There can be few everyday financial issues more important than the price of houses. Whether we own one and worry about its value or aspire to own one and are frustrated by their high prices, nobody can avoid the issue. In the UK, while prices have fluctuated during our lifetimes, overall they have risen steadily and sometimes spectacularly. The accepted wisdom is that houses are a safe and excellent investment for the long term. But are they really as good an investment as we believe? Might the future be different from the past? Are houses really so safe? This book looks at house prices over the long term in several countries -- including the UK, the US, France, Holland, Norway, Germany and Australia -- to find out what has happened to house prices and why. The author illustrates his findings with authoritative data on trends and provides intriguing details including a century-long index of UK house prices, an analysis of the value of the White House and a fascinating four-hundred-year story of houses in Amsterdam. - To what extent are we right to view our houses as an investment as well as a home? - If prices can rise for decades and then fall for more than a whole generation, then what does the future hold? - If prices rise further, will houses become unaffordable for many young people? How will that affect our society? - If they crash, will that endanger our banks once more? - Are politicians, policymakers and regulators prepared for the true range of possibilities? Anybody who owns a house, wants to own a house or follows the prices and economics of housing will find this book an accessible, fascinating and door-opening read. Neil Monnery studied at Oxford and Harvard Business School. He worked for many years at The Boston Consulting Group as a Director and Senior Vice President and is now active in business, investing and research.

In 1940 few Americans had heard of mutual funds. Today U.S. mutual funds are the largest financial industry in the world, with over 88 million shareholders and over $11 trillion in assets. Cottage Industry to Financial Giant describes the developments that have produced mutual funds' long history of success. Among these developments are: * formation of the first mutual funds in the roaring 20s * how the 1929 stock market crash, a disaster for most financial institutions, spurred the growth of mutual funds * establishment in 1934, over FDR's objection, of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency that regulates mutual funds * enactment of the Revenue Act of 1936, the tax law that saved mutual funds from extinction * passage of the Investment Company Act of 1940, the "constitution" of the mutual fund industry * the creation in 1972 of money market funds, which totally changed the mutual fund industry and the entire U.S. financial system *enactment of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, which created Individual Retirement Accounts * the accidental development of 401(k) plans, which have revolutionized the way Americans save for retirement * the 2003 trading abuses, the greatest scandal ever in the history of the mutual fund industry Many events have never been reported before. Others have been discussed in works on other subjects such as retirement plans. Thus, this is first book that pulls together the many strands of mutual funds' unique history. Moreover, the author was personally involved in developments over the past forty years, and much of the book is a personal narrative regarding the people and events that have produced mutual funds' success.

A closely held firm is not a smaller version of a large public firm, anymore than a child is a miniature adult. While realizing that like large corporations, value comes from a business's ability to generate future cash flows, Long and Bryant emphasize the differences between the two. The primary question is does a separate entity exist or is the business just an extension of its principal owner or manager? If yes, how does this business vary from a large publicly traded firm with market and not management control?
This book gets to the fundamental differences between the two and the adjustments made to correctly value. It avoids the traditional multiples of earnings or multiple of sales and other cookie-cutter approaches, to focus on the basic ability to create value. The book also avoids specifics in tax laws as they change and vary between countries. While providing a conceptual process, Valuing the Closely Held Firm provides numerous examples to lead the reader to understand the concepts.

This is a study of the law governing the bank-customer relationship pertaining to the disposition of funds by cheques and credit transfers, covering both paper-based and electronic payments. The work addresses, with various degrees of detail, common law, civilian, and `mixed' jurisdictions, particularly, Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States. In addition to the description of the law in these jurisdictions, the book contains an in-depth analysis of the common issues and the responses to them, in light of desired policies. Accordingly, an evaluation of the various rules and proposals for reform are integral parts of the study.

The focus of this volume of Acta Juridica - Foreign Direct Investment and the Law: Perspectives from Selected African Countries - is the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and the law, within the context of FDI in Africa and the role of the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The book is a compilation of essays by authors who are specialists from across the spectrum of the law, bringing together their diverse contributions under the banner of foreign direct investment. More specifically, the authors consider the law and foreign direct investment from an African perspective, both regionally and country-specific, in the context of bilateral investment treaties, property law, the legal integration of business law, the role of investment and regulatory policies, dispute resolution, tax incentives and labour regulation.

