Get your arms around wills, trusts, probate, inheritance taxes, and other important estate planning essentials Estate Planning For Dummies teaches you the ins and outs of estate planning. It's all about drafting wills, dealing with probate, assigning powers of attorney, establishing living trusts, and beyond. Think you don't have enough assets to merit estate planning? Think again. This everyone-friendly guide walks you through building a solid estate plan, whatever your current financial situation. In easy-to-understand language, you'll learn the ins and outs of estate planning, including what happens to your stuff--cash, real estate, businesses, retirement funds, everything--when you pass away. This new edition is updated for the many recent changes in estate taxes and inheritance law. Make sure your assets get into the pockets of your heirs or wherever you want them to go, and learn how to accomplish it the For Dummies way. Understand state and federal estate and inheritance taxes Build an air-tight will and make sure your heirs get as much as they can Protect your estate's privacy even after you're gone Plan for the transition of a family business Prevent disagreements and uncertainty among your heirs Figure out how to pass on your digital assets This friendly guide is a must for people of any age in the process of drafting their wills and planning where their assets ultimately end up.

Urban design enables better places to be created for people and is thus seen in Urban Design in the Real Estate Development Process as a place-making activity, rather than the application of architectural aesthetics. Urban design policy can change the 'decision environment' of developers, financiers, designers and other actors in the real estate development process to make them take place-making more seriously. This book reports diverse international experience from Europe and North America on the role and significance of urban design in the real estate development process and explores how higher quality development and better places can be achieved through public policy. The book is focused on four types of policy tool or instrument that have been deployed to promote better urban design: those that seek to shape, regulate or provide stimulus to real estate markets along with those aim to build capacity to achieve these. Urban design is therefore seen as a form of public policy that seeks to steer real estate development towards policy-shaped rather than market-led outcomes. The editors set the examples, case studies and evidence from international contributors within a substantive discussion of the impact of urban design policy tools and actions in specific development contexts. Contributions from leading urban design theorists and practitioners explore how: * Masterplanning and infrastructure provision encourage high quality design * Design codes reconcile developers' needs for certainty and flexibility * Clear policy combined with firm regulation can transform developer behaviour * Intelligent parcelisation can craft the character of successful new urban districts * Powerful real estates interests can capture regulatory initiatives * Stimulus instruments can encourage good design * Development competitions need careful management * Design review can foster developer commitment to design excellence * Speculative housebuilders respond in varied ways to the brownfield design challenge * Physical-financial models could help in assessing the benefits of design investment * Urban design can add value to the benefit of developers and cities as a whole.

A DETAILED PRIMER ON TODAY'S MOST SOPHISTICATED AND CONTROVERSIAL TRADING TECHNIQUE

Unfair . . . brilliant . . . illegal . . . inevitable. High-frequency trading has been described in many different ways, but one thing is for sure--it has transformed investing as we know it.

"All About High-Frequency Trading" examines the practice of deploying advanced computer algorithms to read and interpret market activity, make trades, and pull in huge profi ts--all within milliseconds. Whatever your level of investing expertise, you'll gain valuable insight from "All About High-Frequency Trading"'s sober, objective explanations of: The markets in which high-frequency traders operate How high-frequency traders profi t from mispriced securities Statistical and algorithmic strategies used by high-frequency traders Technology and techniques for building a high-frequency trading system The ongoing debate over the benefi ts, risks, and ever-evolving future of high-frequency trading

Accountants have historically had an important role in the detection and deterrence of fraud. As Joe Wells' Principles of Fraud Examination 4th edition illustrates, fraud is much more than numbers; books and records don't commit fraud - people do. Widely embraced by fraud examination instructors across the country, Principles of Fraud Examination, 4th Edition, by Joseph Wells, is written to provide a broad understanding of fraud to today's accounting students - what it is and how it is committed, prevented, detected, and resolved. This 4th edition of the text includes a chapter on frauds perpetrated against organizations by individuals outside their staff--a growing threat for many entities as commerce increasingly crosses technological and geographical borders.

