...What role did the accounting profession play in the recent subprime mortgage crisis? What could they have done differently? In all businesses, accounting is the backbone that holds them together. In stating this, the demise of the subprime mortgage industry lies within the bad practices of mortgage companies, banks and financial institutions. Allowing the lending of billions of dollars to non-credit worthy individuals was a disaster waiting to happen. During the 1980’s the subprime market comprised of approximately 5% loans and by 2005 they were at a record-breaking 20%. The decisions that allowed the increase of so many subprime loans have put this country in financial turmoil. The Subprime loan market allowed lenders to make loans to non-credit worthy borrowers, which included no-credit or bad credit individuals and those with stated income. These loans were attractive to a vast number of people because it was an offer borrowers couldn’t refuse. The little to no credit requirements and Interest-only and Adjustable-rate loans made borrowers believe they could live the American dream. The failure of risk management in these cases compromised the securitization of loans and debt obligations. The inability and/or lack of accounting principles have contributed to this country’s financial crisis, not to mention the global impact from defaulting on subprime loans. These issues still play an important role of the finance industry today. Now that the government has had to step in...
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...role did the accounting profession play in the recent subprime mortgage crisis? The accounting professions played a critical role, and somehow were pointed fingers at mostly, in the recent subprime mortgage crisis. According to Chapter 1 of our book, the accounting professions analyze financial statements, which provide information that is relevant to make rational investment, credit decisions, and other informed judgments to users such as, investors, creditors, and financial advisors. However, accountants and auditors were not the only ones liable here. The subprime crisis was a big disarray, and everyone starting from the lenders, to the homebuyers, and to the investors had got to have a share to the blame. The lenders should be responsible for it because they were the ones who loaned monies to people with poor credit. The homebuyers should be as guilty as well for buying houses that they could hardly afford. Finally, the investors were to be held accountable since they were purchasing collateralized debt obligation (CDO) at low premiums instead of taking the rating at face value. Nonetheless, things happen – no one could have predicted the crisis, and sometimes it is inevitable. Yet, I believe the accounting professions could have prevented it because their job is to be independent, objective, competent, and most especially truthful with the information they evaluate. What should (could) they have done differently? Like I said above, the subprime crisis was inevitable...
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...What role did the Accounting profession play in the recent subprime mortgage crisis? What could they have done differently? There were many factors that led to the subprime mortgage crisis; low interest rates, greedy asset managers, and a booming housing market, to name a few. None were, in my opinion, more responsible for the crisis than the banks (lenders) and buyers (borrower). The banks approved loans for buyers who, one could not afford the loan, nor did not have the credit history to get the loan. Subprime borrowers were tricked into innovative mortgage products such as, 12/24 month adjustable-rate mortgages, interest-only loans, piggy-bank and the notorious negative amortization loans (Denning, 2011). These loans proved to be the catalyst that fueled the crisis in 2006. Accounting professionals played a role in the crisis, however, I feel that it was a small one. I say small due to the fact that, while they are professionals, they are still people. People with families, bills, and other obligations. I think that the pressure of having an employer pay them more because they are making more was a deciding factor for not blowing the whistle on questionable financial practices. The text speaks of ethics and unqualified, or clean opinions. “An unqualified opinion is not a clean bill of health about either the current financial condition or future prospects of the entity”. Knowing this we can surmise then even if the accounting professional did raise the flag on the risky...
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...Global Financial Crisis Harlita H. Tomlinson Capella University BMGT8114: Accounting in the Global Era Dr. Wendy Achilles June 8,2014 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Positive and Negative Effects of the Global Financial Crisis 4 Background on the Global Financial Crisis 5 Global Financial Crisis and Its Negative Effects 9 Lack of Financial Sector Regulation and Oversights 9 Increase in the Number of Bankruptcies 11 Global Financial Crisis and Its Positive Effects 12 Designing Regulations to Monitor the Financial Sector 12 Global Governance as a Side Effect of the Global Financial Crisis 13 Lessons Learned 16 Domestic Lessons Learned 16 Global Lessons Learned 17 Lessons from Romania. 18 The Role of Financial Executives in GFC 19 Conclusions 21 References 24 Abstract The first financial crisis of the twenty-first century has not yet ended, according to Gorton and Metrick (2012), the wave of research on the crisis has already exceeded any single reader’s capacity, with the pace of new work only making this task harder. The Global Financial Crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Global Financial Crisis resulted in the threat of the total collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks by national governments, and market downturns around the world. In the aftermath of this crisis, the housing market declined significantly and has not recovered. This essay begins by providing...
