Fraud has become a challenging phenomena affecting economies worldwide. Anti-fraud measures are an integral part of today's management practices and have found their way into business education. Yet in developing countries these topics have long been neglected and only limited research has been conducted in this area. This book fills an essential gap by analyzing the impact of fraud on developing economies, describing successful anti-fraud methods and featuring cases that exemplify the measures described. The book features contributions by outstanding experts in the field and is intended for academic readers with a special interest in fraud research.

Levy processes are the natural continuous-time analogue of random walks and form a rich class of stochastic processes around which a robust mathematical theory exists. Their application appears in the theory of many areas of classical and modern stochastic processes including storage models, renewal processes, insurance risk models, optimal stopping problems, mathematical finance, continuous-state branching processes and positive self-similar Markov processes.

This textbook is based on a series of graduate courses concerning the theory and application of Levy processes from the perspective of their path fluctuations. Central to the presentation is the decomposition of paths in terms of excursions from the running maximum as well as an understanding of short- and long-term behaviour.

The book aims to be mathematically rigorous while still providing an intuitive feel for underlying principles. The results and applications often focus on the case of Levy processes with jumps in only one direction, for which recent theoretical advances have yielded a higher degree of mathematical tractability.

The second edition additionally addresses recent developments in the potential analysis of subordinators, Wiener-Hopf theory, the theory of scale functions and their application to ruin theory, as well as including an extensive overview of the classical and modern theory of positive self-similar Markov processes. Each chapter has a comprehensive set of exercises.

Praise for SAFELY PROSPEROUS or REALLY RICH? "Howard's brilliant concept that the roads to Prosperity and Riches are very different is very liberating. In most financial books, the author would never do what Howard has done-recount with unflinching honesty the big financial mistakes he and his subscribers have made over the years so readers can avoid the same stumbling blocks and pitfalls. Only a very secure man would have the guts to do that." -Robert Allen author of Multiple Streams of Income and Nothing Down "Howard Ruff is back, offering a wealth of powerful new financial advice for America's middle class. In his new manual, Safely Prosperous or Really Rich?, he challenges you to choose between two roads. The older I get, the more I favor 'Safely Prosperous,' but you make the call. I also love Howard's old-fashioned moral perspectives on money." -Mark Skousen editor of Forecasts and Strategies "Safely Prosperous or Really Rich? is destined to be one of the most influential books of the early twenty-first century, just as his mega bestseller, How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years, changed millions of lives in the late '70s. Welcome back, Howard." -John Mauldin author of Bull's Eye Investing

The availability of financial data recorded on high-frequency level has inspired a research area which over the last decade emerged to a major area in econometrics and statistics. The growing popularity of high-frequency econometrics is driven by technological progress in trading systems and an increasing importance of intraday trading, liquidity risk, optimal order placement as well as high-frequency volatility. This book provides a state-of-the art overview on the major approaches in high-frequency econometrics, including univariate and multivariate autoregressive conditional mean approaches for different types of high-frequency variables, intensity-based approaches for financial point processes and dynamic factor models. It discusses implementation details, provides insights into properties of high-frequency data as well as institutional settings and presents applications to volatility and liquidity estimation, order book modelling and market microstructure analysis.

Bali, Engle, and Murray have produced a highly accessible introduction to the techniques and evidence of modern empirical asset pricing. This book should be read and absorbed by every serious student of the field, academic and professional. Eugene Fama, Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, University of Chicago and 2013 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences The empirical analysis of the cross-section of stock returns is a monumental achievement of half a century of finance research. Both the established facts and the methods used to discover them have subtle complexities that can mislead casual observers and novice researchers. Bali, Engle, and Murray s clear and careful guide to these issues provides a firm foundation for future discoveries. John Campbell, Morton L. and Carole S. Olshan Professor of Economics, Harvard University Bali, Engle, and Murray provide clear and accessible descriptions of many of the most important empirical techniques and results in asset pricing. Kenneth R. French, Roth Family Distinguished Professor of Finance, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College This exciting new book presents a thorough review of what we know about the cross-section of stock returns. Given its comprehensive nature, systematic approach, and easy-to-understand language, the book is a valuable resource for any introductory PhD class in empirical asset pricing. Lubos Pastor, Charles P. McQuaid Professor of Finance, University of Chicago Empirical Asset Pricing: The Cross Section of Stock Returns is a comprehensive overview of the most important findings of empirical asset pricing research. The book begins with thorough expositions of the most prevalent econometric techniques with in-depth discussions of the implementation and interpretation of results illustrated through detailed examples. The second half of the book applies these techniques to demonstrate the most salient patterns observed in stock returns. The phenomena documented form the basis for a range of investment strategies as well as the foundations of contemporary empirical asset pricing research. Empirical Asset Pricing: The Cross Section of Stock Returns also includes: * Discussions on the driving forces behind the patterns observed in the stock market * An extensive set of results that serve as a reference for practitioners and academics alike * Numerous references to both contemporary and foundational research articles Empirical Asset Pricing: The Cross Section of Stock Returns is an ideal textbook for graduate-level courses in asset pricing and portfolio management. The book is also an indispensable reference for researchers and practitioners in finance and economics. Turan G. Bali, PhD, is the Robert Parker Chair Professor of Finance in the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. The recipient of the 2014 Jack Treynor prize, he is the coauthor of Mathematical Methods for Finance: Tools for Asset and Risk Management, also published by Wiley. Robert F. Engle, PhD, is the Michael Armellino Professor of Finance in the Stern School of Business at New York University. He is the 2003 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, Director of the New York University Stern Volatility Institute, and co-founding President of the Society for Financial Econometrics. Scott Murray, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Finance in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. He is the recipient of the 2014 Jack Treynor prize.

