To say that the trading environment has changed drastically over the last ten years would be an understatement. The all-encompassing use of the internet from home computers and mobile devices has taken investors out of the trading exchanges and into the environment of their choice.
Forensic Accounting is concentration that enters the spotlight on a regular basis, especially during economic downturns. Why? Because risky financial practices are revealed and forensic accountants end up being the key deliverers of justice.
Sudden changes in the volume of Google searches for finance-related terms could be an “early warning sign” of imminent stock market movements, showed a research study published on Thursday, in the latest attempt to correlate online behavioural patterns to the behaviour of financial market participants and trends.
The vulnerability of U.S. financial markets to computerised trading programs was exposed early Tuesday afternoon after a fake tweet detailing an attack on the White House erased nearly $200 billion in stock market value in a matter of two minutes, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The US Federal Reserve has warned Citigroup to fix “deficiencies” in its anti-money laundering controls, reported the Wall Street Journal, giving the financial institution two months to submit a written compliance procedural plan addressing steps such as policies and funding for personnel.
More than two-thirds of financial professionals worldwide were unsatisfied with their overall remuneration package last year, showed a survey published by recruiting firm Selby Jennings on Monday, with nearly half of the respondents asserting that their pay was unfair given “the current market conditions.”
Tax chiefs from the world’s Big Four accountancy firms – KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and Ernst & Young – on Thursday denied accusations from the U.K. parliament that they had advised clients on adopting “aggressive” tax avoidance schemes, arguing rather that their methods were completely legal and benefitted the country by encouraging companies to locate and recruit there.
The world’s top banking regulatory body, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, has agreed to relax a global banking liquidity rule aimed at preventing future financial crises, reported AFP on Sunday, following two years of intense pressure from the banking industry, who complained that the new guidelines would hurt economic growth and throttle lending.
In light of recent rogue trading and rate-rigging scandals, banks will be required to hold extra capital reserves to protect the financial system, as well as taxpayers, against unforeseeable operational risks, said global regulators.
A statement released by the Financial Stability Board, a body that coordinates international bank regulations, yesterday said banks that are deemed too-big-to-fail should hold more capital reserves to absorb any potential losses.
The FSB said:
For the first time ever last month, U.S. hedge funds, with assets of more than $5 billion, were forced to complete a 42-page Form PF providing details of methodologies, the sort of assets they hold, the sort of assets they are short-selling and details of their equity investors and borrowings; And while hedge fund managers have complained that trading and strategic secrets may be leaked to rival firms, the new regulations also cast a new light on what was a highly-secretive, and influential, industry.
