Expert systems--problem-solving computer programs that contain the encoded knowledge of experts in a specific application area such as financial planning--represent a crucial turning point in how the typical organization utilizes its computer environment. This volume, written for practitioners in finance and accounting as well as MIS managers who wish to broaden their expertise, offers a comprehensive look at the use of expert systems in the everyday operations of finance and accounting. The author presents selected areas that are viable candidates for expert systems, demonstrating the ways in which organizations can successfully augment their present management information systems with expert systems. Actual programs using a typical PC expert system shell (EXSYS) further illustrate the relative ease with which expert systems for finance and accounting can be developed, implemented, and maintained.

Divided into four parts, the book begins by offering a framework for developing expert systems in finance and accounting. In the second part, Thierauf reviews the current state of development for programming languages in expert systems, the computer hardware necessary to run expert systems, and expert system shells useful in developing business expert systems. Part three presents an in-depth examination of the procedures used in developing expert systems, while the final part focuses on typical applications of expert systems in finance and accounting. Following a chapter on general business and nonbusiness applications, Thierauf addresses finance applications of expert systems and then uses the EXSYS program to develop demonstration and field prototypes and operational expert systems for standard finance applications. The final two chapters take the same approach to accounting applications. An appendix lists vendors of artificial intelligence/expert systems hardware and software.

Modeling and Forecasting Electricity Loads and Prices offers an in-depth and up-to-date review of different statistical tools that can be used to analyze and forecast the dynamics of two crucial for every energy company processes - electricity prices and loads. It provides coverage of seasonal decomposition, mean reversion, heavy-tailed distributions, exponential smoothing, spike preprocessing, autoregressive time series - including models with exogenous variables and heteroskedastic (GARCH) components, regime-switching models, interval forecasts, jump-diffusion models, derivatives pricing and the market price of risk.

An accompanying CD containing both the data and detailed examples of implementation of different techniques in Matlab will enable readers to retrace all the intermediate steps of a practical implementation of a model and test their understanding of the method and correctness of the computer code using the same input data.

The book will be of particular interest to the quants employed by the utilities, independent power generators and marketers, energy trading desks of the hedge funds and financial institutions, and the executives attending courses designed to help them to rush up on their technical skills. The text will be also of use to graduate students in electrical engineering, econometrics and fiance wanting to get a grip on advanced Statistical tools applied in this hot area. Complete with sixteen case studies, this book is a highly practical, self-contained tutorial to electricity load and price modeling and forecasting.

"the ability to predict correctly the system load, customer specific load and the electricity prices is of critical importance to anyregulated utility, independent power producer, power marketers and traders. Given high volatility of electricity prices, even a small forecasting error can have a very significant impact on the bottom line. Dr. Weron's book provides an in-depth, up-to-date and very well organized review of Statistical techniques for forecasting power load and prices and is highly recommended to any practitioner of the modern electricity markets."
-- Vince Kaminski, Managing Director, Citigroup, Houston and Adjunct Professor, Rice University, Houston

Financial analysis, based on ratio analysis, has been used as a tool for analyzing the financial strength of corporations. Although ratio analysis is generally used as a univariate strategy, the accounting and finance literature has evolved to include multivariate-based models in financial analysis, and these models can be used to explain important economic events and often predict them. Thus, in an exhaustive coverage of the economic events to which they can be applied, Riahi-Belkaoui discusses these models in a way that will have special value to corporate management, financial planners, and to their colleagues in the academic community who specialize in business and economic analysis.

Praise for A complete guide to Technical Trading Tactics

"John Person does an excellent job of explaining how to apply technical analysis to the futures markets. Since futures trading is short-term in nature, it demands precision timing tools. A lot of those tools can be found in this new book."
--John Murphy
author of Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets and Intermarket Analysis

"Easy to read and easy to follow, A Complete Guide to Technical Trading Tactics is a book traders will love."
--Larry Williams
Legendary trader and author of Day Trade Futures Online and Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading

"A Complete Guide to Technical Trading Tactics is replete with useful trading tips in a logical format, presented by a seasoned trader with a flair for telling it like it is . . . sure to enrich your pocketbook."
--Larry Pesavento
40-year veteran trader and former member of the CME

"There is a Japanese proverb: 'He whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious.' This book skillfully reveals how to join the most important aspects of technical analysis including my favorite (of course) candlesticks. Covers the spectrum from market mechanics to chart analysis, pivot points (John's specialty), order placement, and much more. Use this book! It will help you along the road to victory in your trading battles."
--Steve Nison, CMT
President, Candlecharts.com and author of Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques and The Candlestick Course

"Brilliantly provides succinct descriptions and applications of technical trading techniques, gives a solid overview of the derivatives market, shows how to identify and work with a broker, and presentsissues that a trader must face to be successful. A must-read for traders at all experience levels."
--Daniel M. Gramza
President, Gramza Capital Management, Inc.