Accounting Disrupted: How Digitalization is changing Finance delivers a powerful analysis of the new technological forces buffeting the accounting profession and identifies key pathways to responding to the challenges. Al Bhimani, distinguished accountant, academic, and author, shows readers how established business fundamentals are being eclipsed and that accounting has not been spared. You'll learn: How the new realities of digitalization, including big data and AI, are affecting audit work and financial management practices How learning fast about and from more diverse data sources is essential to the new accounting environment Why accounting information must start to speak to what will take place rather than about financial activities that have occurred What finance must do in a world of changing risks, data growth, fast digitization, and increased regulation The author makes a compelling case that accounting now faces a crunch: it needs to reshape itself from the core because conventional financial analysis is proving too cumbersome and slow for executives in digitalized organizations. In a straightforward and illustrated style packed with case studies and practical examples, he shows readers how big data, blockchain, robotic process automation, and artificial intelligence, can help accountants adapt to new realities. Perfect for finance leaders in both the private and public sectors, Accounting Disrupted also belongs on the bookshelves of accounting students who wish to better prepare for the technological and professional environment in which they'll shortly find themselves.

Using a rigorous and concise framework, this book teaches the foundations of modern macroeconomic theory and its methods. It is ideally suited for students taking a first graduate course in macroeconomics as part of an MBA, finance, or economics degree. The book explains recent advances of modern macroeconomic theory with respect to growth, business cycles, and asset pricing by focusing on aspects of firm and household behavior that are embedded in modern macroeconomic studies. Throughout the book data issues are discussed in detail: where to find the data, how to download it, and the correspondence of data with model predictions. The mathematical level assumes that students have taken a course in calculus. With its emphasis on dynamic inter-temporal macroeconomics and the use of data, the book provides students with a core toolkit that will equip them both for more advanced study and for professional careers as economists.

The EU Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth is the most advanced and comprehensive policy agenda on sustainability in the world. But is it going in the right direction? Acting as a bridge between policy and academia, this up-to-date contribution to the global policy debate brings together some of the leading experts from the European Commission's High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, to discuss how the financial system needs to be reformed to promote sustainability. Finance has long been criticized for being short-term focused and concerned with maximizing returns to intermediaries, rather than with the interests of savers and borrowers. The financial system must now take into account environmental, social and governance considerations to support a sustainable economy and this volume offers new insights on the way forward. A must-read for anyone working on financial sector policy and sustainability.

Do your students struggle to engage with legal topics? Look no further than Marson & Ferris' Business Law to help them actively engage with the law, understand it, and approach it with confidence. Written with business, management, and finance and accounting students in mind, the authors put the law into a context that they can easily understand by introducing case studies in every chapter. 'Business Scenarios' help the students contextualize the law by presenting the reader with an example of an everyday problem which demonstrates how the law can affect a company, employer, employee, or other individual. Throughout each chapter the students are asked to pause and consider how the content applies to these routine business problems, enabling them to become active readers and think independently about how the law operates. The first chapter provides a helpful guide to studying the law and advice on how to excel in assessments so that students can fulfil their potential. This chapter includes a sample problem question and model answer. Further sample problem and essay questions can be found at the end of chapters, giving readers an opportunity to test their understanding and practise for assessments. Students will be able to find indicative answers to these questions hosted with the online resources for this book. At the end of each chapter the authors provide further reading suggestions to guide students that want to deepen their knowledge, including well-maintained and trusted websites, Twitter feeds, and YouTube channels in addition to suitable books and articles. Digital formats and resources This edition is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources. - The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features, and links that offer extra learning support: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks - The online resources include flashcard cases, self-test questions and answers with feedback, and additional material on legislation.

Wer mAchte das nicht? Denen etwas hinterlassen, die man wirklich bedenken mAchte. Das geht jedoch nur mit einem Testament, denn ohne die schriftliche ErklArung des A"Letzten WillensA" gilt die gesetzliche Erbfolge, die oft nicht den eigenen WA1/4nschen entspricht: Hier erfahren Sie, was es mit der gesetzlichen Erbfolge und PflichtteilsansprA1/4chen auf sich hat. Der Autor hilft Ihnen beim Aufsetzen eines Testaments und erlAutert, was Sie darin alles regeln kAnnen. Es spricht auch die MAglichkeit an zu schenken, statt zu vererben, gibt legale Steuertipps und erklArt, wie ein Testament in unterschiedlichen Lebenssituationen formuliert sein muss. Zahlreiche Checklisten und Mustervorlagen runden den Band ab.

