Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M
Thursday January 20 2011
I mentioned the looming municipal defaults in class. Here Vallejo CA defaults to bond holders. There is much to learn here and that is what I meant about your need to expand your reading.
Please read this article to
see why I link to Mish
what does Chapter 9 bankruptcy mean
why is Vallejo in bankruptcy
is this test case a tipping point, if so what does that mean?
Pensions are a topic in Intermed II , what is the meaning of pension liability, why is that such an issue
Thursday January 20, 2011
Do you care what Lance Armstrong did?
I mentioned in a post yesterday the FDA investigation into Lance Armstrong. This of course takes lots of time and money. As Business Insider asks in the hyperlink, do you really want the FDA spending time and money on this?
A big controversy is the length of time FDA takes to approve drugs as well as the denial of potential life saving drugs here in the US that are available elsewhere. So what is the FDA doing, investigating baseball players an cyclists. Isn't that a job for the Commissions that rule baseball and cycling? Vote your opinion at the hyperlink.
Thursday January 20, 2011
Yesterday in the cost class I explained the reason that class exists. The reason is the decline in the US role in manufacturing. During World War II the US gained a world lead in manufacturing. By the 1970s it was gone. Click on the hyper link to see how it has shrunk just since 2001.
The text often assumes we are manufacturing particularly in the chapter on budgets in Whitecotton. This is unrealistic in my view. Lately manufacturing employment has picked up. But frankly employers now view American employees as a liability, they simply cost too much money. And so the jobs go elsewhere. All iPads are built at Foxconn a Chinese company where workers have been so stressed they have committed suicide. There are now bars over the windows to keep people from jumping from the buildings. Yet Apple of course has no plans to bring that production back here.
Wed January 19 2011
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s 475 partners stand to reap a windfall gain from stock options they received in December 2008, the New York Times said, citing a study of regulatory filings and internal partnership documents.
The stock, which traded at $78.78 then, closed yesterday at almost $175, the newspaper said.
The almost 860 current and former partners of the firm have in the last 12 years cashed in on more than $20 billion in Goldman shares and hold more than $10 billion in stock, the Times added.
________________
We will study options in Intermed II this semester.
What kind of options did GS grant to its partners?
What was the strike price of the option?
What did granting the options cost GS, how would one calculate this?
How much money did the partners make and how did they make it?
Was this an exchange traded option?
What exchange if any would such an option trade on?
Does the cost of the option recorded by GS on its books bear a resemblance to what the partners actually made?
What is the rationalization for the granting of the options to this group?
I will have a tutorial on options posted in Blackboard for you. I do not believe you can begin to understand accounting for options until you can answer the above questions about how options work.
Did I mention I was a Registered Options Principal with the NASD…..
What is the definition of robber baron, Wall Street tycoon, or hmm, adviser to Presidents?
Just wondered….
Wed January 19, 2011
Once again, CPS Energy is opening its doors to our students for a one day Job Shadowing event. Right now the tentative date is set for late February or early March.
Depending on student interest, the date will be set.
Please note that CPS requires 2 weeks to conduct a background check. It is first come, first served and we anticipate 10 open spots for students.
Accounting, Marketing, Finance, CIS, Management and MBA students only. I would like to get a good variety of students as we did last fall.
Remember, a 3.0 GPA is required. Please refer students to my office or have them email me about meeting times.
Pass along the information to any and all qualified students.
Bennett Grey
Career Advisor
Student Engagement and Success
Texas A & M University-San Antonio
1450 Gillette Blvd.
San Antonio, Texas 78224
210-932-6287
210-932-6230
Wed Jan 19 2011
Groupon is a deal making company that just sprang up the last couple of years.
Mish takes a look at their latest fiasco. Groupon offers deals exclusive to an area that allow one to sample the product of a company at a big discount. Mish asks if Groupon is the new Netscape, hmm, is it?
We study customer perceptions in business school, as well as Total Quality Management. How does the Groupon business model fit with TQM?
Now that i think bout it, Groupon is Woot taken to the next level. Woot sells one thing a day, when the supply is gone the sale is over. Groupon spotlights some service in your community and cuts a deal for cheap delivery of said service or product, see Japanese New Year's meal as example, whoops!
Woot was acquired by Amazon I believe, and Woot started in the Dallas area.
