...In the past two decades, a parade of companies has imploded in the wake of unethical and fraudulent business practices, leaving investors shaken and scorched. Enron Corp. is perhaps most notorious. Executives embezzled funds from investors, and as Enron teetered on bankruptcy, it misrepresented its financials and may have even created a false energy crisis. Investors lost more than $70 billion. The infamous Bernie Madoff, who was a well regarded and trusted financial investor and philanthropist to boot, fooled investors and got the best of the Securities & Exchange Commission. Madoff operated legal and illegal operations. His illegal entity ran a Ponzi scheme, using revenue from new investors to pay existing clients. Shareholder losses from Madoff’s actions amounted to $20 billion. WorldCom and Tyco International have become synonymous with white-collar crime, thanks to unscrupulous behavior by a select few business executives within those companies. Bad executive behavior can lead to sales declines and tanking stock prices, and sometimes, a company’s demise. Enron brought down itself and a former “big five” accounting firm, Arthur Andersen. Companies not in any danger of collapsing, but recently shown to have ethical lapses that could signal bigger problems within the company include Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK), Wal-Mart...
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...CHESAPEAKE ENERGY CORPORATION BY: GALE C. HOWARD Chesapeake Energy Corporation is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. With field offices spread throughout its vast operating area to include: Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, Louisiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Chesapeake Energy is the second largest producer of natural gas and the twelfth largest producer of oil in the United States. Chesapeake Energy employs approximately 4400 employees and owns about 9.5 million net acres of leasehold rights. As with all energy companies, Chesapeake Energy must follow the legal guidelines of several entities. One of the entities being the State Commissions governing oil and gas interests. These control the conservation of oil and gas products as well as mineral interest owner’s rights. Another entity is the Internal Revenue Service which requires strict adherence to their set procedures and accounting of owner’s tax information and payment history. Chesapeake Energy is also subject to various audits of its accounting systems, data concerning its interest calculations, and all investor information. The social environment at Chesapeake Energy is always expanding. Some of the amenities provided to its employees include: a top of the line fitness center, an employee garden, three restaurants on campus, and an outdoor track and field area. All of these amenities allow the employees to interact with each other in a more relaxed social setting. In a more professional setting, Chesapeake...
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...many ethical accounting breeches in large corporations that ended up costing investors and employees of the corporations a lot of money. Enron was a major player in many breeches, and ultimately was one of the key players for the SEC creating new guidelines and punishments for fraudulent behavior, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. As of today, with the SOX act put in place for almost 11 years, there are still corporate breeches, Chesapeake Energy, Wal-Mart, Green Mountain Coffee, and Groupon are among the most recent (Rogers, 2012). I believe the SOX act helped prevent a lot of accounting illegalities and helped to protect the shareholders, but ultimately the act is not strong enough or covers enough to prevent it all. While more accountability is definitely held with the CFO, and CEO of corporations, as well as with outside accounting teams, the SEC is not going forward with investigations regarding independent CPAs or accounting firms (Benston & Hartgraves, 2002). Chesapeake Energy is a clear example; the CEO had taken out $1.1 billion in loans funded by Chesapeake in return for stake in the company (Driver & Grow, 2012; McKenna, 2012). The SEC has rules against taking out loans for stocks, but because it does not mention any areas related to stake in the company, it falls in a grey area that cannot be prevented by the SOX act or SEC (Driver & Grow, 2012). In section 402 of the SOX act, it states that companies are unable to give personal loans to any director or executive...
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...Andrew Hayes Advanced Financial Management Fall 2013 Controversy in Corporate Finance: Chesapeake Energy Controversy in corporate finance is nothing new; it has been going on well before the term “corporation” was ever used. The power of money has always been an ongoing factor ever since humans started to use it to obtain goods and services. While, controversy over money is nothing new, controversy in corporate finance is much more complex and complicated, often requiring finance managers, accountants, and sometimes the SEC to sort everything out. Sometimes an executive or executive(s) get fired, sometimes they go to prison and sometimes they are given huge amounts of money to leave the company. Most of the time it seems like the latter of those options. As in the case of Chesapeake Energy, where the co-founder and CEO was given around 47 million dollars in salary, bonuses, perks, and stock options when he stepped down this year as CEO of the company due to controversial spending and declining cash flow revenue for the multi-billion dollar company. The controversy stems from a breach of financial ethics and decision making that is supposed to have the best interest of your shareholders in mind. Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) is the second-largest producer of natural gas, the 11th largest producer of oil and natural gas liquids and the most active driller of onshore wells in the U.S. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the company's operations are focused...