The $600 billion gorilla in the room

"Dr. Joe Koletar has provided an effective road map to the problem of occupational fraud, in both the public and private sectors, in America. Such frauds affect every American worker, shareholder, and taxpayer. His insights and ideas are an important contribution to the effort to fight this growing menace."
–– Congressman John E. Sweeney, New York’s 22nd District

"A superb and timely book for every executive to read. Joe Koletar has brought together all the works done in the past on occupational fraud and given us a road map of what needs to be done. It will be required reading for every candidate in an MBA program."
–– Thomas J. Pickard, Vice President, Corporate Security, Bristol-Myers Squibb and former Deputy Director, FBI

"Joe Koletar deserves high praise for this timely and trenchant analysis of corporate crime. Bringing to bear his extensive experience in the FBI and the private sector, Koletar dissects the roots of corporate fraud, the means to prevent it, and the best way to investigate it when it occurs. Anyone wanting to understand the current spate of corporate accounting scandals should read this book."
–– David Zornow, Litigation Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and former Federal Prosecuter

While occupational fraud has long been accepted as the cost of doing business, Enron, Global Crossing, and other high-profile cases have proven its potential for catastrophic damage to be significant. And, paradoxically, these headline-grabbing examples are only the tip of the iceberg. The lion’s share of the estimated $600 billion lost every year to workplace fraud comes from small-time kickbacks and "ghost vendor" scams that go undetected and unpunished. Fraud Exposed lets the white-collar crime cat out of the bag, presenting comprehensive, provocative solutions for eliminating occupational fraud. Topics covered include:

• Law enforcement response models
• Internal and financial controls
• Organizational intelligence
• Game theory and other fresh, radical perspectives
• Preventive and punitive measures

Auditors, fraud examiners, CFOs, and controllers will find Fraud Exposed to be an essential addition to their professional libraries.

Among the symmetrical distributions with an infinite domain, the most popular alternative to the normal variant is the logistic distribution as well as the Laplace or the double exponential distribution, which was first introduced in 1774. Occasionally, the Cauchy distribution is also used. Surprisingly, the hyperbolic secant distribution has led a charmed life, although Manoukian and Nadeau had already stated in 1988 that "... the hyperbolic-secant distribution ... has not received sufficient attention in the published literature and may be useful for students and practitioners." During the last few years, however, several generalizations of the hyperbolic secant distribution have become popular in the context of financial return data because of its excellent fit. Nearly all of them are summarized within this Springer Brief.

Focusing on recent advances in option pricing under the SABR model, this book shows how to price options under this model in an arbitrage-free, theoretically consistent manner. It extends SABR to a negative rates environment, and shows how to generalize it to a similar model with additional degrees of freedom, allowing simultaneous model calibration to swaptions and CMSs. Since the SABR model is used on practically every trading floor to construct interest rate options volatility cubes in an arbitrage-free manner, a careful treatment of it is extremely important. The book will be of interest to experienced industry practitioners, as well as to students and professors in academia. Aimed mainly at financial industry practitioners (for example quants and former physicists) this book will also be interesting to mathematicians who seek intuition in the mathematical finance.

Gary Gastineau and Mark Kritzman team up once again for the third edition of this classic reference tool designed for financial analysts and managers. Anyone involved in financial risk management must have a proper understanding of the words, terms, and phrases used in this fast paced field-and Dictionary of Financial Risk Management clearly provides that understanding. Risk management terminology is a part of almost any financial operation, including cash, forwards/futures, swaps, options-and is found in many disciplines: probability and statistics, tax and financial accounting, and law. The vocabulary of the risk manager continues to expand with the creation of new products and new concepts. This volume carefully defines and illustrates all the words and phrases that financial professionals need to know and understand. The Dictionary of Financial Risk Management includes listings of common acronyms, profit/loss diagrams of new financial instruments, and extensive coverage of derivatives and quantitative techniques. This invaluable reference guide provides comprehensive definitions of the key terms and concepts that many financial professionals need to know on a day-to-day basis.

Derivatives and credit derivatives have emerged as significant areas of interest in portfolio planning and risk management. In this book, Mark Anson examines the accounting and taxation implications of these instruments, including the new accounting rules for derivative instruments promulgated by the financial Accounting Standards in the United States, the Accounting Standards Board in Great Britain, and the International Accounting Standards Committee. Regulatory requirements for disclosing derivatives and tax considerations for derivative instruments are discussed (including TRA-97.)
Additionally, the book reviews the regulatory accounting deadlines introduced by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In Speculative Communities, Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou examines the ways that speculation has moved beyond financial markets to shape fundamental aspects of our social and political lives. As ordinary people make exceptional decisions, such as the American election of a populist demagogue or the British vote to leave the European Union, they are moving from time-honored and -tested practices of governance, toward the speculative promise of a new, more uncertain future. This book shows how even our methods of building community have shifted to the speculative realm as social media platforms enable and amplify our volatile wagers. For Komporozos-Athanasiou, "to speculate" means increasingly "to connect," to endorse the unknown pre-emptively, and often daringly, as a means of social survival. Grappling with the question of how more uncertainty can lead to its full-throated embrace rather than dissent, Speculative Communities shows how finance has become the model for society writ large. As Komporozos-Athanasiou argues, virtual marketplaces, new social media, and dating apps bring finance's opaque infrastructures into the most intimate realms of our lives, leading to a new type of speculative imagination across economy, culture, and society.

