The Managed Funds Association put together a Model Due Diligence Questionnaire for Hedge Fund Investors (.pdf). This questionnaire was designed to identify the kinds of questions that a potential investor may wish to consider before investing in a Hedge Fund. The questions that may help amplify on or provide additional details to the disclosure in … Read more »
Sound Practices for Hedge Fund Managers
The Managed Funds Association updated its Sound Practices for Hedge Fund Managers (.pdf) in November, 2007 in response to the initial drafts of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. The objectives of Sound Practices are to: Strengthen business practices of the hedge fund industry through a strong framework of internal policies and practices Encourage … Read more »
What is a Hedge Fund?
The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Report of the Asset Managers’ Committee uses this as a definition of “hedge fund.” By “hedge fund” we mean a pooled investment vehicle that generally meets most, if not all, of the following criteria: (i) it is not marketed to the general public (i.e., it is privately offered), … Read more »
Establishing an Integrated Risk Management Framework
Scott Kwarta, Director of Advisory Services at OpenPages, Inc., put together a presentation on Establishing an Integrated Risk Management Framework (.pdf). I like this depiction of the risk management cycle: Read more »
What is Enterprise Risk Management?
The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission adopts this definition of Enterprise Risk Management: Enterprise risk management is a process, effected by an entity’s board of directors, management and other personnel, applied in strategy setting and across the enterprise, designed to identify potential events that may affect the entity, and manage risk to … Read more »
Second Circuit Affirms Ionia Management Case
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals focused on the standard for convicting a company of criminal charges for acts of its managers and employees in US v. Ionia. The Second Circuit declined to change the standards for corporate criminal liability and keeps Respondeat Superior in place. The court found there was ample evidence that the … Read more »
Boston University’s Code of Conduct
For a change of pace, I thought I would look at the codes of conduct for educational institutions for their take on the issues. Boston University has an easy to find page with the President’s Statement of Commitment to Ethical Conduct with a link to the BU’s Code of Ethical Conduct. Boston University is committed … Read more »
CEO Pay and the Lake Wobegon Effect
Rachel Hayes and Scott Schaefer of the University of Utah have published CEO Pay and the Lake Wobegon Effect in the Journal of Financial Economics. The central tenet is that every CEO wants to be paid above average because that means the company is performing above average. Read more »
President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Reports
Asset Managers’ Committee and the Investors’ Committee of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Reports have released their best practices reports for hedge fund managers and investors, respectively: Asset Managers’ Committee Report (.pdf) and the Investors’ Committee Report (.pdf). In the Asset Manager’s Committee Report: A Manager should establish a comprehensive and integrated compliance … Read more »
Document Retention Policies and Spoliation of Evidence
In a recent case, a court found the implementation of a document retention policy to amount to the spoliation of evidence and imposed the “nuclear” sanction of declaring the suit unenforceable. In the case of Micron Tech. v. Rambus in the U.S. District Court for Delware, Judge Sue Robinson was addressing the effect of Rambus’ … Read more »