise Risk Management, energy giant Hydro One anticipated new threats and opportunities in an industry that faced climate change and carbon legislation, the deregulation of electricity markets, and the greater adoption of renewable technologies. CEO Laura Formusa felt Hydro One's risk profile had shifted, to the extent that she had to ask herself -- was the strategy tenable? The case provides a rich description of Enterprise Risk Management in action, and shows how Hydro One executives arrive at a shared understanding of the risk profile of the company. In the narrative a diverse group of managers (the chief executive, the chief financial officer, the head of the public relations and the chief regulatory officer) voice their views on the risks, collectively bringing a multiple stakeholder perspective to the risk profile. The case challenges students to define the problems and risks that the company faces, given its strategic objectives, its evolving risk profile, and the changing environment. The case also offers a discussion ground for defining the role of the chief risk officer, and the relationship between risk management, strategic planning and capital budgeting. Procomp Informatic: Stepping on Ethical Landmines in Asia The collapse of Procomp Informatics Ltd, a major Taiwanese chipmaker, has been regarded by Taiwan's market watchdogs as similar to the scandal of the U.S. energy giant Enron in 2001....
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...support received from the U.S. government, AIG has modified its operations and structure to strengthen its financial condition and enhance the enterprise value of its nucleus of businesses to meet working capital needs and repay obligations to U.S. taxpayers. To meet these objectives, AIG has focused on four main priorities: • Building AIG’s enterprise value by strengthening its international property and casualty and domestic life insurance businesses • Repaying loans from the U.S. government by divesting and monetizing appropriate assets • Reducing operating costs by conducting a comprehensive review of AIG’s cost structure • Reducing excessive risk by winding down AIG’s exposure to certain financial products and derivatives trading activities Since September 2008, AIG has made substantial progress protecting and enhancing the value of its key businesses, restoring AIG’s financial strength, bolstering corporate governance, instilling a performance management culture, reducing risk, and repaying U.S. taxpayers. Risk Reduction AIG has been executing a clear, methodical, and orderly wind-down of AIG Financial Products Corp. (AIGFP), which is the business that wrote the credit default swaps that were a significant source of AIG’s liquidity issues in 2008. AIGFP reduced the notional amount of its derivative portfolio by 46 percent from $940.7 billion at December 31, 2009, to $505.8 billion at September 30, 2010. AIG has also reduced its exposure to its Securities Lending...
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...| The 2008-2009 Credit Crises Executive Summary The Great Depression was when America faced the worst economic catastrophe in history. It wasn’t until the nineties that the financial industry started to re-invent itself for the purpose of making more money. Banks became successful at modifying legislation and creating ventures that would profit investors. The level of risk involved with the securities produced was ignored. Initially, the securities that were built were not expected to fail. When the home loan industry began to breakdown it became clear that something needed to be done. Legislation that the financial industry was trying to avoid was necessary. The Dodd-Frank Act was enacted as a result. Introduction The financial industry is currently facing a number of challenges such as poor investment strategies, improper activities by lenders and poor ethical standards within investment companies. Over the last 3 years more than 200 financial institutions within the United States have ceased to exist because of the 2008-2009 credit crises. Restoring confidence in the financial environment has been an uphill battle since the credit crises began. Today banks that were not able to sustain operations are being acquired by others that are more stable which causes the long-standing institutions to become more risky. As a result the acquisitions are dramatically affecting the remaining banks and further weakening the finance industry. Banks have been searching...
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...economy in the world, experienced internal and external economic impacts. In the year of 2007, China’s economic development reached its pick. With the expectation of CNY appreciation, hot money flooded into China. As a result of this, the price of investment asset surged up sharply. The housing price tripled, and the Shanghai stock index reached to a historical level of 6300 from less than 3000 with in one year. The wealth effect from the high investment asset price stimulated consumption. Moreover, China was keeping its high net exports trading volume and fixed asset investment. The GDP growth rate exceeded 10%. However, the financial bubble broke in the US, and a chain reaction directly affected China. In 2008, all economic indictors shown that China’s development slowed down. Stock market can be regarded as the forecaster of economic. The Shanghai stock index dropped to 1900 from 6300. Affected by recession in international trading partners, the export also decreased sharply. Facing these problems, Chinese government proposed a basket of economic stimulation plans. The most influential one is the CNY 4000 billion infrastructure investment plan. Due to the stimulation, China’s GDP kept its 8% growth. The global financial crisis is far from end. In 2011, EU sovereign debt crisis made the world economic...
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...Red flags were blinding as Enron learned about possible corruption with Enron Oil Trading in Valhalla, New York. After the merger between HNG and InterNorth, the Valhalla office, originally established by InterNorth seemed all but forgotten until quarterly and annual reports were due. Supervisors Tom Harding and Steve Sulentic were rarely on-site, preferring the comfort of offices in Houston. Louis Borget who established and operated the trading business was an autocratic manager, receiving excessive incentive payment for profitable performance. Between 1984 - 1986, Valhalla continued to report profits in the emerging oil trading industry. A call to Enron in Houston by Apple Bank would shatter the false sense of security regarding Valhalla. An ensuing investigation by Arthur Andersen, an accounting firm employed by Enron, failed to produce concrete evidence of misappropriation within Valhalla. Questionable practices were identified, but Enron failed to react appropriately to this information. CEO Lay was able to persuade key executives within Enron and the board of directors to keep running Valhalla offices, with minor changes in personnel. Mick Seidl, unhappy with Lay’s influence over the board, called Mike Muckelroy to investigate Valhalla. Muckelroy’s investigation would become the tipping point regarding Valhalla. With a secret set of books discovered, fraudulent trading entities identified and $1 billion of hidden debt revealed, this obscure office of...
