The proposed Hedge Fund Transparency Act would require private investment funds to maintain books and records that the SEC requires. Presumably, if the Act passes the SEC would promulgate some regulations addressing what it would require. One place to look would be Rule 204-2 under the Investment Advisers Act. The other place would be Rule … Read more »
Year: 2009
The Group of Thirty Report on Financial Reform
The Group of Thirty released their latest report: Financial Reform – A Framework for Financial Stability.(.pdf) The report focuses on flaws in the global financial system and provides recommendations to improve the systems. The report project was led by Paul Volcker, Chairman, and Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa and Arminio Fraga Neto, Vice Chairmen. The rrport does not … Read more »
The Unexpected Benefits of Sarbanes Oxley
The April 2006 issue of the Harvard Business Review has an article by Stephen Wagner and Lee Dittmar on The Unexpected Benefits of Sarbanes Oxley. Although the article is somewhat dated when it talks about the second year under Sarbanes Oxley, it foretells some of the current thoughts in compliance. Compliance is good for business. Two … Read more »
Auditing Standard No. 5 for Smaller Companies
PCAOB released Staff Views for applying the provisions of PCAOB Standard No. 5 for audits of smaller, less complex public companies (.pdf) on January 23, 2009. Standard No. 5 is focused on assessing the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting. This Staff View of PCAOB Standard No. 5 discusses how to scale an audit … Read more »
Madoff in Limerick Form
Freakonomics ran a contest for the best definition for Bernie Madoff in limerick form. They had special guest judge Chris J. Strolin, founder and editor-in-chief of The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form announce The Winning Definition of “Madoff,” in Limerick Form. The best of the best was #98 by sqlman: His investments’ ascent: like … Read more »
Book Review: The Black Swan
I just finished reading The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The title of the book comes from the observations of Europeans that all swans are white. Much to their surprise, they came to Australia and found their first black swan. The book starts with this story to illustrate the “limitations to our learning from … Read more »
Dilbert on Business Ethics and Online Reviews
Published February 1, 2009 Read more »
When Markets Turn
The Economist ran a special report on the future of finance last week. One item caught my eye – When Markets Turn: A Parable of How Modern Finance Can Go Wrong. The story looks back at the collapse of the Long-Term Capital Management in 1998. The article puts some of the lessons of that funds … Read more »
Hedge Fund Transparency Act of 2009
Senators Chuck Grassley and Carl Levin introduced the Hedge Fund Transparency Act (S.344). Instead of amending the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (as Senator Grassley tried with S.1402 in the 110th Congress), this bill would amend the Investment Company Act of 1940. The first step is defining a “hedge fund.” (Not an easy task) Rather … Read more »
First Report of the Walker Guidelines Monitoring Group
The Guidelines Monitoring Group has published its First Report (.pdf) on the UK private equity industry’s conformity with the Walker Guidelines. The Guidelines are intended to have funds enhance their reporting and the reporting by their large portfolio companies. They define a portfolio company as one with a market capitalization (prior to be acquired) was … Read more »