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...INTRODUCTION Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch (now as Subsidiary of Bank of America), Lehman Brothers and Bear Steams (sold to JPMorgan Chase) were the world top five investment banks in United States. They were the key players in the financial markets and make significant contribution to the economics. But when they failed, the consequences would also be extremely fatal. The 158 years old Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday 1:45am, September 15, 2008 (“Wikipedia: Lehman Brothers”, July 15, 2013). With a total assets of $639 billion and $619 billion in debts, Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy filing became the largest in history, It’s assets far surpassed those of previous bankrupt giants such as WorldCom and Enron (“IInvestopedia: Case Study", April 02, 2009). The collapse of the Lehman Brothers is contagious and even triggered the Global Financial Crisis. LEHMAN BROTHERS HISTORY Three brothers – Henry Lehman, Emanuel Lehman and Mayer Lehman in 1850, founded Lehman Brothers. Started as a normal dry-goods store, the brothers grew the business by buying and selling cotton to planters living in and around Montgomery, Alabama ("History of Lehman Brothers", n.d). Eventually the brothers built a cotton storage warehouse together with a cotton merchant John Wesley Durr in a brief partnership form. Thereafter in 1858, an office in New York was opened to fulfill the needs of the growing sales and trades. After Civic War...
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...marketable securities.” “Have you spoken to Fred and Ethel about this?” Lucy asked. “Are you kidding? They’re the ones who made the decision to go along with Juggyfroot,” Rikey responded. The previous scene took place in the office of Deziloo LLP, a large CPA firm in Beverly Hills, California. Lucy Spheroid is the partner on the engagement of Juggyfroot, a global manufacturer of pots and pans. Ricardo Rikey is the managing partner of the office. Fred and Ethel are the two members of the firm that make final judgments on difficult accounting issues especially when there is a difference of opinion with the client. All four are CPAs. Ricardo Rikey is preparing for a meeting with Norman Baitz, the CEO of Juggyfroot. Rikey knows that the company expects to borrow $5,000,000 next quarter and it wants to put the best face possible on its financial statements to impress the banks. That would explain why the company had reclassified a $2,000,000 market loss on a trading investment to the available-for-sale category so that the “loss” would now show up in stockholder’s equity and not as a charge against current income. The result was to increase earnings in 2010 earnings by 8 percent. Rikey also knows that without the change, the earnings would have declined by 2 percent and the company’s stock price would have taken a hit. In the meeting, Rikey points out to Baitz that the investment in question was made in an affiliate company that Juggyfroot had owned for six years. Rikey adds...
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...It is reasonable to say that the recent subprime mortgage crisis happened due to a complex combination of negligent practices by many of the multiple stakeholders directly involved in the real estate industry. That being said, the accounting profession, being the critical player that it was (and still is), played a critical role in the development of this economic crisis due to the practices that they used during the auditing process of key industry players in the market at that time. As a foundation to this argument, chapter one of the text states that, accounting is the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information about an organization for the purpose of making decisions and informed judgments. (Marshall-McManus-Viele). It is the accountants responsibility to identify and offer the relevant financial data necessary to make appropriate business decisions. In reading about cases such as the infamous New Century “mishap”, one gets the impression that the accounting methods used, completely misrepresented the current financial situation of the company which needed to show a strong financial situation in order to maintain it’s solid market position and continue to see a steady influx in transactions. After further review combined with KPMG’s involvement, they found themselves with inconsistencies that led to a more than significant hole in their numbers ultimately leading them to bankruptcy (along with other economic factors). Referring back...