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...Chesapeake Energy T E A M - C Members: Misti Smith Kyle Thompson Daniel Ogeto Harding University Spring 2013 TEAM C: The team assignments for our research paper are as follows: Week 2 - Outsourcing – Daniel Ogeto Week 3 - Overview of the Oil and Gas Industry – Daniel Ogeto Week 4 - Chesapeake Energy & its four affiliates - Kyle Thompson Week 5 - Chesapeake Company Operations - Misti Smith Week 6 - Chesapeake Company Future - Daniel Ogeto Abstract Chesapeake Energy is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This independent company is involved in oil and natural gas exploration and production. The company’s operations, shares and debt; affiliations, outsourcing and future will be discussed in this paper. The oil and gas industry overview will also be covered. CONTENTS 1. Overview of the Oil and Gas Industry ------------------------Page 4 – 21 2. Chesapeake Company Operations ----------------------------Page 21-27 3. Chesapeake & Affiliates ----------------------------------------- Page 28-32 4. Outsourcing -------------------------------------------------------- Page 32-37 5. Chesapeake’s Future --------------------------------------------- Page 37-42 References ---------------------------------------------------------- Page 43-44 OVERVIEW OF THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY Companies in this industry develop and operate fields to extract crude oil and natural gas. Major players include Apache, Conoco Phillips, and...
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...costs divided by the sum of (a) reserves added from extensions and discoveries and (b) revisions of previous estimates. Organic reserve replacement percentage Equals the sum of (a) reserves added from extensions and discoveries and (b) revisions of previous estimates, divided by production. Reserve life index or R/P ratio Equals the end-of-year reserve quantities divided by the current year’s production. Companies in the project and web addresses Anadarko Petroleum www.anadarko.com Apache Corp. www.apachecorp.com Chesapeake Energy www.chk.com Continental Resources www.contres.com Devon Energy www.devonenergy.com EOG Resources www.eogresources.com Southwestern Energy www.swn.com Successful Efforts Successful Efforts 1. Which accounting method for oil and gas properties is followed by each of the following companies? Full-Cost Full-Cost Anadarko Successful Efforts Successful Efforts Southwestern Continental Apache Corp Apache Corp 2. Which of the seven companies spent the most in the year 2012 for organic F&D costs? 12.58 12.58 What was the amount spent by this company (stated in billions of dollars)? Billions of dollars Devon, 2,963,000 MBoe Devon, 2,963,000 MBoe 3. Including all products (i.e., oil, bitumen, gas, NGLs), which of the seven companies had the most combined proved reserves as the end of 2012? 17,778,000 17,778,000 Stated...
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...Bronson Contic July 22, 2015 Bronson Contic July 22, 2015 Abstract This report covers the acquisition of XTO Energy by ExxonMobil including background information, industry characteristics, calculations, and analysis. Abstract This report covers the acquisition of XTO Energy by ExxonMobil including background information, industry characteristics, calculations, and analysis. Case Study 1 ExxonMobil Corp. Acquisition of XTO Energy, Inc. Case Study 1 ExxonMobil Corp. Acquisition of XTO Energy, Inc. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this document is to outline elements of the acquisition process in the energy industry by detailing ExxonMobil Corp.’s (referred to as ExxonMobil) acquisition of XTO Energy, Inc (referred to as XTO). This transaction was announced in December 2009 and finalized in June 2010. The subsequent information will contain an introduction that focuses on the economic atmosphere of the energy industry at this time and details surrounding the agreement including motivations for the deal and terms of the deal. Next, calculations used in the valuation process will be introduced with results presented. Finally, a discussion of findings will conclude, supplying answers to the following questions: (1) What should the acquisition price for XTO shares have been? (2) Which comparable firm is the best comparison firm for XTO Energy? (3) Why did ExxonMobil want to acquire XTO? (4) Based on the analysis, did ExxonMobil overpay for XTO or get a Bargain...
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...desires, go buying the ecofriendly cars. There is no benefit of having a car if you cannot drive it everywhere. This makes the manufacturers to suffer, and being stuck with inventory and no opportunity to sell or extend their productions. In order to solve the problem, Clean Energy Fuels Corp. and Navistar International partnered up with the plan to create America’s Natural Gas Highway. This would be the first network of natural gas fueling stations across the United States. The first steps to accomplished this goal is to coordinate relationships between a truck maker, fuel supplier, a truck stop chain, and natural gas driller. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. and Navistar International shared the plan with the Pilot Flying J Travel Centers, which is the largest network of truck and travel shops. The company will provide the service locations where the trucks could be refueled. America’s Natural Gas Highway also includes Chesapeake, the gas drilling company that would provide fuel to Clean Energy. Navistar will sell the best in-class natural gas (LNG) truck fleets to the consumer that are in contract with the Clean Energy; providing the fuel. Pilot Flying J Travel Centers will provide the locations, and Chesapeake drills the natural gas providing the return on investment. America’s Natural Gas Highway would help by creating the opportunity for a cheaper, cleaner, and domestic alternative fuel choice that is economically sustainable and good for the environment. The idea of these corporations...
