Michael Erkens analyzes the determinants and consequences of information disclosure. He presents an empirical investigation of corporate risk management disclosures of nearly 400 firms from 20 European countries. The results show that countries' institutional settings and cultural values are predominant factors why firms disclose information on their risk management practices. In another study, the author analyzes the economic consequences associated with the publication of an annual report in English by European firms from non-English speaking countries. He finds that the release of English annual reports attracts more analysts and foreign investors to the firm, and decreases information asymmetries between insiders and outsiders of the firm.

Praise for How Harvard and Yale Beat the Market

"How Harvard and Yale Beat the Market is a must-read for anyone managing his own or other people's money. It demystifies new investments such as hedge funds and principal-protected products. This engaging handbook belongs in every investor's library."
--Deborah Weir, Parker Global Strategies, author of Timing the Market: How to Profit in the Stock Market Using the Yield Curve, Technical Analysis, and Cultural Indicators

In today's volatile market, investors are looking for new ways to lower their risk profile. For author Matthew Tuttle, the best means of achieving this goal is to look towards large university endowments--which attempt to capture consistent returns while maintaining a low level of risk.

How Harvard and Yale Beat the Market explores the benefits of endowment investing and shows you how to structure your individual investment endeavors around an endowment-type portfolio. While the average investor doesn't have access to many of the money managers and vehicles that high-profile endowments use, you can still learn from the investment strategies outlined here and implement them in your own investment activities. Filled with timely tips and practical advice from an expert who designs portfolios based on endowment investment strategies, How Harvard and Yale Beat the Market will put you in a better position to achieve investment success.

This accessible yet rigorous book examines the development of 'financial socialism' in advanced capitalist economies in the decade since the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. This new term refers to an attempt to resolve the accumulation crisis of capital through coordinated central bank activism, where state circuits of monetary capital assume a critical role in the reproduction of capitalist social relations. The book explains the dynamics of the crisis as it has developed and assesses the response of monetary elites to systemic financial risk in the global economy. Their failure to re-engineer growth following the technology boom of the late 1990s and the global financial crisis are driving fundamental changes in the form and function of capitalist money, which have yet to be theorized adequately. Finance, Accumulation and Monetary Power presents a revealing and radical critique of the failure of the International Political Economy to apprehend changes taking place within capitalism, employing a critical-theoretical analysis of contradictions in the capitalist reproduction scheme. The book will be of key interest to scholars, students and readers of international political economy, critical political economy, heterodox economics, globalization, international relations, international political sociology, business studies and finance.

Tailoring retirement for successful business leaders

Traditional retirement planning fails to meet the needs of wealthy baby boomers, particularly those who are business leaders. There is no "one size fits all" answer.

Wealth Regeneration at Retirement: Planning for a Lifetime of Leadership presents an alternative - one that acts more like a GPS. The authors, Kaycee Krysty and Bob Moser, leaders of the highly regarded Seattle-based wealth management firm, Laird Norton Tyee, use a proprietary discipline, Wealth Regeneration(R), to calculate the route to retirement and beyond for those at the top.

The authors challenge successful boomers to redefine retirement on their own terms. They outline a process to create a sustainable plan to achieve retirement objectives. Their years of experience in counseling CEO's and business founders through transitions is reflected throughout. For many successful boomers, the answer to the prospect of retirement has been, "I'd rather not." Yet change is inevitable. Wealth Regeneration at Retirement provides a thoughtful and thorough way for leaders to move onward.

Describing Wealth Regeneration in a digestible, actionable format, the book provides the framework, tools, and techniques that successful baby boomers and their advisors need to incorporate this innovative approach for a lifetime of leadership and legacy. Packed with learning aids, including graphics, diagrams, worksheets and exercises, the book helps readers build a unique life plan that is about more than simply retirement.

The book includes: A proprietary approach to retirement planning that changes seamlessly when times and circumstances changeA four component methodology - Where You Are; What You Want; What to Do; and Make it Happen - to ensure continuous feedback, accountability, and measurement of lifetime goalsRetirement planning expertise from wealth management firm Laird Norton Tyee

Wealth Regeneration at Retirement: Planning for a Lifetime of Leadership is artfully illustrated and filled with practical advice for wealthy baby boomers and the financial advisors they rely on. It explains exactly how to build a personalized and sustainable plan for retirement no matter where life may lead.

This book provides an introduction to the statistical software R and its application with an empirical approach in finance and economics. It is specifically targeted towards undergraduate and graduate students. It provides beginner-level introduction to R using RStudio and reproducible research examples. It will enable students to use R for data cleaning, data visualization and quantitative model building using statistical methods like linear regression, econometrics (GARCH etc), Copulas, etc. Moreover, the book demonstrates latest research methods with applications featuring linear regression, quantile regression, panel regression, econometrics, dependence modelling, etc. using a range of data sets and examples.

