Wed Feb8, 2017 Now that over 2,000 community banks have been put out of business due to compliance costs, Barney Frank thinks the smaller banks should be excluded from some of the rules. Earth to Barney and Janet, it should not take a 1,500 page document to outlaw dangerous debt.  I doubt either of you…

Tuesday January  31 2017   I suggested in class that students 'adopt' a company and read the annual report by the sections we cover in class. In this way you will learn the parts of the report and how it is constructed. How important is this, well here is an ad for such a 10K…

Weekend January 7, 2016 I have always been skeptical of the LCM rule. This holds that retailers mark down their inventory to the lower of cost or sales price less cost to sell. I have always maintained that if the stuff on aisle seven is not moving out the door the retailer lowers the price…

Friday Dec  30 2016 From today's WSJ Obama’s Regulations Aren’t the Only Trump Target The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has multiplied audit costs for small firms and slowed IPOs—for what benefit?     By John Berlau and Daniel Cody Dec. 29, 2016 6:26 p.m. ET 20 COMMENTS President-Elect Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress have pledged…

Monday Dec 5, 2016 We have written many times about the difficulties at Sears. CEO Eddie Lampert has been selling off various parts to the point that there is nothing left. Now suppliers are reluctant to ship inventory for fear of a bankruptcy in which they might not get paid. With only half the inventory…

Monday Nov 28 2016 Charlie Munger and Donald Trump agree on a few things.    

Weekend Nov 19 Elon Musk, like Santa Claus is everywhere.  He is shooting rockets into space, merging Tesla with Solar City, and promising an affordable 35K electric car in a couple of years. But Tesla has yet to produce any cash flow to support itself. It has existed on government subsidy, and issuing stock and…

Tuesday Nov 15, 2016 We are studying stock option compensation in ACCT 3304. Here is an article about indexing stock options. As the author notes, it may be that a bull market carries a company's stock price higher, even though it is not outperforming its rivals. The author suggests indexing the option award to an…

Monday Nov 14, 2016 Toyota was hit with a weaker market as well as currency losses in the latest quarter. Currency gains and losses are a component of Other Comprehensive Income or OCI. This is part of the shareholder equity statements. Spiceland refers to OCI as non owner income reflectin unrealized investments gains and losses…

Thursday Nov 10, 2016 Turmp's financial team looks solid and experienced. And notice,  no matter who is in the White House, Goldman Sachs always has their man on the scene…