"John Person provides readers the most valuable commodity they can buy on any exchange: the benefit of his vast knowledge and experience related to trading. His analysis and discussion of pivot points is an especially valuable contribution to trading literature."
--Edward D. Dobson
President, Traders Press, Inc.

Financial statements capture and report on four key business activities: planning, financing, investing, and operating activities. To intelligently understand, analyze, and interpret financial statements you must look for the right information, know where to locate it, and then act swiftly on the findings.
Analysis of Financial Statements provides the essential concepts and tools needed by analysts who make decisions on the basis of information found in financial statements. This book offers a comprehensive approach to understanding financial statements, from sources of financial information and the three basic types of statements to the various measures that common stock and equity analysts can use to assess a company. Analysis of Financial Statements also includes examples of real world applications from practicing analysts plus review questions at the end of each chapter.

This book provides a broad and balanced introduction to the principle Western financial makets and institutions. Unlike other books which tend to focus on an individual market, An Introduction to Western Financial Markets is international in scope. Valdez acknowledges the current movement towards a single global market and recognizes that a parochial knowledge of just one local market is no longer sufficient.

Various financial sectors are described in clear and easy to understand terms. Topics covered include banking (commercial and investment), money and bond markets, foreign exchange, stock markets, finance for trade, insurance options, futures, and other derivative products. A final chapter surveys the key trends and issues in the markets today. A useful glossary of terms is included.

Pages of mathematical formulae, common in introductory books on finance, are avoided. Valdez clearly shows the importance of these formulae, but is constantly aware of his non-numeric readers. This book will appeal to students of banking, finance, economics, business studies and the securities markets.

This book provides a broad-based approach to decision support systems (DSS) and their applications to finance and accounting. Heymann and Bloom go beyond mere description of DSS applications for particular system configurations to provide a comprehensive, technical analysis. They identify the changing roles over time of finance and accounting within organizational management and business control systems, outline the foundation of economic models within the objectives and methodology of scientific research, and provide an introduction to the logical structure of theoretical models in finance and accounting. The systems approach is examined as an alternative to the traditional decision model approach, and different tasks within a firm are presented in terms of complex and integrated management processes. In addition, the authors describe the role of DSS in the management of a firm, present specific applications of DSS in the areas of finance and accounting, and discuss the future outlook of DSS in computerized management systems as well as their possible effects on organizational structures and management control procedures.

With an emphasis on models and techniques, this textbook introduces many of the fundamental concepts of stochastic modeling that are now a vital component of almost every scientific investigation. In particular, emphasis is placed onlaying the foundationfor solvingproblemsin reliability, insurance, finance, and credit risk.

The material has been carefully selected to cover the basic concepts and techniques on each topic, making this an ideal introductory gateway to more advanced learning. With exercises and solutions to selected problems accompanying each chapter, this textbook is for a wide audience including advanced undergraduate and beginning-level graduate students, researchers, and practitioners in mathematics, statistics, engineering, and economics."

Generate double-digit returns and seize the competitive edge with smart, savvy capital allocation The strategic deployment of capital is one of the most effective ways to create long-term value. But how much do you know about what your organization spends capital on or the timing of that capital deployment? This kind of knowledge can make the difference between organizational success and failure. Capital Allocation provides the tools, processes, strategies, and insights you need to add more value to your company. Examining the various alternatives at your disposal regarding the deployment of excess capital, David Giroux, Chief Investment Officer for Equities and Multi-Asset at T. Rowe Price, covers the entire gamut of capital allocation issues, including optimizing capital structure, capital allocation alternatives, M&A, and special situations. Giroux uses academic research, personal experience, and uncomplicated mathematics to illuminate the principles, strategies, and processes that can create long-term shareholder wealth. He provides case studies from Kodak, Comcast, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Danaher, GE, and others showing how capital allocation has-and hasn't-worked in real-life situations. And he shows how to use capital allocation to head off possible activist investors. Some textbooks touch on the concept of capital allocation, but none examines the subject as practically or thoroughly as this book. Capital Allocation offers everything you need to know for deploying capital wisely to outperform your competitors over the long term.