Wed Jan 19 2011
The SEC just hired a former 'banker' to oversee asset (read hedge fund) mangers. And of course they went to the source, Goldman Sachs to find the 'ideal candidate.
Remember Presidents come and go but Goldman is always present. Ethics students take note, this is another example of the revolving door which typifies Washington. As one observer noted, campaign donations are not so much about supporting a candidate as buying access to him or her.
Goldman, ahem, has lots of access. This is the same thing that Arthur Andersen was guilty of, one day a CPA works for AA auditing and consulting Enron, the next day he or she works at Enron, wink wink nod nod. No doubt Rominger's cell phone number is in the cell phones of 'managers and bankers' at Goldman, Morgan, CITI as I write.
FDR appointed Joe Kennedy to run the newly formed SEC in the 1930s remarking that is anyone knew how to ferret out the crooks it would be someone like Kennedy who was prominent in various bear pools that shorted stocks in the 1930s, nothing has changed.
Wednesday Jan 19 2011
It never pays to agitate a potential government prosecutor. After all Rudy Guliani and Elliott Spitzer both made big names for themselves as US Attorneys prosecuting high profile business types. And the US government never runs out of time or money or incessant demands for documents.
Armstrong is guilty of having a world class larger than life ego, we all know that. Why else would some one in their late 30s, having won the Tour de France six times, participate again to come in third? And as the hyperlinked article says, he has angered the FDA prosecutor over his denials.
I have no idea as to what Armstrong did or did not do. But for sure, it would have been much better to quite while he was ahead, after winning the races, rather than put himself back in the public eye again. k
The article suggests more news after the Super Bowl, which suggests the prosecutor is already aligning himself with the media.
Monday January 17, 2011
Note to students, you must join the IMA but my sources indicate that in some areas very few students have even bother to apply for this scholarship.
Dennis Elam
The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA®), the world’s leading organization dedicated to supporting accountants and financial professionals in business, is accepting applications for its national scholarship programs: The Memorial Education Fund (MEF) and the Stuart Cameron and Margaret McLeod Memorial Scholarships, now through February 15, 2011. Interested students can download an application form at IMA’s website athttp://www.imanet.org/ima_membership/scholarships_awards.aspx.
Any IMA student member who has not previously received an IMA scholarship is encouraged to apply. MEF Scholarships are given at both the undergraduate and graduate student levels, and are based on academic merit, extent of IMA participation, and strength of outside recommendations, among other criteria. The scholarships carry awards ranging from $1,000 to $2,500.
In addition, any student who applies for an MEF Scholarship is automatically considered for the prestigious Stuart Cameron and Margaret McLeod Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship, which carries a $5,000 award, is given to one individual among the entire scholarship application pool who exemplifies excellence in all eligibility criteria. The award also includes lodging, transportation, and registration to IMA’s Annual Conference & Exposition in June and the IMA Student Leadership Conference in November.
The Stuart Cameron and Margaret McLeod Memorial Scholarship is bestowed annually by the Stuart Cameron McLeod Society (SCMS). Founded in 1934, SCMS is a special membership community within IMA whose members share a long history of service to IMA.
The deadline to submit scholarship applications is February 15, 2011; winners are announced on or before April 30, 2011. For complete information and application forms, please visit http://www.imanet.org/ima_membership/scholarships_awards.aspx.
Please note that to be eligible to participate in any of these awards, students must be IMA members. For details about joining IMA, go to the IMA Membership page,http://www.imanet.org/ima_membership.aspx. For more information about IMA, please visit www.imanet.org.
Sat Jan 22 2011 Here is a follow up comment from Jimmie Smith, President Texas IMA
The Memorial Education Fund (MEF) and the Stuart Cameron and Margaret McLeod Memorial Scholarship information indicates the following:
I contacted Jodi Ryan in Montvale, who runs the programs. She indicated this is request, not a requirement. Obviously underclassmen would not otherwise be able to apply for these scholarships.
Monday Jan17.2011
States are desperate for cash so Texas turned to vanity license plates. Last semester I had a post on unusual businesses, this one is really innovative. The hyperlink takes you to the auction, complete with Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders of course, for high priced plates. Folks bid up to $10,000 for plates about their favorite team, Rangers or Cowboys. But the winner, FERRARI went for $15,000. At least the plate is good for 25 years, presumably from one car to the next, hmm…is anyone working on a anti-theft devices for license plates.
Professor Elam 