Entrepreneurs generally lack the marketing capabilities necessary to bring their new product to market. To engage the resources required to do this, they must somehow place a value on the enterprise. However, all of the methods of valuation currently available are based on the use of historical or current revenues, and therefore are not applicable to an entrepreneurial enterprise with a first-time product. In Valuing an Entrepreneurial Enterprise, Audretsch and Link present a valuation method uniquely tailored to emerging technology-based ventures that have no revenue history to lean on. Unlike many traditional methods, theirs does not take into account the track record of companies and products similar to that being valuated. Instead, it draws on economic theory to formulate a solution to the problem.
The book develops conceptual ground, including trends in entrepreneurship, models of innovation, and the economics of standards and entrepreneurship policy. The authors review the traditional valuation methods and illustrate them numerically with case studies to show how the traditional approach produces an incorrect valuation. The core of the book presents the new methodology and demonstrates how it avoids the pitfalls of past approaches. The authors also show how public policy on technology and infrastructure changes valuations of start-up firms in areas such as stem-cell products and renewable fuels projects.
Valuing an Entrepreneurial Enterprise will serve as a valuable resource for advanced students, economists, financial planners, and valuators interested in new valuation methods and the theory behind them, as well as those interested in entrepreneurship.

Developed for the new International A Level 2018 specification, these new resources are specifically designed for international students, with a strong focus on progression, recognition and transferable skills, allowing learning in a local context to a global standard. Recognised by universities worldwide and fully comparable to UK reformed GCE A levels. Supports a modular approach, in line with the specification. Appropriate international content puts learning in a real-world context, to a global standard, making it engaging and relevant for all learners. Reviewed by a language specialist to ensure materials are written in a clear and accessible style. The embedded transferable skills, needed for progression to higher education and employment, are signposted so students understand what skills they are developing and therefore go on to use these skills more effectively in the future. Exam practice provides opportunities to assess understanding and progress, so students can make the best progress they can.

The Internet stock bubble wasn't just about goggle-eyed day traderstrying to get rich on the Nasdaq and goateed twenty-five-year-olds playing wannabe Bill Gates. It was also about an America that believed it had discovered the secret of eternal prosperity: it said something about all of us, and what we thought about ourselves, as the twenty-first century dawned. John Cassidy's Dot.con brings this tumultuous episode to life. Moving from the Cold War Pentagon to Silicon Valley to Wall Street and into the homes of millions of Americans, Cassidy tells the story of the great boom and bust in an authoritative and entertaining narrative. Featuring all the iconic figures of the Internet era -- Marc Andreessen, Jeff Bezos, Steve Case, Alan Greenspan, and many others -- and with a new Afterword on the aftermath of the bust, Dot.con is a panoramic and stirring account of human greed and gullibility.

Connections among different assets, asset classes, portfolios, and the stocks of individual institutions are critical in examining financial markets. Interest in financial markets implies interest in underlying macroeconomic fundamentals. In Financial and Macroeconomic Connectedness, Frank Diebold and Kamil Yilmaz propose a simple framework for defining, measuring, and monitoring connectedness, which is central to finance and macroeconomics. These measures of connectedness are theoretically rigorous yet empirically relevant. The approach to connectedness proposed by the authors is intimately related to the familiar econometric notion of variance decomposition. The full set of variance decompositions from vector auto-regressions produces the core of the 'connectedness table.' The connectedness table makes clear how one can begin with the most disaggregated pair-wise directional connectedness measures and aggregate them in various ways to obtain total connectedness measures. The authors also show that variance decompositions define weighted, directed networks, so that these proposed connectedness measures are intimately related to key measures of connectedness used in the network literature. After describing their methods in the first part of the book, the authors proceed to characterize daily return and volatility connectedness across major asset (stock, bond, foreign exchange and commodity) markets as well as the financial institutions within the U.S. and across countries since late 1990s. These specific measures of volatility connectedness show that stock markets played a critical role in spreading the volatility shocks from the U.S. to other countries. Furthermore, while the return connectedness across stock markets increased gradually over time the volatility connectedness measures were subject to significant jumps during major crisis events. This book examines not only financial connectedness, but also real fundamental connectedness. In particular, the authors show that global business cycle connectedness is economically significant and time-varying, that the U.S. has disproportionately high connectedness to others, and that pairwise country connectedness is inversely related to bilateral trade surpluses.

Auditing Fundamentals in a South African Context, Third Edition provides a clear, practical, and accessible introduction to the core principles of auditing. Designed to support students throughout the undergraduate auditing curriculum, the text integrates theory with real-world application in a distinctly South African setting.