This is the ideal resource for college professors, school teachers, and others who need financing for their programs. The directory includes more than 140 funding sources that are sorted into four categories: organisations federal grants and contracts private and corporate foundation announcements awards, fellowships, and scholarships. Detailed entries offer highly specific, useful information: deadlines program descriptions funding levels contact information areas of interest eligibility restrictions. This comprehensive reference also provides answers to frequently asked questions about the most effective ways to research and apply for grant money.

International acquisitions are failing at a rate of three out of four and international location decisions two times out of three. Where does corporate management locate a new facility or find one to acquire that will best satisfy the business objectives of survival and growth? A variety of decision making methodologies have emerged from the literature, but which are most workable? Schniederjans surveys these and other methods, analyzes and explains them carefully, and provides a new approach to help optimize the location selection decision. Included are cutting-edge applications and quantitative examples that can be easily grasped and quickly applied. With detailed appendices covering sources of international information available in print and electronically, the book will be essential for upper management and others who are engaged in planning the corporation's expansion and growth.

Schniederjans organizes his book into two parts. He defines his terminology and establishes a foundation to understand the use of acquisition and location methodologies in the first part, and covers the use of one or more methodologies in facility acquisition and location analysis internationally, supported by current research findings, in the second part. Included in his four appendices of source material is one that lists currently available computer software that supports the methodologies covered in the book. The book will also help save consulting fees and help redirect the study of its topic to make the facilities acquisition and location task yield more reliable results in coming years.

Designed for non-majors, Accounting: What the Numbers Mean, guides students through the basics: what accounting information is, how it is developed, how it is used, and what it means. Financial statements are examined to learn what they do and do not communicate, enhancing the student's decision-making and problem-solving abilities from a user perspective. This approach benefits a variety of non-accounting majors, including students focusing on other areas of business or nonbusiness programs such as engineering, behavioral sciences, public administration, or prelaw.

Nothing is complicated. Some things are just harder to explain. The world of digital money might feel like the Wild West but as blockchain, Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies enter the mainstream, we re going to need to arm ourselves with some knowledge. Do Bitcoin is a concise guide to all things cryptocurrency, focusing on the first and most dominant: Bitcoin. Written in a jargon-free style by self-taught Bitcoin analyst and advisor, Angelo Morgan-Somers, it takes a first principles approach to explain how we got here, why it matters, and what digital money means for the future. So, if you ve ever found yourself asking: What s an NFT? What are altcoins? Who or what are miners? What s a node? Is anyone in charge...? You ve come to the right place. Do Bitcoin will set you and your business on the right track.?It will reveal Bitcoin and blockchain s potential to revolutionise entire industries. And ultimately, to change the world. Are you ready to go down the rabbit hole?

This volume contains a collection of papers dedicated to Professor Eckhard Platen to celebrate his 60th birthday, which occurred in 2009. The contributions have been written by a number of his colleagues and co-authors. All papers have been - viewed and presented as keynote talks at the international conference "Quantitative Methods in Finance" (QMF) in Sydney in December 2009. The QMF Conference Series was initiated by Eckhard Platen in 1993 when he was at the Australian - tional University (ANU) in Canberra. Since joining UTS in 1997 the conference came to be organised on a much larger scale and has grown to become a signi?cant international event in quantitative ?nance. Professor Platen has held the Chair of Quantitative Finance at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) jointly in the Faculties of Business and Science since 1997. Prior to this appointment, he was the Founding Head of the Centre for Fin- cial Mathematics at the Institute of Advanced Studies at ANU, a position to which he was appointed in 1994. Eckhard completed a PhD in Mathematics at the Technical University in Dresden in 1975 and in 1985 obtained his Doctor of Science degree (Habilitation degree in the German system) from the Academy of Sciences in Berlin where he headed the Stochastics group at the Weierstrass Institute.

"Big Money, Less Risk: Trade Options" will put the income boosting power of strategies like writing covered calls, selling naked put options, and placing vertical spread trades or iron condors in your hands. Mark Larson has become one of the most sought after trading educators because of his ability to make once elusive investment approaches accessible to every trader.

