Posts Tagged: SEC

SEC helps the mom and pop investors

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Income Taxes, Intermediate Accounting, Uncategorized.

According to Business Insider, the Securities and Exchange Commission is stepping up scrutiny of mutual fund investments in private companies, according to people with knowledge of the agency’s interest. Questions: What has been the problem with mutual funds investing in companies like Airbnb or WeWork? Which case is notorious for spiking the SEC’s interest in… Read more »

Bitcoin Investment Fads

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

According to Bloomberg.com, Bitcoin began the week on a down note, declining as much as 8.7 percent and pushing the biggest cryptocurrency’s decline for March to about 25 percent. Questions: 1. Who has confirmed that it will ban Bitcoin offering advertisements? 2. How is the SEC involved with Bitcoin in recent weeks? 3. Why have… Read more »

Investing In the Name of Christian Values?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Income Taxes, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Uncategorized.

Two new exchange-traded funds offer a “biblically responsible” investing approach by explicitly saying in their regulatory filing that they will avoid buying shares in companies that have “any degree of participation in activities that do not align with biblical values.” According to the New York Times, this includes what they call the lesbian, gay, bisexual… Read more »

Here we Go Again? Another Enron?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, IFRS, Intermediate Accounting, International Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

Short-seller and hedge fund manager, Jim Chanos, contends that the Alibaba Group is as problematic in its accounting positions as the now-defunct, corrupt energy giant, Enron. Questions: 1. What part of the company’s operations are most problematic and why? 2. What does cash flow have to do with this story? 3. What does Chanos claim… Read more »

Say it ain’t so, Phil.

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Professional golfer Phil Mickelson was recently named in an SEC complaint regarding insider trading information that he received from William Walters, a sports gambler. Questions: 1. During what period did the insider trading take place? 2. Phil has been named as a “relief defendant.” What does that mean? 3. What shares did Phil buy and… Read more »

Fantasy Accounting?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

According to the New York Times, a recent study shows that 90 percent of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index reported non-GAAP results last year, which is up from 72 percent in 2009. Questions: 1. Do you think investors truly understand the consequences of this? 2. Which one of the tactics used do… Read more »

Bye, Bye to Tens of Thousands of Dollars of Debt for a Certificate

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Despite intensive lobbying efforts and lawsuits by the Association of Proprietary Colleges (APC), a U.S. District federal judge denied a challenge to the Obama administration’s rules limiting the amount of debt students can carry in career-training programs. This decision delivers a blow to the deteriorating for-profit college industry. Questions: 1. What are the new rules… Read more »

Let the Punishment Fit the Crime

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

The Mikado explains his ambition of letting the punishment fit the crime in Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic work. The Mikado’s song could be the new theme song of the Securities and Exchange Commission, if dissenting commissioners prevail. The debate over a “one size fits all” penalty for misconduct is at the heart of what defines… Read more »

Congressional Insider Trading?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, Auditing, Financial Accounting, Fraud Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting.

Nineteen months ago, with only 20 minutes remaining in the trading day, a Washington-based broker-dealer, Height Securities, blasted out a “flash report” to nearly 200 clients, including hedge funds on Wall Street that predicted a raise in Medicare reimbursement rates. This sent many health insurance companies’ stocks soaring. Regulators are now trying to investigate insider… Read more »