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• Tuesday, 22 May 2012

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• Third Quarter Earnings High on Wall Street Agenda - 17 October 2011

Following a two-day meeting in Paris, finance ministers from the G20 countries revealed that they will take whatever action deemed necessary to ensure sufficient capitalization of banks and to stabilize wavering global financial markets. This pledge from the world's most powerful and influential economies comes hot on the heels of pledges by France and Germany to work together to rescue Eurozone countries in crisis. In a statement by US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner he noted that delegates at the weekend meeting heard encouraging things from European authorities regarding a comprehensive strategy to deal with Europe’s financial crisis.

• FCIC Urges: "Learn From History" - 31 January 2011

Many would agree with the sentiment that hindsight is the only exact science, or that hindsight is 20/20, and while some may go with the cliché of 'no use crying over spilt milk', there are times when analyzing exactly what went wrong is a valuable exercise, particularly when wanting to avoid a repeat performance. In the United States, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) was given the weighty task of investigating the causes, both domestic and global, of the 2007-2010 financial crisis, with the primary goal of correcting flaws in the system to prevent this type of crisis from every taking place again, but also to bring to light willful fraud and abuse that contributed to the financial chaos that went global.

• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - 27 September 2010

With its headquarters in Paris, France, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has a membership consisting of thirty-three nations, working together to find solutions to common problems. As outlined in their mission statement, the "OECD brings together the governments of countries committed to democracy and the market economy from around the world to: support sustainable economic growth; boost employment; raise living standards; maintain financial stability; assist economic development in other countries; and contribute to growth in world trade." To this end the OECD provides a platform for representatives of member governments to co-operate and learn from one another in a world that is becoming more of a global village with each passing day. In addition to sharing information between member nations, the OECD also communicates with more than 100 other countries on matters of mutual concern and interest.

• Information Asymmetry - 16 September 2010

Information asymmetry – where one party has superior information, putting the other party at a disadvantage - is often seen as the underlying cause of business transactions failing to meet expectations. Quoted examples of information asymmetry include "moral hazard" and "adverse selection", with the former being the change in behavior of one of the parties in relation to the level of risk, and the latter referring to a situation where a bad choice is made because of a lack of information available to the person making the choice.

• Stock Market Simulators - 6 September 2010

Few would disagree that being a stock market player must be one of the most stressful, but also the most exciting, career paths to follow – especially in light of the global financial turmoil over the past two years or so. Have you ever wondered what it must feel like to win, or lose, a fortune as a result of a single decision? Or if slow and steady is your way, how would you best go about building up a comfy nest-egg by investing in the stock market? Before you leap into the world of high finance, you can test your aptitude for stock market trading, without any of the financial risk, by means of a stock market simulator.

• 2010's First Quarter Results Remain Under Spotlight - 19 April 2010

The trickle of first quarter results released last week is set to gain momentum in the week ahead as 123 companies, representing around 25 percent of the S&P 500, make their results known. Last week's results from Intel, Google, Bank of America, General Electric and JP Morgan Chase, turned out to be better than expected, sparking a wave of optimism that this positive trend will continue in the weeks ahead. Companies expected to take the lion's share of attention include IBM, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Apple and Goldman Sachs – the financial powerhouse currently facing fraud charges relating to real estate securities and involving investor losses of up to $1 billion.

• Sarbanes-Oxley Act – Protecting Investor Interests - 4 March 2010

Enacted as a United States federal law on July 30, 2002, in response to the much-publicized financial scandals of corporate public companies such as Enron, Adelphia, Tyco International, WorldCom and Peregrine Systems, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is named after US Senator Paul Sarbanes and US Representative Michael G. Oxley who initiated it. Known in the US Senate as the 'Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act' and in the House as the 'Corporate and Auditing Accountability and Responsibility Act', it is more commonly referred to simply as Sarbox, or SOX.