Success in the stock market is determined by consistently making money every month, not closing your eyes and hoping you can afford to retire. With this book, Larson divulges the secrets to making your money work for you instead of having to work for your money.

Ever dream about making 30% in one month?

"Big Money, Less Risk: Trade Options" will put the income boosting power of strategies like writing covered calls, selling naked put options, and placing vertical spread trades or iron condors in your hands. Mark Larson has become one of the most sought after trading educators because of his ability to make once elusive investment approaches accessible to every trader.

Success in the stock market is determined by consistently making money every month, not closing your eyes and hoping you can afford to retire. With this book, Larson divulges the secrets to making your money work for you instead of having to work for your money.

Inside you'll learn: How to repeatedly make money when the market goes up or down.Investment strategies that allow for huge returns with the use of very little money.How to purchase good stocks at discount prices.How to make significant returns even if you are wrong on the trade.

Larson will alo cover the importance of option pricing, implied volatility, the Greeks such as delta, theta, and gamma, and the probability of your option expiring profitable. Most important, you will get, in plain English, some of his favorite technical indicators and the key to how they will form the basis of your options trading success.

A comprehensive introduction to various numerical methods used in computational finance today

Quantitative skills are a prerequisite for anyone working in finance or beginning a career in the field, as well as risk managers. A thorough grounding in numerical methods is necessary, as is the ability to assess their quality, advantages, and limitations. This book offers a thorough introduction to each method, revealing the numerical traps that practitioners frequently fall into. Each method is referenced with practical, real-world examples in the areas of valuation, risk analysis, and calibration of specific financial instruments and models. It features a strong emphasis on robust schemes for the numerical treatment of problems within computational finance. Methods covered include PDE/PIDE using finite differences or finite elements, fast and stable solvers for sparse grid systems, stabilization and regularization techniques for inverse problems resulting from the calibration of financial models to market data, Monte Carlo and Quasi Monte Carlo techniques for simulating high dimensional systems, and local and global optimization tools to solve the minimization problem.

This book examines the options for adopting an appropriate model of the exchange rate determination and its associated regime suitable for developing countries, with a case study of Indonesia. It examines exchange rate issues, develops market based, equilibrium and shadow pricing exchange rate models for developing countries, and suggests a suitable approach which is based on the consideration of all these three types of models and the choice of its associated exchange rate regime. This book shows that a credible exchange rate regime and policy, which reduces uncertainty in the exchange rate market, may mitigate the flight to currency from broad money, and ensure the stability and certainty for private sectors, especially in terms of export competitiveness.

From traditional brick and mortar to new start-ups, businesses are harnessing the power of digital enterprise as a cost-effective model to deliver goods and services online. Digital enterprise strategy is adopted for transforming business, streamlining processes, and making the best use of online technologies to enhance interaction with customers and employees and deliver excellent customer experience in real time. Digital enterprises increasingly need digital workers to establish greater digital skills to bear on every activity and to drive management, strategy, and innovation, which are key for digital enterprise transformation. The Handbook of Research on Management and Strategies for Digital Enterprise Transformation is a crucial reference source that discusses leveraging technology for the customers', employees', and suppliers' benefit, as well as integrating complex processes to management, marketing, production, manufacturing, and financial systems. Combining management, strategy, technology, and digital enterprise topics into one book provides the reader with a holistic understanding of the new developments in these emerging fields. This study will also include key topics of interest on how to address structural changes underway in the local and global business environment for digital enterprise transformation. Featuring research on topics such as e-commerce, organizational learning, and agile management, this book is ideally designed for business professionals, policymakers, researchers, students, and managers.

Leasing is by far the most important source of finance for various types of assets needed by firms, but this may cause problems. Among them are the decisions to buy or lease and the accounting decisions to capitalize or expense. Riahi-Belkaoui addresses both problems by examining the models and standards used both for management of and accounting for leases.

In five chapters Riahi-Belkaoui covers the issues involved in leasing and financing decision models and offers a decision format to reconcile disagreements among various approaches to the lease-or-buy analysis. He examines all the techniques proposed for accounting for long-term leases as formulated by the Statement of Accounting Standards No. 13 and then looks at specific issues. In his final chapter, a unique contribution to the literature on leasing, Riahi-Belkaoui explores the economics of buying. This is a valuable resource for financial accountants, decision makers, and researchers interested in the management of leases.