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...pResented by the society of ActuARies, the cAsuAlty ActuARiAl society And the cAnAdiAn institute of ActuARies Risk Management: The Current Financial Crisis, Lessons Learned and Future Implications Copyright 2008 by the Society of Actuaries. R I s k M a n a g e M e n T: the current financial crisis, lessons learned and future implications introduction the current financial crisis presents a case study of a “financial tsunami” (as former federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan recently called it) on what can go wrong. its ramifications are far-reaching and the lessons learned will be embedded in risk management practices for years to come. As one of the premier enterprise risk professions in practice today, the actuarial profession is sharing its substantial insight into what went wrong and the implications for the future. on behalf of the society of Actuaries, the casualty Actuarial society and the canadian institute of Actuaries, we are pleased to provide a series of essays on Risk Management: The Current Financial Crisis, Lessons Learned and Future Implications. this e-book is the result of a call for essays on the subject coordinated by the following groups: • • • • The Joint Risk Management Section of the Society of Actuaries, Casualty Actuarial Society and Canadian institute of Actuaries The Investment Section of the Society of Actuaries International Network of Actuarial Risk Managers Enterprise Risk Management Institute International ...
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...integrity and fairness, being transparent with regard to all transactions, making all the necessary disclosures and decisions, complying with all the laws of the land, accountability and responsibility towards the stakeholders and commitment to conducting business in an ethical manner. Another point which is highlighted in the SEBI report on corporate governance is the need for those in control to be able to distinguish between what are personal and corporate funds while managing a company. Fundamentally, there is a level of confidence that is associated with a company that is known to have good corporate governance. The presence of an active group of independent directors on the board contributes a great deal towards ensuring confidence in the market. Corporate governance is known to be one of the criteria that foreign institutional investors are increasingly depending on when deciding on which companies to invest in. It is also known to have a positive influence on the share price of the company. Having a clean image on the corporate governance front could also make it easier for companies to source capital at more reasonable costs. Unfortunately, corporate governance often becomes the centre of discussion...
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...the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), late-2000s financial crisis or the second "Great Recession", is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.[1] It resulted in the collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks by national governments and downturns in stock markets around the world. In many areas, the housing market also suffered, resulting in numerous evictions, foreclosures and prolonged unemployment. It contributed to the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in trillions of US dollars, and a significant decline in economic activity, leading to a severeglobal economic recession in 2008.[2] The financial crisis was triggered by a complex interplay of valuation and liquidity problems in the United States banking system in 2008.[3][4] The bursting of the U.S. housing bubble, which peaked in 2007, caused the values of securities tied to U.S. real estate pricing to plummet, damaging financial institutions globally.[5][6] Questions regarding bank solvency, declines in credit availability and damaged investor confidence had an impact on global stock markets, where securities suffered large losses during 2008 and early 2009. Economies worldwide slowed during this period, as credit tightened and international trade declined.[7] Governments and central banks responded with unprecedented fiscal stimulus, monetary policy expansion and institutional bailouts. Although there have been aftershocks...
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.......... 9 1.2.2.2 A new way to earn money............................................................ 10 1.2.2.3 The emergence of new risks ........................................................ 10 1.2.3 Rating agencies .................................................................................. 11 1.2.4 Internal Audit ....................................................................................... 12 1.2.5 External audit ...................................................................................... 12 1.2.6 The investors....................................................................................... 13 1.3 The impact of technological innovations..................................................... 14 1.4 Accounting...
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...2007 and over $600 billion in assets, the collapse of Lehman became the largest bankruptcy in history. Lehman’s demise was attributed to their aggressive investment strategy and significant exposure to the subprime mortgage market. As the housing bubble grew, Lehman Brothers acquired several mortgage lenders, some of the acquired firms frequently made loans to home buyers without full documentation (Jeffers 2011). When consumers began defaulting on mortgages and market conditions began to unravel, Lehman as well as many other banks faced huge losses. The write down of debt securities had significant adverse effects on Lehman’s balance sheet. Furthermore, credit rating agencies began focusing more on leverage ratios of investments banks. Lehman’s leverage ratios were already extremely high. A downgrade on Lehman’s credit rating would have sent Lehman’s share price on a downward spiral and hinder their ability to receive financing. In order to prevent these occurrences Lehman would have to sell some of its assets or raise capital. Lehman was unable to sell any of its assets or raise any capital because no one knew what the value of their complex mortgage securities were. In response to deteriorating economic conditions the investment bank used a very aggressive accounting maneuver called “Repo 105”, its name derived from repurchase agreements, which temporarily improved Lehman’s financial condition just before financial statements were released. In 2007 and 2008, Lehman was...
