In a typical working environment in which 'fraud and corruption' is as normal as a headache or as common as a cold, everyone in the organization has a role to play in finding and deterring fraudsters. Despite universal acknowledgement that these things may be illegal but still prevalent, managers still treat them as 'someone else's problem' or 'something that happens to other businesses, not ours'. This book shows, in simple terms, how everybody can become a successful fraud detective. A series of proven and easy-to-follow recipes show how to find the tell-tale signs of fraud and corruption and work with colleagues to deal with fraud smartly, keeping the organization you work for healthy and clean. The skills taught in this book are based on over 25 years' experience of successfully finding and dealing with fraud and corruption, all around the world. How to Find Fraud and Corruption offers wayfinding techniques for identifying and recognizing common frauds such as: suppliers who charge too much; sharp business partners and consultants who are taking you for a ride; customers who take but prefer not to pay. It also shows how to spot and unravel more complex but equally serious and common frauds: hidden connections to dirty money centres (the illegitimate side of tax havens); bribes paid as a shortcut to get business; creative numbers fraud (inflation of sales figures or suppression of costs); conflicts of interest involving individuals inside or outside the business. The final chapter is a short story (based on a real case) which illustrates a fraud detective's challenges, whether they are a reluctant whistleblower, someone who cannot turn a blind eye even if they would prefer to, or even the accused. Accessible and practical, this book is for everyone who wants to stop fraud, including those working in accounting and finance, management, specialist functions, such as audit, compliance and security, and anyone else who aspires to be a fraud detective and stop fraud and corruption.

"It has been said that in theory, theory translates into practice, but in practice it never does. This breakthrough book defies this conventional wisdom in a unique way. It is a must read for anyone interested in structuring derivatives products." — Dr Peter Carr, Principal, Banc of America Securities

"Harry Kat has done a masterful job explaining the world of exotic options and the role that these options play in building structured securities. Dr Kat conveys the essence of these products from the perspective of a very experienced financial engineer but in a fashion that the less experienced reader can easily follow and understand. In this, Dr Kat has shown himself to be a marvellous teacher. I'm confident that this book will prove to be one of the classics to be read by future generations of financial engineers." — John F. Marshall, Principal, Marshall, Tucker & Associates, and Founding Executive Director, International Association of Financial Engineers

"This is a refreshingly new and different book about putting together structured equity products. It is not a book about deriving formulas but a book about applying formulas. The emphasis on hedging costs and alternative ways of reducing those costs by modifying the structure will be appreciated both by those who actually manufacture and sell these products and those who buy them." — Don Chance, First Union Professor, Virginia Tech

"This book is about applications, about solving real business problems with derivatives.... Contrary to many other books in the field, the approach is managerial rather than abstractly mathematical, aimed at practitioners instead of applied mathematicians. Professor Kat's book contains all the mathematics required. However, the mathematical aspects play a purely supportive role, not the starring role. Bravo!"
— Anthony F. Herbst, University of Texas at El Paso, Founding Editor, The Journal of Financial Engineering

"It is certainly a unique book, much more useful that most new books on derivatives. In a nutshell, this book is very creatively done and a great resource for professionals."
— Mark Rubinstein, Paul Stephens Professor of Applied Investment Analysis, University of California at Berkeley

This book discusses how Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is practiced in developed and developing economies. The book demonstrates how PPP as a concept has grown over the years with many governments particularly from developing economies/countries seeking to enhance infrastructure growth and development through this scheme. Further, the book explores how PPP has become the major infrastructure procurement policy adopted by many governments globally to address the rapid increase in demand for infrastructure due to the increase in population growth. Although, there are many available textbooks on PPP, this book is unique because it provides in-depth analysis and discussion on the international best practices of PPP from developed and developing economies perspectives. This book provides strategic measures, useful practices and information about the similarities and differences in PPP practices in developed and developing economies based on empirical evidence and case studies. This book is structured in nine chapters. The first chapter explores the basic concept of PPPs. The second chapter looks at the global development and practices of PPP particularly from developed and developing economies' perspectives. The third to the eight chapters explores critical topics and issues in international PPP practices from developed and developing economies perspectives. The topics included in this book are: governments motivations for adopting PPPs, barriers to PPP implementation, measuring PPP project success, risk management in PPPs, causes of conflict and conflict resolution mechanisms in PPPs and management of unsolicited proposals. The ninth chapter presents a comprehensive best practice framework for implementing international PPP projects. This book is useful to undergraduate and postgraduate students in architecture, civil engineering, business, construction and project management, researchers interested in PPP topics, international investors and financiers, public authorities and departments and international development banks. This book provides in-depth insights and understanding on the best practices for PPP from the international perspective especially from the viewpoint of countries with diverse culture and policies. Importantly, readers will be adequately informed of the similarities and differences of PPP practices and processes in developed and developing economies based on empirical evidence. Investors and governments will be informed of the strategic plans and preventive actions to employ when engaging in PPP arrangements in any part of the world.