This book is mainly about facilitating the dissemination of management control, a field now finding application at a growing number of organizations, among commercial practitioners. It provides essential insights on management control as applied to Chinese enterprises and cross-border organizations. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 provides the necessary background and framework for a discussion on enterprise management control standards, while Part 2 introduces a basic standard for enterprise management control. Part 3 introduces application guidelines for enterprise management control standards, and lastly Part 4 presents several case studies on the application of enterprise management control standards.

Although there are many books on mathematical finance, few deal with the statistical aspects of modern data analysis as applied to financial problems. This textbook fills this gap by addressing some of the most challenging issues facing financial engineers. It shows how sophisticated mathematics and modern statistical techniques can be used in the solutions of concrete financial problems. Concerns of risk management are addressed by the study of extreme values, the fitting of distributions with heavy tails, the computation of values at risk (VaR), and other measures of risk. Principal component analysis (PCA), smoothing, and regression techniques are applied to the construction of yield and forward curves. Time series analysis is applied to the study of temperature options and nonparametric estimation. Nonlinear filtering is applied to Monte Carlo simulations, option pricing and earnings prediction. This textbook is intended for undergraduate students majoring in financial engineering, or graduate students in a Master in finance or MBA program. It is sprinkled with practical examples using market data, and each chapter ends with exercises. Practical examples are solved in the R computing environment. They illustrate problems occurring in the commodity, energy and weather markets, as well as the fixed income, equity and credit markets. The examples, experiments and problem sets are based on the library Rsafd developed for the purpose of the text. The book should help quantitative analysts learn and implement advanced statistical concepts. Also, it will be valuable for researchers wishing to gain experience with financial data, implement and test mathematical theories, and address practical issues that are often ignored or underestimated in academic curricula. This is the new, fully-revised edition to the book Statistical Analysis of Financial Data in S-Plus. Rene Carmona is the Paul M. Wythes '55 Professor of Engineering and Finance at Princeton University in the department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, and Director of Graduate Studies of the Bendheim Center for Finance. His publications include over one hundred articles and eight books in probability and statistics. He was elected Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in 1984, and of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 2010. He is on the editorial board of several peer-reviewed journals and book series. Professor Carmona has developed computer programs for teaching statistics and research in signal analysis and financial engineering. He has worked for many years on energy, the commodity markets and more recently in environmental economics, and he is recognized as a leading researcher and expert in these areas.

Proven guidance for expertly using analytics in fraud examinations, financial analysis, auditing and fraud prevention Fraud Analytics thoroughly reveals the elements of analysis that are used in today's fraud examinations, fraud investigations, and financial crime investigations. This valuable resource reviews the types of analysis that should be considered prior to beginning an investigation and explains how to optimally use data mining techniques to detect fraud. Packed with examples and sample cases illustrating pertinent concepts in practice, this book also explores the two major data analytics providers: ACL and IDEA. * Looks at elements of analysis used in today's fraud examinations * Reveals how to use data mining (fraud analytic) techniques to detect fraud * Examines ACL and IDEA as indispensable tools for fraud detection * Includes an abundance of sample cases and examples Written by Delena D Spann, Board of Regent (Emeritus) for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), who currently serves as Advisory Board Member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Board Member of the Education Task Force of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists ASIS International (Economic Crime Council) and Advisory Board Member of the Robert Morris University (School of Business), Fraud Analytics equips you with authoritative fraud analysis techniques you can put to use right away.

In recent years, purchasing performance measurement have steadily gained in importance in theory and practice. Yet, in many cases, the focus still remains on cost items, especially savings. Moreover, reported performance ratios in purchasing are frequently called into question in terms of their amount and efficacy. Most of the time, there is no tie-in at all with staff compensations. To meet these and other challenges, this book presents a holistic approach for purchasing performance measurement and the incentive systems associated with it. The following topics are dealt with in detail: • Purchasing performance measurement on the level of commodity groups and the procurement organization • Supplier evaluation and performance measurement on the level of the buyer-supplier relationship • Comprehensive systems for purchasing performance measurement, such as the procurement value added and the purchasing balanced scorecard • Performance-oriented incentive systems and bonus payments for buyers, procurement organizations and suppliers Readers are thus provided with comprehensive guidelines for the implementation and realization of sustained performance measurement and incentivization in purchasing.