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...Lawrence Technological University College of Management Safi S. Alsanoosy FIN- 6063 April-16-2012 Instructor: Dr. David Alldice Contents A- Introduction 3 B- Causes of financial Crisis 2007-2008 3 i- Role of mortgage lenders 4 ii- Role of mortgage Borrowers 5 iii- Role of investment bankers 5 iv- Role of Credit rating agencies 7 v- Role of CDO Investors and hedge funds 8 C- Impact of crisis on financial institutions and Lehman Brothers 8 D- Measures to mitigate financial crisis 11 E- Conclusion 15 F- References 17 A- Introduction The subprime mortgage crisis happened in the U.S. financial system into the most horrible recession from the time when the Great Depression. This report tracks how the subprime mortgage crisis outspread, disturbing first the housing sector and then the economy on the whole. When banks started lending to subprime borrowers, it looked immense. Unexpectedly, anyone could get a house through a mortgage loan, even with modest or no money down payment. Nevertheless not the entire of those mortgage borrowers were high-quality nominees for the mortgage loan. The defaults of these subprime mortgage borrowers helped lash out the subprime crisis. (Rudd, 2009). The circumstances of the mortgage markets became more deteriorated due to the involvement of Investment Banks in underwriting the mortgage loans. The amplified exploitation of the secondary mortgage markets by lenders further to the numeral of subprime mortgages...
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...Banking Industry and the Economy Ja’Net McQueen Slater Strayer University Birmingham, AL Instructor: Dr. Lisa Kincaid Research and Communication- RES 531 April 18th, 2010 Context of the Problem Today the economy is at its worst than it’s ever been before since the 1940s. Unemployment is at a record high as well as companies that are continuing to close down due to financial issues. The housing markets, auto industry, banking industry, & loss of jobs are all major things that are being affected by the way the US is spending money. The housing market and banking industry are both some of the main things that are having a major affect on the U.S. and to how this affects all other aspects of daily living. Some people may ask, “How did we get this way”? Over the past 180 years the United States grew to a huge, integrated, industrialized economy that makes up over a quarter of the world economy. The main causes were a large unified market, a supportive political-legal system, vast areas of highly productive farmlands, vast natural resources (especially timber, coal and oil), an entrepreneurial spirit, a commitment to investing in material and human capital, and at times a willingness to exploit labor. In addition, the U.S. was able to utilize these resources due to a unique set of institutions designed to encourage utilization and extraction. The economy has maintained high wages, attracting immigrants by the millions from all over...
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...An Improved Pedagogy of Corporate Finance: a Constrained Shareholder Wealth Maximization Goal by Michael R. Santos , Gina Vega , John T. Barkoulas INTRODUCTION Bloom's taxonomy (1956) has guided pedagogical structure and innovation for half a century in the United States, and its focus on developmental learning remains relevant and instructive for us. The six developmental levels (knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) separate basic knowledge acquisition from the critical thinking and analytical skills necessary for making ethical decisions or judgments. Answering questions about business ethics requires knowledge from multiple disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, political science, sociology, economics, finance, organizational management, and law. Analyzing such a vast body of data in ethical frameworks requires the highest levels (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) of critical thinking as expressed in the taxonomy. Corporate governance, an interdisciplinary subject addressed in all these disciplines, explores the inter- workings of both for-profit firms and not-forprofit firms and is an area requiring business students to evaluate ethical issues when making decisions. Despite the broad responsibility of teaching corporate governance in the finance classroom, the pedagogy of finance has been restricted to ideas derived primarily from economics, statistics, and finance. Competing ideas from other disciplines are generally...
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...| Research Paper Prospectus | Economics Capstone | 02/12/2012 | Since the U.S. banking crisis of 2007, more than 280 banks in the United States have failed and presently continue to do so. With the closures of these banks, jobs were lost; and the economy has suffered greatly. The banking crisis of 2007 has been considered the largest since the Great Depression. Many researchers, policymakers, economists, and other individuals blame the subprime mortgage market and its collapse for triggering the U.S crisis; many also wonder how such a relatively small market as subprime could cause so much trouble around in the U.S, especially financial institutions that did not get involved with subprime lending or with investment in subprime securities. This paper analyzes financial and economic circumstances associated with the United States financial turmoil that has led to the banking crisis. Section 1 analyzes the collapse of the subprime mortgage market in the United States and outlines factors associated with it. Section 2 outlines the economic factors that led to the banking crisis in 2007. Section 3 summarizes suggestions of research about how to remedy the current crisis and possibly avoid crises in the future. Section 4 will discuss the conclusion of the research. The first signs of the subprime mortgage market collapse in the United States were very high and unusual even for subprime market delinquency and foreclosure rates for mortgages originated in 2006 and 2007. Reinhart...
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...Chrysler A big consulting powerhouse published a report on the banking industry during the financial crises. Name the firm and the title of the report. pwc and banking banana skins 2010 Name the parent company who owns this product. This company had 5 products in the same market but decided to phase out and retain only this product because it believed that the market segment of the 5 products is blurred and cannibalizing each other’s market share. Dell It was a major expansion program devised by the consulting firm of McKinsey & Co. Using this strategy, the client company aimed to grow its market share through the acquisition of small airlines rather than entering into alliance agreements. The strategy failed with mounting debt and continuous losses resulting in a liquidity crunch which finally led to the grounding of the company. Name the Strategy and...
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