The book presents auditing concepts within a rich contextual framework, enhancing understanding of both the principles and the broader business environment. A continuing case study, based on a typical South African audit client, illustrates the practical application of auditing principles across each phase of the audit process. A well-developed pedagogical approach encourages applied learning, as well as independent, critical and reflective engagement with the subject matter.

This third edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect recent changes in legislation, financial reporting standards, auditing pronouncements, and governance codes. It also addresses the growing impact of technological advancements on the auditing profession, exploring their relevance and application to principles and practice.

This title is a companion to Auditing Fundamentals in a South African Context: Graded Questions, Fourth Edition.

New to this edition:

Comprehensively revised and updated to address the changes in principles of corporate governance, and requirements of legislation, financial reporting and auditing pronouncements and codes that have occurred since the publication of the previous edition of this work. 
The third edition text is designed to enable effective development of key competencies in the auditing discipline, in particular:
•    Audit competencies, as prescribed by the SAICA CA2025 competency framework;
•    Digital acumen and innovation;
•    Business acumen. 

The text is now paired with a separate component featuring the Nsimbi Piping case study and documentation of business cycle transactions, enabling readers to work with both components simultaneously and cross-reference them with ease.

Table of Contents:

Part A The context within which the external auditor operates
Chapter 1: Introduction.
Chapter 2: Ethics.
Chapter 3: Legal responsibilities of the auditor.
Part B The external audit process
Chapter 4: Basic concepts of governance and internal control.
Chapter 5: Introduction to risks and internal controls in a computerised environment.
Chapter 6: Revenue and receipts cycle.
Chapter 7: Purchase and payments cycle.
Chapter 8: Inventory and production cycle.
Chapter 9: Human resources cycle.
Chapter 10: Investment and financing cycle.
Chapter 11: Overview of the audit process.
Chapter 12: Pre-engagement and planning activities.
Chapter 13: Audit procedures: Essential concepts.
Chapter 14: Audit procedures: Specific considerations.
Chapter 15: Completion of the audit.
Chapter 16: The independent review.

South Africa's property law teachers have been convening annually since 1985 to exchange ideas, subject their work to peer scrutiny and build a collegial network. Over time, the agendas of the annual meetings became snapshots of the development of a discipline. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of this meeting, the property law teachers' colloquium was expanded into an International property law conference, giving South African property law teachers an opportunity to exchange their ideas on a much broader platform, with some of the world's best property law scholars and teachers. Property law under scrutiny brings together pieces that give an overview of property law twenty-five years after the establishment of the South African property law teachers' colloquium. A recurrent theme in all the contributions at the conference, and the ones included in this publication, is the tension between well-established principles of property law and the policies that drive legal development in the field. The topics addressed are organised into four themes, as follows: The first cluster relates to an age-old issue in conventional property law: The accession of movables to immovables; The second cluster concerns the centrality of the real agreement in transfers and in the real security context; A third cluster deals with questions about the public law aspects of property; The fourth cluster captures some of the dilemmas and challenges concerning the abandonment and neglect of property. It ties together the underlying concerns aired in debates about the conventional property rules and issues surfacing in the crossover between private and public law, and the role of property law principles. In capturing the interaction between South African and international scholarship, Property law under scrutiny serves to introduce a new era in this developing discipline. Teachers and practitioners of property law, locally and internationally, will find this to be an invaluable resource.

Combined Transport Documents provides a comprehensive guide to combined transport or multi-modal contracts. It examines the main contracts that deal with combined transport logically, from those concerned with the procuring of tonnage through to those that deal with general average and salvage. It also focuses on the complicated chains of indemnity particular to multimember consortium operations and explains in substantial detail a recommended draft bill of lading contract of carriage which the author himself developed. Combined Transport Documents provides a comprehensive guide to combined transport or multi-modal contracts. It examines the main contracts that deal with combined transport logically, from those concerned with the procuring of tonnage through to those that deal with general average and salvage. It also focuses on the complicated chains of indemnity particular to multi-member consortium operations and explains in substantial detail a recommended draft bill of lading contract of carriage which the author himself developed.