This book presents a collection of original research papers focused on the relationship between information technology and accounting and control models. The book discusses the importance of establishing a synergetic relationship between new information technologies (ERP, BI, web-based technology, data mining, XBRL, etc.) and new or renewed accounting models and tools (performance indicators, prevision and simulation models, accounting models for public administration, etc.) in order to enhance an organization's capability to manage information and make valuable decisions. The search for these synergies takes place at all organizational levels: at a strategic level, in order to simulate and forecast behaviors and financial results at a management level, in order to innovate performance measurement and improve value creation at the operational level, in order to improve information quality and the efficiency of the information process. This book is particularly useful for IS and CFO managers and scholars, as it is based on a selection of the best papers - original, double blind reviewed contributions - presented to the Annual Conference of the Italian Chapter of AIS under the category "Accounting Information Systems".

This edited book contains several state-of-the-art papers devoted to econometrics of risk. Some papers provide theoretical analysis of the corresponding mathematical, statistical, computational, and economical models. Other papers describe applications of the novel risk-related econometric techniques to real-life economic situations. The book presents new methods developed just recently, in particular, methods using non-Gaussian heavy-tailed distributions, methods using non-Gaussian copulas to properly take into account dependence between different quantities, methods taking into account imprecise ("fuzzy") expert knowledge, and many other innovative techniques. This versatile volume helps practitioners to learn how to apply new techniques of econometrics of risk, and researchers to further improve the existing models and to come up with new ideas on how to best take into account economic risks.

An expert's insider secrets to how successful CEOs and directors shape, lead, and oversee their organizations to achieve corporate goals

"Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance" shows senior executives and board members how to ensure that their companies incorporate the necessary processes, organization, and technology to accomplish strategic goals. Examining how and why some major companies failed while others continue to grow and prosper, author and internationally recognized expert Richard Steinberg reveals how to cultivate a culture, leadership process and infrastructure toward achieving business objectives and related growth, profit, and return goals.Explains critical factors that make compliance and ethics programs and risk management processes really workExplores the board's role in overseeing corporate strategy, risk management, CEO compensation, succession planning, crisis planning, performance measures, board composition, and shareholder communicationsHighlights for CEOs, senior management teams, and board members the pitfalls to avoid and what must go right for successOutlines the future of corporate governance and what's needed for continued effectivenessWritten by well-known corporate governance and risk management expert Richard Steinberg

"Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance" lays a sound foundation and provides critical insights for understanding the role of governance, risk management, and compliance and its successful implementation in today's business environment.

Focuses on the study of the accounting problems and issues of emerging economies DESCRIPTION: This series arose out of the belief that the international accounting literature should devote more attention to the study of the accounting problems and issues of emerging economies (developing and newly industrialized countries). The volumes raise the level of interest in the specific problems of accounting in emerging economies and the awareness of real issues, so that accounting in these countries will not just be seen as a matter of copying what is done in the industrialized countries. These works have become relevant to the actual needs of its readers, and is making real contributions to the accounting development process of emerging economies. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Accounting and Control in Gulf Countries; Accounting and Banking in Africa; Accounting in South Asia.

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.

Explore the foundations of modern finance with this intuitive mathematical guide In Mathematical Techniques in Finance: An Introduction, distinguished finance professional Amir Sadr delivers an essential and practical guide to the mathematical foundations of various areas of finance, including corporate finance, investments, risk management, and more. Readers will discover a wealth of accessible information that reveals the underpinnings of business and finance. You'll learn about: Investment theory, including utility theory, mean-variance theory and asset allocation, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model Derivatives, including forwards, options, the random walk, and Brownian Motion Interest rate curves, including yield curves, interest rate swap curves, and interest rate derivatives Complete with math reviews, useful Excel functions, and a glossary of financial terms, Mathematical Techniques in Finance: An Introduction is required reading for students and professionals in finance.

Completely revised and greatly expanded, the new edition of this text takes readers who have been exposed to only basic courses in analysis through the modern general theory of random processes and stochastic integrals as used by systems theorists, electronic engineers and, more recently, those working in quantitative and mathematical finance. Building upon the original release of this title, this text will be of great interest to research mathematicians and graduate students working in those fields, as well as quants in the finance industry. New features of this edition include: End of chapter exercises; New chapters on basic measure theory and Backward SDEs; Reworked proofs, examples and explanatory material; Increased focus on motivating the mathematics; Extensive topical index. "Such a self-contained and complete exposition of stochastic calculus and applications fills an existing gap in the literature. The book can be recommended for first-year graduate studies. It will be useful for all who intend to work with stochastic calculus as well as with its applications."-Zentralblatt (from review of the First Edition)