This book offers a rigorous and self-contained presentation of stochastic integration and stochastic calculus within the general framework of continuous semimartingales. The main tools of stochastic calculus, including Ito's formula, the optional stopping theorem and Girsanov's theorem, are treated in detail alongside many illustrative examples. The book also contains an introduction to Markov processes, with applications to solutions of stochastic differential equations and to connections between Brownian motion and partial differential equations. The theory of local times of semimartingales is discussed in the last chapter. Since its invention by Ito, stochastic calculus has proven to be one of the most important techniques of modern probability theory, and has been used in the most recent theoretical advances as well as in applications to other fields such as mathematical finance. Brownian Motion, Martingales, and Stochastic Calculus provides a strong theoretical background to the reader interested in such developments. Beginning graduate or advanced undergraduate students will benefit from this detailed approach to an essential area of probability theory. The emphasis is on concise and efficient presentation, without any concession to mathematical rigor. The material has been taught by the author for several years in graduate courses at two of the most prestigious French universities. The fact that proofs are given with full details makes the book particularly suitable for self-study. The numerous exercises help the reader to get acquainted with the tools of stochastic calculus.

It's never too early to get your kids on track to financial freedom! National bestselling author Loral Langemeier and coauthor Kyle Boeckman have been proving for years that it's possible to raise kids who are smart about money-and that ultimate success is practically guaranteed if it's done thoughtfully and consistently. Make Your Kids Millionaires lays out the authors' winning approach in an engaging and hands-on way. You'll learn how to foster in your children a foundation of financial curiosity and create a family culture where everyone is comfortable with the topic of money. Packed with activities, exercises, and guided conversations tailored to specific age brackets from birth to 18+, this unique resource is organized into two parts: Part one helps you build this financial knowledge you need to teach your kids the basics; part two is broken down into chapters that are age-based, with specific sections within each chapter covering specific topics. Age-specific topics and lessons include: * Delayed Gratification * Establishing Money Goals * Setting Up a Bank Account * Interest Makes Your Money Work for You * Supply and Demand * Assets Versus Liabilities * Good Debt Vs Bad Debt * Challenging Our Comfort Zones * Balance Sheets and Income Statements * Buying a Car * Insurance * Starting a Business * Student Loans You'll learn how to set you children up for success through the use of Roth IRAs, savings accounts, tax-advantaged college savings account, and trusts. Make Your Kids Millionaires delivers the information, insights, and tools for teaching your children to be financially literate, for driving a lifetime of financial learning, and for accelerating your child's flight to financial freedom.

Experimental methods are now a mainstream empirical methodology in economics. The papers in this volume represent some recent developments in research on experimental markets. The articles span a variety of topics related to experimental markets, including auctions, taxation, institutional differences, coordination in markets, and learning. Contributors to the volume include many of the most distinguished researchers in the area.

The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, following closely on the adoptionofmarket-orientedreformsinEastern Europe, createdanew specialty within economics. The economicsoftransitionencompassesphenomenaand problems fromboth microeconomicsandmacroeconomics, aseconomistsfrom all disciplines have labored to understand the economic forces at work in the movement fromplanning tomarket in these countries. Muchhas been learned in the subsequent decade, but as the poor macroeconomic record of the economies attests, much remains to be done. In my view, our progress in understanding transition has been much more pronounced on the microeconomic questions - enterprise privatization, price liberalization, and more competitive industrial organization- than it has been on the more macroeconomic issues. I find that it is revealing to consider the latter issues through the optic ofthe saving decisions within the transition economies. This volume is designed to shed light on the difficulties in achievingdesirable macroeconomic performance in an economysaddled with the legacies ofthe Soviet Union. There are three groupsofpotentialreaders for abookon theeconomics of the transition economies, and I believe that this volume has something to offer each. *Non-specialists with an interest inlearningmore about the economic development ofthese countries will find a wealth ofdescriptive information about these economies. * Economic specialists and policy analysts ofthe region will find the saving-driven analysis ofthe data to be an illuminating optic on the evolution ofthe financial sector, output and inflation in these countries. * Academics and scientific researchers will find that the analysis is buttressed with arigoroftheoretical and econometric technique referenced or reported in the text.