In response to the recent surge in extractive natural resource investments in Africa, this insightful book explores how relations between investors, ruling elites, and local populations develop when large-scale investments in gas, minerals, and agriculture expand. Advancing a multi-level approach that encompasses rigorous theoretical analysis, fieldwork, and literature review, expert contributors examine the implementation of natural resource investments and the extent to which they respect procedural rights of local populations. Chapters draw together understudied bodies of literature on land-grabbing debates, the resource curse controversy and corporate social responsibility (CSR), demonstrating how the chances of large-scale investments in natural resources are at their greatest when characterised by 'reciprocal exchange deals' between investors and local populations, 'compatible interests' between ruling elites and investors, and 'mutual recognition' between local populations and ruling elites. Through a careful examination of case studies in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda, the book ultimately highlights the complexity of the political economy of natural resource investments. Providing valuable theoretical and empirical insights, this book will be an invigorating read for scholars and students of political economy, political geography, sustainability, CSR, and business studies. Its valuable insights on how natural resource investments might accelerate economic growth and consolidate links between local and global economies will also be of interest to development practitioners and investors.

Auditing Fundamentals in a South African Context: Graded Questions, Fourth Edition, presents a comprehensive collection of auditing questions designed to support effective learning and application across the undergraduate auditing curriculum. The material is structured to provide practice material at a range of cognitive levels, from foundational understanding to advanced integration of knowledge.

This fourth edition includes new and updated questions, with expanded coverage of contemporary topics such as risk assessment and internal controls in computerised environments. A helpful guidance feature throughout the text supports students in developing independent competency in applying auditing principles.

Designed to complement the structure and pedagogical approach of the companion textbook, Auditing Fundamentals in a South African Context, this question book functions both as an ideal companion volume and as a stand-alone resource for practice and revision.

New to this edition:

Auditing Fundamentals in a South African Context: Graded Questions, Fourth Edition includes new question material for practice and application of theory. This material includes new questions relating to IT auditing, ethics, governance, and other areas of the curriculum

Table of Contents:

Part A The context within which the external auditor operates
Chapter 1: Introduction.
Chapter 2: . Ethics.
Chapter 3: Legal responsibilities of the auditor.
Part B The auditee’s responsibility for financial information
Chapter 4: Basic concepts of governance and internal control.
Chapter 5: Introduction to risks and internal controls in a computerised environment.
Chapter 6: Revenue and receipts cycle.
Chapter 7: Purchases and payments cycle.
Chapter 8: Inventory and production cycle.
Chapter 9: Human resources cycle.
Chapter 10: Investment and financing cycle.
Part C The external audit process
Chapter 11: Overview of the audit process.
Chapter 12: Pre-engagement and planning activities.
Chapter 13: Audit procedures: Essential concepts.
Chapter 14: Audit procedures: Specific considerations.
Chapter 15: Completion of the audit. Chapter 16: The independent review.

A groundbreaking look at how Black visionaries—from Wall Street to Lagos and beyond—are reimagining capitalism to benefit the needs of Black people and, ultimately, everyone.

To many, the term “Black Capitalists” is oxymoronic. Black people were the labor force that built the infrastructure of American capitalism through the violent enforcement of legalized slavery, so they cannot, and should not, aspire to be the beneficiaries of it. But Wall Street professional and Yale-educated anthropologist Dr. Rachel Laryea poses a provocative question: What if there was a way to thrive within capitalism without diminishing someone else’s life chances through exploitative practices? There is—and Black Capitalists are showing us how.

Told through Dr. Laryea's own compelling narrative—growing up the child of a single mother who immigrated to the United States from Ghana and rose to the Ivy League and on Wall Street—with original on-the-ground reporting and rigorous historical analysis, Black Capitalists challenges readers to reconsider who gets to be the beneficiary of capitalism and reckons with the responsibility that comes with using the tools of our imperfect economic system to advance social good.

Dr. Laryea reveals in detail how race profoundly shapes the way we participate in capitalism—and how understanding these differences can guide us toward a more inclusive and equitable future. From newly minted undergraduates who find themselves working twenty-hour days to prove their worth on Wall Street to Nigerian startup founders working to build global credit scores, spanning the streets of Accra to the boardrooms of Goldman Sachs, Black Capitalists’ stories and analysis of innovators who are as ambitious as they are altruistic demonstrate the resilience, creativity, and ingenuity of Black people who have long been excluded from the full benefits of the American economic system. At its core, Black Capitalists shows a more productive, and more inclusive, way forward.

Our best-selling Accounting 2 guide has now gotten even better, thanks to the latest up-to-date information added to the original text. The new material within this 3-panel (6 page)guide goes further into the various accounting practices that businesses use to keep financially afloat; mathematical equations, charts, and tables are also included in an easy-to-use format.

"

So no one taught you about money, either? Let’s figure this me$$ out together.

In this illustrated, deeply unserious guide to money, Berna Anat—aka the Financial Hype Woman—freaks out her immigrant parents by doing the unthinkable: Talking about money. Loudly.

