The Edge

Richard Northedge takes on corporate finance

Archive for the ‘Corporate Fraud’ category

Oh no, not more words in the annual report

The Operational & Financial Review has gone from company accounts. But get ready for its successor. The government is writing a White paper on how firms should spell out in detail what they do and how they do it.
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US judges start getting it right on Madoff

Now that a US judge has reduced claims from Bernie Madoff’s creditors,
perhaps the fraudster’s 150-year jail sentence should be cut too.
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What is James Murdoch doing on the GlaxoSmithKline board?

Nevermind whether James Murdoch should remain chairman of British Sky Broadcasting, how long before someone asks why he is on the board of GlaxoSmithKlein Plc (LON:GSK)?
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The Millie Dowler phone hacking is part of our prying culture

How could part of an international publishing organisation hack into the phone of schoolgirl Millie Dowler? Easily – and justifying the ethics was even easier than mastering the technology. Despite the outcry now we know she was murdered, there is no clear moral code of what newspapers can do.
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Madoff’s sentence is too long to be a deterrent

If 71-year-old Bernie Madoff gets 150 years in jail for a $65bn fraud, what deterrent is there against going for a $130bn scam - or $260bn? Or why not do a serious crime?
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Rewriting the governance code again

Another crisis, another corporate governance code. What started as Cadbury and developed into the Combined Code is being rewritten again. But if it changes so often, why should we think this will be the definitive version?
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How many people does it take to change a bonus?

Now National Rail’s chief executive is waiving his annual bonus the group should also abandon its search for two dozen people to keep the board in order. This is corporate governance gone mad.
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Lessons on expenses for MPs

Most businessmen will react to the revelations of MPs expenses with anger, cynicism or wry amusement. But how many could survive public exposure of their own expenses claims?
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An outsider’s guide to insider trading

I don’t know what the definition is of insider-dealing in Sunderland, but in the City it means trading shares with privileged information. It doesn’t mean writing newspaper stories that move share prices.
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Are companies being overcharged for bond issues?

Is the corporate sector going to hell in a handcart – or has the bond market misjudged the risk of default? Unless business goes bust en masse, bonds yielding 10 per cent look a good buy and a bad sell.
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