Lex Fullarton's book "Heat, Dust and Taxes: A story of tax schemes in Australia's outback" set in the picturesque but treacherous landscape in the Outback of North-western Australia, tells the story of one of the greatest series of tax avoidance schemes in history. This book is not only an interesting read, it makes a significant contribution to our understanding of taxpayer compliance behaviour development in the highly problematic area of mass marketed tax schemes. Dr Paul Kenny, Associate Professor in Taxation Law, Flinders University, Flinders Business School

This book introduces the main theoretical findings related to copulas and shows how statistical modeling of multivariate continuous distributions using copulas can be carried out in the R statistical environment with the package copula (among others). Copulas are multivariate distribution functions with standard uniform univariate margins. They are increasingly applied to modeling dependence among random variables in fields such as risk management, actuarial science, insurance, finance, engineering, hydrology, climatology, and meteorology, to name a few. In the spirit of the Use R! series, each chapter combines key theoretical definitions or results with illustrations in R. Aimed at statisticians, actuaries, risk managers, engineers and environmental scientists wanting to learn about the theory and practice of copula modeling using R without an overwhelming amount of mathematics, the book can also be used for teaching a course on copula modeling.

A state-of-the-art introduction to the powerful mathematical and statistical tools used in the field of finance
The use of mathematical models and numerical techniques is a practice employed by a growing number of applied mathematicians working on applications in finance. Reflecting this development, Numerical Methods in Finance and Economics: A MATLAB?-Based Introduction, Second Edition bridges the gap between financial theory and computational practice while showing readers how to utilize MATLAB?--the powerful numerical computing environment--for financial applications.
The author provides an essential foundation in finance and numerical analysis in addition to background material for students from both engineering and economics perspectives. A wide range of topics is covered, including standard numerical analysis methods, Monte Carlo methods to simulate systems affected by significant uncertainty, and optimization methods to find an optimal set of decisions.
Among this book's most outstanding features is the integration of MATLAB?, which helps students and practitioners solve relevant problems in finance, such as portfolio management and derivatives pricing. This tutorial is useful in connecting theory with practice in the application of classical numerical methods and advanced methods, while illustrating underlying algorithmic concepts in concrete terms.
Newly featured in the Second Edition:
* In-depth treatment of Monte Carlo methods with due attention paid to variance reduction strategies
* New appendix on AMPL in order to better illustrate the optimization models in Chapters 11 and 12
* New chapter on binomial and trinomial lattices
* Additional treatment of partial differential equations with two space dimensions
* Expanded treatment within the chapter on financial theory to provide a more thorough background for engineers not familiar with finance
* New coverage of advanced optimization methods and applications later in the text

Numerical Methods in Finance and Economics: A MATLAB?-Based Introduction, Second Edition presents basic treatments and more specialized literature, and it also uses algebraic languages, such as AMPL, to connect the pencil-and-paper statement of an optimization model with its solution by a software library. Offering computational practice in both financial engineering and economics fields, this book equips practitioners with the necessary techniques to measure and manage risk.

Mutual funds form the bedrock of retirement savings in the United States, and, considering their rapid growth, are sure to be more critical in the future. Because the size of fees paid by investors to mutual fund advisers can strongly affect the return on investment, these fees have become a contentious issue in Congress and the courts, with many arguing that investment advisers grow rich at the expense of investors.

This ground-breaking book not only conceptualizes a new economic model of the mutual fund industry, but also uses this model to test for price competition between investment advisers, evaluating the assertion that market forces fail to protect investors' returns from excessive fees. Highly experienced authors track the growth of the industry over the past twenty-five years and present arguments and evidence both for and against theories of adviser malfeasance. The authors review the regulatory history of mutual fund fees and summarize leading case decisions addressing excessive fees.

Revealing the extent to which the governance structure of mutual funds truly impacts fund performance, this book provides the best understanding of today's mutual fund industry and is a vital tool for investors, money managers, fund directors, securities lawyers, economists, and anyone concerned with the regulation of mutual funds.