************ The United States is currently undergoing a fundamental transfonnation from an industrial toaseIVice-based economy. ! This transfonnation, which began around the eOO ofWorld WarII, has led to changes in the composition of the labor force, affecting the various sectors in which people are employed and also the types and levels ofskills that are indemand. At present ours is rapidly becoming a mowledge, or infonnation based economy, requiring "high-teclmology services" from people who are highly. trained and educated as well as experienced in their fields. Engineers, computer programmers, software developers, medical technicians, lawyers, and university professors all qualify as high-tech selVice personnel Thus, the economy is increasingly composed ofwhite collar, teclutical, professionalpersonnel GrowingRecognition oftheImportanceofHuman Assets Whereas physical capital was of utmost importance in the economy of the past, the distinctive feature of the emerging economy is an increasing emphasis on human and intellectual capital-the knowledge, skills, and experience ofpeople. Given the growing importance of human capital and intellectual property as detenninants of economic success at both the macroeconomic and enterprise levels, it should also be clear that the nature ofinvestments made by firms needs to shift to reflect the new economic realities. Specifically, if human caPital is a key detenninant of organizational success, then investmentsintraininganddevelopmentofpeoplealso become critical.

This is the recommended principal text for the Financial Aspects of Marketing paper of the CIM Certificate Examination.

Paradox of Organizational Change illustrates a systematic approach to creating sustainable change in any type of organization attempting to compete effectively in its environment. This book is founded on general systems principles and the scientific study of behavior. Stories based on real cases are presented to address fundamental issues of organizational change. The reader will learn how to restructure an organization to succeed in the ever-changing marketplace, how to identify and design processes that change organizations, and how to ensure that new processes are continuously implemented managed, and adapted to ongoing organizational changes.

This book was first published in 2009. Clearing forms the core part of a smooth and efficiently functioning financial market infrastructure. Traditionally, it has been provided by clearing houses, most of which today act as a 'central counterparty' (CCP) between the two sides of a trade. The rapid growth of cross-border trading has sparked discussion on the most efficient industry structure - particularly in Europe and the US. At the heart of this discussion lies the question of whether the implementation of a single clearing house creates greater benefits than a more competitive but interlinked market structure. This is the starting point for this book, which analyses the efficiency of clearing and clearing industry structure. Along with clear-cut definitions and a concise characterisation and descriptive analysis of the clearing industry, the book determines the efficiency impact of various cross-border integration and harmonisation initiatives between CCPs. This serves to identify the most preferable future structure for the clearing industry.

Understanding cost behavior is a fundamental element of cost accounting and the management of a firm. Deviating from the traditional assumption of symmetric cost behavior, numerous recent research studies show that costs are sticky, that is, they decrease less when sales fall than they increase when sales rise. Daniel Baumgarten comprehensively analyzes the cost stickiness phenomenon by discussing its development and all relevant findings presented in the research literature. Furthermore, he provides several suggestions for future research and discusses important implications of cost stickiness for fundamental analysis and analysts' forecasts by means of two comprehensive empirical analyses.

The credit crisis that started in 2007, with the collapse of well-established financial institutions and the bankruptcy of many public corporations, has clearly shown the importance for any company entering the derivative business of modelling, pricing, and hedging its counterparty credit exposure.

Building an accurate representation of firm-wide credit exposure, for both risk and trading activities, is a significant challenge from the technical as well as the practical point of view. This volume can be considered as a roadmap to finding practical solutions to the problem of computing counterparty credit exposure for large books of both vanilla and exotic derivatives usually traded by large Investment Banks. It is divided into four parts, (I) Methodology, (II) Architecture and Implementation, (III) Products, and (IV) Hedging and Managing Counterparty Risk.

Starting from a generic modelling and simulation framework based on American Monte Carlo techniques, it presents a software architecture, which, with its modular design, allows the computation of credit exposure in a portfolio-aggregated and scenario-consistent way. An essential part of the design is the definition of a programming language, which allows trade representation based on dynamic modelling features. Several chapters are then devoted to the analysis of credit exposure of various products across all asset classes, namely foreign exchange, interest rate, credit derivatives, and equity. Finally it considers how to mitigate and hedge counterparty exposure. The crucial question of dynamic hedging is addressed by constructing a hybrid product, the Contingent-Credit Default Swap.This volume addresses these and other problems, as well as recent developments related to counterparty credit exposure, from a quantitative perspective. Its unique characteristic is the combination of a rigorous but simple mathematical approach with a practical view of the financial problem at hand.