This book documents the distinctive experiences and challenges of Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Asia. By assessing succession and innovation in SMEs as the two sides of a coin, this book explains how innovations are essential to SMEs in succession. With detailed case examples, the book provides generalized solutions for SMEs to answer the question of how to make succession and innovation simultaneously successful. The authors discuss the potential solutions to solve the challenges of SMEs on succession and innovation by considering the utilization of the capital market, the electronic commerce strategy, the international strategy, and angel investment to pursue portfolio entrepreneurship, and compare these Asia solutions to the experiences from Europe. The book is recommended for family business and SME owners, professionals serving these firms, and the consulting firms that work on continuity issues of SMEs in Asia.

The Gold Cartel is an insightful and thought-provoking analysis of the world market for gold, how it works, and what influences gold price. But it also lends insight into something more disturbing - the organized intervention in the gold markets by Central Banks.

Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this book examines whether qualified foreign institutional investors (QFIIs), through their shareholder activism, have a meaningful positive impact on the corporate governance of firms listed on the mainland Chinese stock market. Capital flows into and out of China are still subject to tight controls, and the QFII scheme is one important avenue through which QFIIs can become invested in the Chinese stock market. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in learning about ways to invest in one of the world's largest economies. Wang discusses in depth what specific opportunities, challenges and restrictions to expect in the process, and how investing in China differs from investing in countries with a more open capital account.

This book brings together research works, ideas, critical reviews and strategic proposals encompassing various ethical and corporate governance issues in workplaces and organizations around the globe. For the most part, organizations are managed by policies, guidelines and systems. Good ethics and solid corporate governance help to tie these three elements together so that an effective and successful organization is established. Alongside corporate governance, ethics play an integral role in ensuring the long term survival of businesses. Multidisciplinary in approach, this book provides a platform for scholars and researchers from various backgrounds and interdisciplinary expertise to showcase their research work, ideas, critical review and strategic proposals on the ethical aspects, governance and risk management issues in organizations. The book includes discussions of ethical issues in a variety of organizations around the globe including the non-profit and non-governmental sector and also provides readers with ideas, guidelines and strategic recommendations for handling such issues.

This book continues the discussion on recent developments relating to ethical and sustainable issues in accounting & finance from Ethics and Sustainability in Accounting and Finance, Volume I. Accounting is often seen as a technical discipline that records, classifies and reports financial transactions. However, since the financial information produced concerns all interest groups both within and outside the enterprise, accounting also has social characteristics and involves multi-faceted duties and responsibilities. As such, in addition to basic principles and accepted rules and standards in the field, this book focuses on the ethical aspects and fundamentals of this profession that accountants should also take into consideration, as this is the only way to build and preserve society's confidence in accounting and increase its social credibility.

This book presents the best papers from the 1st International Conference on Mathematical Research for Blockchain Economy (MARBLE) 2019, held in Santorini, Greece. While most blockchain conferences and forums are dedicated to business applications, product development or Initial Coin Offering (ICO) launches, this conference focused on the mathematics behind blockchain to bridge the gap between practice and theory. Every year, thousands of blockchain projects are launched and circulated in the market, and there is a tremendous wealth of blockchain applications, from finance to healthcare, education, media, logistics and more. However, due to theoretical and technical barriers, most of these applications are impractical for use in a real-world business context. The papers in this book reveal the challenges and limitations, such as scalability, latency, privacy and security, and showcase solutions and developments to overcome them.

This book explores the relationship between and the compatibility of lean management (LM) and value-based management (VBM) approaches at the systems level. It then develops a model to improve LM and VBM professional practice by fostering a shared understanding of the value creation process within a lean system, and in doing so helps to remove existing barriers. The results promote future fruitful alliances between a company's operational and financial communities, enhancing the benefits to the enterprise and its stakeholders. The book is of primary interest to LM and VBM professionals and researchers.