An innovative new valuation framework with truly useful economic indicators The End of Accounting and the Path Forward for Investors and Managers shows how the ubiquitous financial reports have become useless in capital market decisions and lays out an actionable alternative. Based on a comprehensive, large-sample empirical analysis, this book reports financial documents' continuous deterioration in relevance to investors' decisions. An enlightening discussion details the reasons why accounting is losing relevance in today's market, backed by numerous examples with real-world impact. Beyond simply identifying the problem, this report offers a solution the Value Creation Report and demonstrates its utility in key industries. New indicators focus on strategy and execution to identify and evaluate a company's true value-creating resources for a more up-to-date approach to critical investment decision-making. While entire industries have come to rely on financial reports for vital information, these documents are flawed and insufficient when it comes to the way investors and lenders work in the current economic climate. This book demonstrates an alternative, giving you a new framework for more informed decision making. * Discover a new, comprehensive system of economic indicators * Focus on strategic, value-creating resources in company valuation * Learn how traditional financial documents are quickly losing their utility * Find a path forward with actionable, up-to-date information Major corporate decisions, such as restructuring and M&A, are predicated on financial indicators of profitability and asset/liabilities values. These documents move mountains, so what happens if they're based on faulty indicators that fail to show the true value of the company? The End of Accounting and the Path Forward for Investors and Managers shows you the reality and offers a new blueprint for more accurate valuation.

The classical Pontryagin maximum principle (addressed to deterministic finite dimensional control systems) is one of the three milestones in modern control theory. The corresponding theory is by now well-developed in the deterministic infinite dimensional setting and for the stochastic differential equations. However, very little is known about the same problem but for controlled stochastic (infinite dimensional) evolution equations when the diffusion term contains the control variables and the control domains are allowed to be non-convex. Indeed, it is one of the longstanding unsolved problems in stochastic control theory to establish the Pontryagin type maximum principle for this kind of general control systems: this book aims to give a solution to this problem. This book will be useful for both beginners and experts who are interested in optimal control theory for stochastic evolution equations.

This research monograph provides an introduction to tractable multidimensional diffusion models, where transition densities, Laplace transforms, Fourier transforms, fundamental solutions or functionals can be obtained in explicit form. The book also provides an introduction to the use of Lie symmetry group methods for diffusions, which allows to compute a wide range of functionals. Besides the well-known methodology on affine diffusions it presents a novel approach to affine processes with applications in finance. Numerical methods, including Monte Carlo and quadrature methods, are discussed together with supporting material on stochastic processes. Applications in finance, for instance, on credit risk and credit valuation adjustment are included in the book. The functionals of multidimensional diffusions analyzed in this book are significant for many areas of application beyond finance. The book is aimed at a wide readership, and develops an intuitive and rigorous understanding of the mathematics underlying the derivation of explicit formulas for functionals of multidimensional diffusions.

The interaction between mathematicians and statisticians reveals to be an effective approach to the analysis of insurance and financial problems, in particular in an operative perspective. The Maf2006 conference, held at the University of Salerno in 2006, had precisely this purpose and the collection published here gathers some of the papers presented at the conference and successively worked out to this aim. They cover a wide variety of subjects in insurance and financial fields.

ECMI, the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry, is the European brand associated with applied mathematics for industry and organizes highly successful biannual conferences. In this series, the ECMI 2010, the 16th European Conference on Mathematics for Industry, was held in the historic city hall of Wuppertal in Germany. It covered the mathematics of a wide range of applications and methods, from circuit and electromagnetic device simulation to model order reduction for chip design, uncertainties and stochastics, production, fluids, life and environmental sciences, and dedicated and versatile methods.

These proceedings of ECMI 2010 emphasize mathematics as an innovation enabler for industry and business, and as an absolutely essential pre-requiste for Europe on its way to becoming the leading knowledge-based economy in the world.

The concept of Wiener chaos generalizes to an infinite-dimensional setting the properties of orthogonal polynomials associated with probability distributions on the real line. It plays a crucial role in modern probability theory, with applications ranging from Malliavin calculus to stochastic differential equations and from probabilistic approximations to mathematical finance. This book is concerned with combinatorial structures arising from the study of chaotic random variables related to infinitely divisible random measures. The combinatorial structures involved are those of partitions of finite sets, over which Moebius functions and related inversion formulae are defined. This combinatorial standpoint (which is originally due to Rota and Wallstrom) provides an ideal framework for diagrams, which are graphical devices used to compute moments and cumulants of random variables. Several applications are described, in particular, recent limit theorems for chaotic random variables. An Appendix presents a computer implementation in MATHEMATICA for many of the formulae.