Written by one of North America's foremost authorities on the subject, this is the first sustained treatment of the complex relationship between real interest rates and investment returns. Spiro focuses specifically on the problems of measuring and predicting real interest rates in order to optimize corporate investment and borrowing strategy. The book provides a wealth of practical advice in such key areas as choosing types of investment instruments, selecting the best term to maturity, and assessing the risks versus rewards of different types of bond instruments. Considering the complex subject, the book is surprisingly well written. Corporate financial officers, in particular, will want to read it. "Journal of Accountancy"

Written by one of North America's foremost authorities on the subject, this is the first sustained treatment of the complex relationship between real interest rates and investment returns. The author focuses specifically on the problems of measuring and predicting real interest rates in order to optimize corporate investment and borrowing strategy. An invaluable decisionmaking tool for financial officers, treasurers, and portfolio managers, the book is written in clear, non-technical language and provides a wealth of practical advice in such key areas as choosing types of investment instruments, selecting the best term to maturity, and assessing the risks versus rewards of different types of bond instruments.

Spiro bases his book on rigorous empirical research and relates new findings in financial economics to the on-the-job problems and uncertainties faced by corporate investment managers. He highlights research which indicates that even moderate rates of inflation can have a substantial negative effect on the real interest rate and provides detailed empirical estimates to help the reader predict the value of the real interest rate under varying conditions. Additional topics covered include the impact of real interest rate changes on stock prices, the effects of exchange rate risk on international fixed income investment and borrowing, and the effects of government debts and deficits on real interest rates. Taken together, the information offered here will enhance the financial professional's ability to predict important interest rate trends and therefore increase the quality of their investment and financial decisions.

"Finance and the Economics of Uncertainty "explores the growing range of economic decisions that are conducted under uncertainty both on the personal level, as well as by large firms.
Analyzes the allocation of risk in the context of the current literature, as well as emphasizes the role of information in decisions and prices.
Includes end-of-chapter exercises that supply the necessary tools for a comprehensive understanding of the field.

Fischer Black was a remarkable social scientist, one whose contributions range from the lofty perch of highbrow theory to the trenches of practical application. The papers represented in this work span the same range, the contributions of a remarkable array of financial economists who embody in different ways Fischer's ideal of insight from economic theory that both guides and is rooted in the kind of detailed observation of relevant aspects of actual financial markets. It is hoped that readers find this volume to be both a fitting tribute and a stimulus to further research. After all, the advancement of economic science remained a constant goal throughout Fischer's remarkable career in the many and disparate venues in which he plies his trade.

I carefully curated reader designed to be a core text for philanthropy programmes International and inclusive, incorporating global voices translated into English, in some cases for the first time Focused on the concept, practice and theory of fundraising, with a particular focus on informed and critical decision-making in both the academic and professional fields Contains excepts rather than full pieces for a condensed experience that saves the reader time While designed for courses, its focus on practice and the professionalisation of fundraising will appeal to fundraisers and non-profit sector professionals A rich and varied mixture of pieces ranging from the cutting edge of research through to biographies, autobiographies, journalism and historic sources

The role of asymmetric information in allocation of resources, together with the associated information-revelation process, has long been a central focus of economic research. While the bulk of the literature addresses these is sues within the framework of principal-agent relationship, which essentially reduces the problem to the sole principal's (the sole Stackelberg leader's) optimization problem subject to the agents' (the Stackelberg followers') re sponses, there are recent attempts to extend analysis to other economic setups characterized by different relationships among decision-makers. A notable strand of such attempts is the core analysis of incomplete in formation. Here, there is no Stackelberg-type relationship, and more impor tantly the players can talk to each other for coordinated choice of strategies. See, e.g., Wilson (1978) for a pioneering work; Yannelis (1991) for formula tion of feasibility of a strategy as its measurability; Ichiishi and Idzik (1996) for introduction of Bayesian incentive-compatibility to this strand; Ichiishi, Idzik and Zhao (1994) for information revelation (that is, endogenous deter mination of updated information structures); Ichiishi and Radner (1997) and Ichiishi and Sertel (1998) for studies of a specific model of Chandler's firm in multidivisional form for sharper results; and Vohra (1999) for a recent work. It is a common postulate in these works that every player takes part in design of a mechanism and also in execution of the signed contract."