Do we really know the critical phenomena that are linked to how enterprises function and the dynamics of their relationships with customers, suppliers and competitors? Are their decision-making processes founded upon a set of performance measurements that were accurately designed and systematically elaborated? The above questions are the focus of this book, as is the following premise: enterprises need a system to measure their critical performances so they can be managed effectively; metaphorically speaking, enterprises need a "management dashboard" to serve as a navigational aid. A dashboard to show - with as few distortions as possible - the pattern of key variables that characterizes the specific formula enterprises use to face their competitive and social environment.

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Effective Management Control deals with a critical but relatively neglected and misunderstood aspect of organizational effectiveness: the process of controlling the behavior of people in organizations. The issue of organizational control and the design of an optimal control system is essential for the long term effectiveness of an organization: too little control can lead to confusion and chaos; conversely, too great a degree of control can result in the erosion of innovation and entrepreneurship. This monograph presents a conceptual framework for approaching these issues, and examines the role accounting can play in a successful control system. The author works towards an understanding of the nature, role, elements and functioning of organizational control and control systems in organizations. The book posits and discusses the features of a core control system and its component parts, including: planning, measurement and feedback, evaluation and reward sub-systems. It also discusses the ways in which a core control system operates within a larger organizational structure and culture. The theory is illustrated through its application to a particular case study.

As more applications are found, interest in Hidden Markov Models continues to grow. Following comments and feedback from colleagues, students and other working with Hidden Markov Models the corrected 3rd printing of this volume contains clarifications, improvements and some new material, including results on smoothing for linear Gaussian dynamics.

In Chapter 2 the derivation of the basic filters related to the Markov chain are each presented explicitly, rather than as special cases of one general filter. Furthermore, equations for smoothed estimates are given. The dynamics for the Kalman filter are derived as special cases of the authors general results and new expressions for a Kalman smoother are given. The Chapters on the control of Hidden Markov Chains are expanded and clarified. The revised Chapter 4 includes state estimation for discrete time Markov processes and Chapter 12 has a new section on robust control.

Modern businesses generate huge volumes of accounting data on a daily basis. The recent advancements in information technology have given organizations the ability to capture and store these data in an efficient and effective manner. However, there is a widening gap between this data storage and usage of the data. Business intelligence techniques can help an organization obtain and process relevant accounting data quickly and cost efficiently. Such techniques include, query and reporting tools, online analytical processing (OLAP), statistical analysis, text mining, data mining, and visualization. Business Intelligence Techniques is a compilation of chapters written by experts in the various areas. While these chapters stand of their own, taken together they provide a comprehensive overview of how to exploit accounting data in the business environment.

This book provides a rigorous mathematical treatment of the non-linear stochastic filtering problem using modern methods. Particular emphasis is placed on the theoretical analysis of numerical methods for the solution of the filtering problem via particle methods. The book should provide sufficient background to enable study of the recent literature. While no prior knowledge of stochastic filtering is required, readers are assumed to be familiar with measure theory, probability theory and the basics of stochastic processes. Most of the technical results that are required are stated and proved in the appendices. Exercises and solutions are included.

The essays, written by leading experts, examine the history of the international financial system in terms of the debate about globalization and its limits. In the nineteenth century, international markets existed without international institutions. A response to the problems of capital flows came in the form of attempts to regulate national capital markets (for instance through the establishment of central banks). In the inter-war years, there were (largely unsuccessful) attempts at designing a genuine international trade and monetary system; and at the same time (coincidentally) the system collapsed. In the post-1945 era, the intended design effort was infinitely more successful. The development of large international capital markets since the 1960s, however, increasingly frustrated attempts at international control. The emphasis has shifted in consequence to debates about increasing the transparency and effectiveness of markets; but these are exactly the issues that already dominated the nineteenth-century discussions.

The developments of economic theory in the 1950s served to pinpoint important underlying assumptions in the study of market institutions. The conflict between observed institutions and the benchmark interpretation became apparent. This led to the introduction of new equilibrium concepts. The emphasis was on the possibilities to transfer purchasing power over time using spot markets involving assets or money. This advanced textbook focuses on the developments in the theory of incomplete markets and overlapping generations economies where income transfers over time are restricted either by available assets or by the unfeasibility of contracts with unborn generations. It bridges the gap between standard textbooks on microeconomics and more advanced expositions. Contains diagrams, examples and exercises.