This volume of Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics presents selected theoretical and empirical papers from the 25th Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES) Conference, held in Berlin, Germany, in May 2018. Covering diverse areas of business and management from different geographic regions, the book focuses on current topics such as consumer engagement, consumer loyalty, travel blogging, and AirBnB's marketing communication strategy, as well as healthcare project evaluation and Industry 4.0. It also includes related studies that analyze accounting and finance aspects like bank reliability and the bankruptcy risks of equity crowdfunding start-ups.

This book provides insight into current research topics in finance and banking in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Expert authors authoritatively analyse how banks finance their activities and resolve funding issues. Chapters specifically discuss financial instruments such as corporate bonds, IPOs, sukuks and microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs) in light of the importance of institutional funding gaps. The decision-making process within the banking industry with regard to long-range financial decisions and dividend policies is also discussed.

Providing a comprehensive overview of event study methodology in the field of corporate finance, this book discusses how traditional methods verify the significance and insignificance of events in statistical sampling, and emphasize possible deviation from the statistics of interest. However, the author illustrates the flaws of conventional methodology and proposes alternative methods which can be used for a more robust study of estimating normal and abnormal returns. Traditional methods fail to recognize that the importance of an event will also influence the frequency of the occurrence of the event, and consequently they produce subjective sampling results. This book highlights contemporaneous recursive methods which can be used to track down normal returns and avoid arbitrary determination for the estimation and event period. In addition, the author offers an alternative monitoring scheme to identify the events of concern. Addressing a need for more objective sampling methods in corporate finance event studies, this timely book will appeal to students and academics researching financial econometrics and time series analysis, corporate finance and capital markets.

The relationship between ownership structure and firm performance has been studied extensively in corporate finance and corporate governance literature. Nevertheless, the mediation (path) analysis to examine the issue can be adopted as a new approach to explain why and how ownership structure is related to firm performance and vice versa. This approach calls for full recognition of the roles of agency costs and corporate risk-taking as essential mediating variables in the bi-directional and mediated relationship between ownership structure and firm performance. Based on the agency theory, corporate risk management theory and accounting for the dynamic endogeneity in the ownership-performance relationship, this book develops two-mediator mediation models, including recursive and non-recursive mediation models, to investigate the ownership structure-firm performance relationship. It is demonstrated that agency costs and corporate risk-taking are the 'missing links' in the ownership structure-firm performance relationship. Hence, this book brings into attention the mediation and dynamic approach to this issue and enhances the knowledge of the mechanisms for improving firm's financial performance. This book will be of interest to corporate finance, management and economics researchers and policy makers. Post-graduate research students in corporate governance and corporate finance will also find this book beneficial to the application of econometrics into multi-dimensional and complex issues of the firm, including ownership structure, agency problems, corporate risk management and financial performance.

This book unveils ten secrets on how to masterfully speak in the technology arena. It is primarily based on stories from entrepreneurs, executives and engineers from technology companies that have shaped history: Steve Jobs, Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Jim Grubb (Cisco), Mikko Hyppoenen (F-secure), Jane Chen (Embrace Innovations) and many more. Most of them have appeared on the stages of large conferences and events presenting their products and inventions. Today the technology arena is more dynamic and innovating than ever: mobile applications, cloud services, artificial intelligence, clean technologies, blockchain, etc.There are increasingly more spaces to share knowledge and promote products. Both aspects make speaking about technology harder than ever: how should you speak about your product or company in a way that your audience not only gets what you say but gets inspired enough to become followers? The ten practices presented in this book are: story, demo, metaphor, data visualization, passion, props, presentation hacks, interaction, staging, and memory. All core aspects that a technical person needs to rock the stage at conferences. What You Will Learn A wide range of skills which will help you make a solid and persuasive presentation or talk How to craft compelling stories How to write better (blogs and copy) about technical products and events Who This Book is For DevOps, developer evangelists, testers, architects, product managers, sales engineers, solution architects, CTOs, CEOs, startup founders, marketers