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...of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad. In every profession, each person has to abide by codes of ethical standards for that profession. So with regards to the financial crisis individuals acted in an unethical manner which eventually aided in the great recession. In analyzing the sources of the problem in the financial crisis, such as poor risk controls, too much leverage and an almost willful blindness to the bubble-like conditions in the housing market, we can strongly say that ethics did play a major role. Financial firms became unmoored from its ethical base and were free to behave in ways that were in their, top executives, short-term interest without any concern about the longer term impact on the industry’s customers or the broader U.S economy. Integrity and a sense of responsibility to the industry’s customers are at the core of what a financial industry must be all about; otherwise it is just a big Ponzi scheme. The ethical failures in the subprime lending played a major role in the financial as mortgage brokers did not care about the credit worthiness of the borrowers as they were getting paid for the number of transactions that they had conducted. Immelt’s comment was in regards to Banks’ actions that approved mortgages but they had no intention of holding on to the paper because they wanted to build leverage into their balance sheet. Thus, this paper was sold into mortgage pools that were in turn sold to unsuspecting investors. Economical market’s...
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...MICHAEL C. KNAPP SEVENTH EDITION MAKE IT YOURS! SELECT JUST THE CASES YOU NEED Through Cengage Learning’s Make It Yours, you can — simply, quickly, and affordably — create a quality auditing text that is tailored to your course. • Pick your coverage and only pay for the cases you use. • Add cases from a prior edition of Knapp’s Contemporary Auditing. • Add your course materials and assignments. • Pick your own unique cover design. We recognize that not every program covers the same cases and topics in your auditing course. Chris Knapp wrote his case book for people to use either as a core e book or as a supplement to an existing book. If you would like to use a custom auditing case book or supplement the South-Western accounting book you are currently using, simply check the cases you want to include, indicate if there are other course materials you would like to add, and click submit. A Cengage Learning representative will contact you to review and confirm your order. G E T S T A R T E D Visit www.custom.cengage.com/makeityours/knapp7e to make your selections and provide details on anything else you would like to include. Prefer to use pen and paper? No problem. Fill out questions 1-4 and fax this form to 1.800.270.3310. A Custom Solutions editor will contact you within 2-3 business days to discuss the options you have selected. 1. Which of the following cases would you like to include? Section 1: Comprehensive Cases 1.1 1.2 ...
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...beginning of the Great Stock Market Crash that over the following few years would result in an almost ninety percent decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( DJIA). Although not nearly as dramatic as “ Black Thursday,” September 15, 2008, is a date that modern day Wall Street insiders will not soon forget. On that day, one of Wall Street’s iconic investment banking firms, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy. That bankruptcy filing ended the proud history of a firm that had played a major role in shaping the nation’s securities markets and economy for more than a century. Lehman Brothers had approximately $ 700 billion in assets when it failed, which makes it the largest corporate bankruptcy in U. S. history, easily surpassing the previ-ous headline- grabbing bankruptcies of Enron, General Motors, and WorldCom. By comparison, the telecommunications giant WorldCom, which temporarily held the title of the nation’s largest business failure after collapsing in 2002, had less than one-sixth the total assets claimed by Lehman Brothers. The shocking announcement that Lehman had filed for bankruptcy caused the DJIA to plunge more than 500 points within a few hours. That large loss was only a harbinger of things to come. Within six months, the DJIA had declined by more than 50 percent from its all- time high of 14,164.53 that it had reached on October 9, 2007. That market decline wiped out nearly ten trillion dollars of “ paper” wealth for stock market investors and plunged the...
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