Because we’re done staying silent, anxious, and ashamed about our money. It's time to join the party and finally learn about all the financial stuff that always felt too confusing. Stuff like:

• How to actually budget, save, and invest (but also make it fun)
• How our traumas shape our most toxic money habits, and how to create new patterns
• How to build wealth in a system designed to keep us broke
• How to use money to fund our biggest dreams—and change the world

No more keeping our money on mute. It’s time to grab the mic.

Since the mid-2000s, India has been beset by widespread farmer protests against land dispossession. Dispossession Without Development demonstrates that beneath these conflicts lay a profound shift in regimes of dispossession. While the postcolonial Indian state dispossessed land mostly for public-sector industry and infrastructure, since the 1990s state governments have become land brokers for private real estate capital. Using the case of a village in Rajasthan that was dispossessed for a private Special Economic Zone, the book ethnographically illustrates the exclusionary trajectory of capitalism driving dispossession in contemporary India. Taking us into the lives of diverse villagers in "Rajpura," the book meticulously documents the destruction of agricultural livelihoods, the marginalization of rural labor, the spatial uneveness of infrastructure provision, and the dramatic consequences of real estate speculation for social inequality and village politics. Illuminating the structural underpinnings of land struggles in contemporary India, this book will resonate in any place where "land grabs" have fueled conflict in recent years.

Both studies of political power and Europeanization studies have tended to neglect central banks. As the age of the euro reaches its 10th anniversary, it is timely to reflect on what it means for central banks, which have been at the forefront of the establishment of Economic and Monetary Union in the European Union. Central banks have been caught up in a major historic political project. What does it mean for them? What does the age of the euro tell us about the power of central banks, their Europeanization and whether they are coming to resemble each other more closely?
This book brings together a range of recognized academic specialists to examine the main political aspects of this question. How, and in what ways, has the euro Europeanized central banks (members and non-members of the Euro Area)? What have been its effects on the power of central banks and their use of power? Has the euro generated convergence or divergence in central banking? The book offers the first, in-depth and systematic political analysis of central banks in the first decade of the euro. It places the euro in its global and European contexts, including the US Fed and the Australasian central banks, patterns of differentiated integration in European central banking, and the European Central Bank. It offers a set of case studies of its effects on a representative sample of EU central banks (euro 'insiders' and 'outsiders') and looks at four main thematic areas (monetary policy, financial market supervision, accountability and transparency, and research).
The book contributes to Europeanization studies, comparative political economy, and studies of Economic and Monetary Union. It will be of major interest to students of the European Union and European integration, comparative European politics, and area and 'country' studies. More generally, it will interest all those interested in central banking and their pivotal and problematic position between politics and markets.

This book is the first coherent quantified assessment of the economy of the Roman Empire. George Maher argues inventively and rigorously for a much higher level of growth and prosperity than has hitherto been imagined, and also explains why, nonetheless, the Roman Empire did not achieve the transition which began in Georgian Britain. This book will have an enormous impact on Roman history and be required reading for all teachers and students in the field. It will also interest and provoke historians of the medieval and early modern periods into wondering why their economies failed to match the Roman level. Part of the problem in assessing the Roman economy is that we do not have much in the way of numerical data, but Roman historians, who rarely have much statistical expertise, have not always recognised the potential of the data we do have. Dr Maher's reassessment of the economy of the Roman Empire has to use the same data as everyone else, but he is able to draw strikingly novel conclusions in two ways: first, by more statistically sophisticated use of a few crucial datasets and, second, by correlating and drawing a coherent picture across the whole economy. On grain yields, firstly, instead of getting bogged down in details of individual cases, George Maher shows how there is a remarkably consistent pattern from which outliers can be excluded, showing yields were much higher than normally assumed. He then demonstrates that high yields are in fact necessary to explain the exceptional urbanization of the Empire. Urbanization at this level in turn, as George Maher shows, has implications for consumption and commerce. He takes this further to show how high levels of trade imply high levels of sophistication in economic practices and mentality. In one of his most methodologically novel chapters, George Maher develops a new and simpler way of assessing average life expectancy and argues for a life expectancy almost double the traditional view. This book, Dr George Maher's doctoral thesis, is the theoretical underpinning of his book Pugnare: Economic Success and Failure.

Taxation of costs offer an easily accessible and practical resource to use during taxations and provides guidance on how to deal with bills of cost in practice. Over the past 10 years there have been several important developments in the law having direct bearing on the taxation of costs and this title deals with them, for example, contingency fees; and attorneys obtaining right of appearance in the high courts.