Capturing the ecommerce edge in customer growth and retention has been a decades-long battle between eRetail startups and large traditional retailers. The two face different sets of challenges and those challenges are constantly evolving in our digital world. Goliath Strikes Back: How Traditional Retailers Are Winning Back Customers from Ecommerce Startups expands on this current industry shift in one of the most accessible, intriguing business books in recent times. Each chapter covers a different industry, as diverse and eclectic as consumer electronics, newspapers, groceries, logistics, and more. By looking at how traditional retailers are facing off against internet startups, you can gauge the landscape and form your own strategies. Author Peter S. Cohan expertly guides you from one case study to the next and makes topics enthralling even for the non-industry layperson. Goliath Strikes Back helps executives create an effective strategy in the modern ecommerce realm. Business professionals and outside enthusiasts alike are in for fascinating insights from Cohan about the mindsets and strategies of successful companies and their leaders. Changing strategies on a dime has always been essential in commerce, and never more so than in ecommerce's industry overhaul. Don't get left behind. What You Will Learn What to emulate and what to avoid by studying the mindsets and strategies of the successful and unsuccessful companies How companies can identify, attract, hire and motivate executives who embody the strategic mindset needed to remain successful An insight into six key industries, including consumer electronics and grocery, to understand why companies are failing or succeeding Who This Book Is For Executives, business professionals, business students, and curious laypeople

This book aims to bring the insights gained through this process to the public. It not only promotes the idea of fair wealth itself but also to gives a holistic view on how Chinese based companies are doing regarding various aspects of Fair Wealth. It also explains the theory foundation, methodology and rating system to help people better understand the evaluation system itself.

Over recent years the insurance industry has faced a period of rapid change and consolidation, with recent natural and man-made disasters highlighting the problems that the industry faces. Yet this has also been a time of opportunity with the traditional role of insurance giving way to its classification as a asset class. This has resulted in insurance risks now being priced and exchanged on the markets.

In this book, the authors analyze the convergence between the insurance industry and the capital markets. They sumarize the main trends and issues and analyze past events within the industry. Thus, they demonstrate that the current market pressures on insurance companies do not not just create challenges but also new opportunities.

Master new, disruptive technologies in the field of auditing Agile Auditing: Fundamentals and Applications introduces readers to the applications and techniques unlocked by tested and proven agile project management principles. This book educates readers on an approach to auditing that emphasizes risk-based auditing, collaboration, and speedy delivery of meaningful assurance assessments while ensuring quality results and a focus on the areas that pose the greatest material risks to the business under audit. The discipline of auditing has been forever changed via the introduction of new technologies, including: Machine learning Virtual Conferencing Process automation Data analytics Hugely popular in software development, the agile approach is just making its way into the field of audit. This book provides concrete examples and practical solutions for auditors who seek to implement agile techniques and methods. Agile Auditing is perfect for educators, practitioners, and students in the auditing field who are looking for ways to introduce greater levels of efficiency and effectiveness to their discipline.

In this book, a framework of the investment function is developed that allows for the heterogeneity of capital goods, i.e., the Multiple q model, and investment behavior in Japan by employing this Multiple q framework is developed. The standard approach to investment behavior is Tobin's q theory in which the investment rate is a linear function of only the q ratio, or a firm's market value measured by its capital goods. As is well known, however, its empirical performance has been almost universally unsatisfactory. Thus the development of a new framework. The authors inquire into and statistically test null hypotheses set on such issues as (a) heterogeneity of multiple capital goods, (b) non-convex adjustment costs to inspire lumpy investment, (c) differences in the adjustment costs in accumulating capital stock through new purchases, second-hand market acquisitions, and large-scale repairs, and (d) capital market imperfections. The test results show that, irrespective of the time period, firms' size, and the industry to which firms belong, (a) multiple capital goods are not homogeneous, (b) some firms face adjustment cost structures that eventually lead to occasional lumpy investment, (c) the method of acquiring investment matters in accumulating capital stock, and (d) capital market imperfections would constrain some lumpy investment. This book is published in cooperation with the Research Institute of Capital Formation, Development Bank of Japan.

This book describes how the rapid advancement in encryption and network computing gave birth to new tools and products that have influenced the local and global economy alike. One recent and notable example is the emergence of virtual currencies (such as Bitcoin) also known as cryptocurrencies. Virtual currencies introduced a fundamental transformation that affected the way goods, services and assets are exchanged. As a result of its distributed ledgers based on blockchain, cryptocurrencies not only offer some unique advantages to the economy, investors, and consumers, but also pose considerable risks to users and challenges for regulators when fitting the new technology into the old legal framework. The core of this proposed book is to present and discuss the evidence on financial asset capabilities of virtual currencies. The contributors of this volume analyze several interesting and timely issues such as the particularities of virtual currencies and their statistical characteristics; the diversification benefits of virtual currencies; the behavior and dependence structure between virtual currencies and the financial markets; the economic implications of virtual currencies, their effects, their price risk, and contagion spillovers in a unified and comprehensive framework; the future of virtual currencies and their distributed ledgers technology.

