A Houston jury Tuesday convicted Texas financier R. Allen Stanford on all but one of the charges he faced for allegedly bilking investors out of more than $7 billion in one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history. Questions: 1. Why, if Allen Stanford faces up to 20 years in prison for the most… Read more »
Posts Categorized: International Accounting
Prospects for Pandora
Internet radio’s popularity is growing, through smartphone apps and cars that allow smartphone owners to stream Web-served radio through Bluetooth wireless connections. However, this article indicates that there are bad times ahead for this company and the industry. Questions: 1. What is Pandora’s share of the total U.S. radio-listening market? 2. What does the article… Read more »
Look into Auto Refinancing
In the past few years, millions of homeowners have realized huge savings by refinancing their mortgages. Now, the refinancing craze is catching on in the car loans industry. According to this article refinancing could same your car might save you big time bucks. Questions: 1. According to the article, by how much have auto refinancing… Read more »
A Ponzi Scheme in Ohio
In September, a prominent member of the Amish community in Sugarcreek, Ohio was arrested and accused by federal prosecutors of running a Ponzi scheme that betrayed his neighbors’ trust and wiped out more than $16 million of their savings. The elderly defendant, Monroe L. Beachy, had been a respected financial figure in his community for… Read more »
Embrace Change
Kodak, the 131-year-old film pioneer, filed for bankruptcy protection last month. News got worse this week when the company announced they would stop doing what they were the first to ever do – manufacture digital cameras. Then on Feb. 15, Apple asked a bankruptcy court for permission to sue Kodak for patent infringement, resulting from… Read more »
Coinstar and Self-Service Retailing
Coinstar is a company that was founded just over two decades ago by Jens Molbak, who as a Stanford University graduate student, realized there wasn’t an easy way to spend the spare change piled up in a jar on top of his dresser. Since that time the company has become known for its Redbox kiosks,… Read more »
Chose Me
Have you ever wondered how some people get chosen to be profiled on a commercial? You may have seen the American Express Gold Card commercial featuring Sammy’s Fish Box, Sam Chernin’s flagship restaurant on City Island in the Bronx (one of five eateries he currently owns). Most small businesses would like to be featured on… Read more »
Traveling Electronically Naked
When Kenneth G. Lieberthal travels to China, he leaves his cellphone and laptop at home. As an expert at the Brookings Institute, he instead brings “loaner” devices, which he erases before he leaves the United States and then wipes clean the minute he returns. In China, he disables Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, never lets his phone… Read more »
Audit Irregularities
According to a report released on Feb. 15 in San Francisco county, about 400 recent foreclosures were determined to involve either legal violations or suspicious documentation. This recent report suggests how pervasive foreclosure irregularities may be across the nation. Questions: 1. What is the acronym for the mortgage database that was started in 1995 to track… Read more »
Are you a 5 percenter?
In a recent move, AT&T has reduced the speed it supplies to its heaviest users of data for the iPhone 4. Although customers thought they had an unlimited data plan, under a new policy, AT&T has started cutting their data speeds as part of an attempt to manage data usage on its network. Unlimited plans… Read more »