Addresses significant developments in the valuation of early stage enterprises at fair value with emphasis on practical applications--features a broad selection of case studies of early stage valuation Early Stage Valuation: A Fair Value Perspective provides a comprehensive review of the current methodologies used to value Early Stage Enterprises (ESEs) at fair value for financial reporting, investment, and mergers and acquisitions. Author Antonella Puca, Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal Valuation Services in New York, provides accurate, up-to-date information on recent guidelines and new approaches for valuation assessments. This authoritative guide examines how to apply market analysis, discounted cash flows models, statistical techniques such as option pricing models (OPM) and Monte Carlo simulation, the venture capital method and non-GAAP metrics to ESE valuation. The text considers the most recent AICPA, Appraisal Foundation and IPEV guidance, and examines developments in both academic research and venture capital investor practice. Numerous real-world case studies illustrate early stage valuation suitable for structuring sound, internally consistent business transactions. Covering current trends and the latest regulatory guidance in the area, this book: Provides step-by-step guidance on practical valuation applications Reflects current standards for ESE valuation, including the AICPA Guide to the Valuation of Portfolio Company Investments, the IPEV guidelines and guidance from the Appraisal Foundation Covers new approaches to the valuation of ESEs with option pricing models, Monte Carlo Simulation, calibration and non-GAAP metrics Offers an overview of start-up valuation Discusses how intangible assets are impacting the valuation of ESEs The book also includes contributions from Neil Beaton, Andreas Dal Santo, Alexander Davie, John Jackman and Mark Zyla. Early Stage Valuation: A Fair Value Perspective is an essential resource for valuation specialists, private equity and venture capital fund managers, analysts, attorneys, investment bankers, regulators and auditors, and investors with interest in the private equity and venture capital industry.

Apply C++ to programming problems in the financial industry using this hands-on book, updated for C++20. It explains those aspects of the language that are more frequently used in writing financial software, including the Standard Template Library (STL), templates, and various numerical libraries. Practical C++20 Financial Programming also describes many of the important problems in financial engineering that are part of the day-to-day work of financial programmers in large investment banks and hedge funds. The author has extensive experience in the New York City financial industry that is now distilled into this handy guide. Focus is on providing working solutions for common programming problems. Examples are plentiful and provide value in the form of ready-to-use solutions that you can immediately apply in your day-to-day work. You'll see examples of matrix manipulations, curve fitting, histogram generation, numerical integration, and differential equation analysis, and you'll learn how all these techniques can be applied to some of the most common areas of financial software development. These areas include performance price forecasting, optimizing investment portfolios, and more. The book style is quick and to-the-point, delivering a refreshing view of what one needs to master in order to thrive as a C++ programmer in the financial industry. What You Will Learn Cover aspects of C++ especially relevant to financial programming Write working solutions to commonly encountered problems in finance Design efficient, numerical classes for use in finance, as well as to use those classes provided by Boost and other libraries Who This Book Is For Those who are new to programming for financial applications using C++, but should have some previous experience with C++.

This book presents a wide range of tools and techniques used in entrepreneurial finance in emerging markets. Among them, venture capital is perhaps the best known, understood, and researched mode of entrepreneurial finance. However, a significant focus of the book is dedicated to other modes of entrepreneurial finance such as 'bootstrapping,' angel financing, bank financing, and other alternative means of financing, which could include government assistance programs, business incubation, technology parks, or family financing. In addition, the book highlights how new and innovative financial technologies (comprised of software, business processes, and other modern technologies), known under the term of FinTech, may support, enable, and enhance the provision of different modes of entrepreneurial finance in emerging markets. The book also discusses entrepreneurial finance in emerging markets in the context of women entrepreneurs. A comprehensive analysis of entrepreneurial finance in emerging market countries, this book will appeal to academics, researchers, and students of entrepreneurial finance, venture capital and private equity, entrepreneurship, and international business.