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...Hydraulic Fracturing: Is the Risk Worth the Reward? Are they willing to risk their health for wealth? That is the question on everyone’s mind in North Dakota right now. North Dakota residents are scratching their heads and asking, “is the money that oil and gas development is providing to our state important enough that we are willing to risk the health of our families”? Why is there a risk? Because the oil companies are not satisfied with reaching oil only a few hundred feet below the surface. Oil and gas companies are interested in retrieving the oil and gas from a layer of shale and dense rocks at depths of 10,000 feet. The oil companies are retrieving the oil and gas from the shale and rock using a method known as hydraulic fracturing (fracking). This method was developed over 60 years ago. The process of fracking injects water, sand, and chemicals through a cement casing or tubing into shale and dense rocks, cracking the shale and rocks to open the pores, allowing the oil and gas to flow more freely to the surface (Svoboda). Even though the oil companies are using less invasive chemicals, leaving behind fewer toxins, they are still using chemicals with health risks attached such as ethylene glycol. The other health concern today is the dumping of wastewater that comes from the fracking process. There were more than 1,000 reported spills or illegal dumps of wastewater and other drilling fluids in 2011, just in the state of North Dakota. This contaminated water has to go...
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...short-term. The portfolio is tailored to an investor with high-risk tolerance. The Money Team held on to its U.S equities throughout the course of the time horizon. The only changes The Money Team made to its portfolio during the time horizon was selling underperforming bonds. Below is the holding period return data for each of The Money Team’s assets: Company Name | QTY | Currency | Price Paid | Last Price | Profit/Loss (local curr) | P/L % | 3-D Systems Corp (Delaware) | 100 | USD | $55.96 | $75.38 | $1,942.00 | 34.70 | Rite Aid Corp | 1000 | USD | $4.59 | $5.75 | $1,160.00 | 25.27 | Virtus Investment Partners Inc | 100 | USD | $168.00 | $202.04 | $3,404.00 | 20.26 | Nokia Shs Sponsored American Deposit Receipt Repr 1 Sh | 500 | USD | $6.64 | $7.88 | $620.00 | 18.67 | Apple Inc | 300 | USD | $474.81 | $560.02 | $25,563.00 | 17.95 | Boeing Co | 100 | USD | $118.68 | $135.18 | $1,650.00 | 13.90 | Exxon Mobil Corp | 500 | USD | $85.94 | $95.65 | $4,855.00 | 11.30 | Ball Corp | 500 | USD | $45.27 | $50.05 | $2,390.00 | 10.56 | Molson Coors...
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...ACGL ACGY ACH ACI ACL ACM ACN ACOM ACOR ADBE ADI ADLR ADM ADP ADS ADSK ADTN ADY AEC AEE AEIS AEM AEO AEP AER Name Agilent Technologies Inc. ALCOA, INC AirTran Holdings, Inc. Aaron's, Inc. ADVANCE AUTO PARTS INC Apple Inc. Advanced Analogic Technologies, Inc. Advantage Oil & Gas LTD. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. AllianceBernstein Holding, L.P. Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. Abaxis Inc ABB Ltd. AmerisourceBergen Corp. Arkansas Best Corp AMBAC Financial Group Abiomed Inc Abbott Laboratories AmBev Compamhia De Bebidas Das Ame Barrick Gold Corp. Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. American Capital Ltd American Campus Communities, Inc. Accelrys, Inc. ACE Limited Arch Capital Group Ltd Acergy S.A. Alum Corp of China Limited Arch Coal, Inc. ALCON Aecom Technology Corporation Accenture PLC Ancestry.com, Inc. Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. Adobe Systems Inc Analog Devices, Inc. Adolor Corp Archer-Daniels-Midland Co Automatic Data Processing Alliance Data Systems Autodesk Inc Adtran Inc AMERICAN DAIRY INC Associated Estates Realty Ameren Corporation Advanced Energy Industries Inc Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. American Eagle Outfitters American Electric Power Aercap Holdings N.V. NYSE Arca Lead Market Maker UBS SECURITIES, LLC MORGAN STANLEY & CO CITADEL SECURITIES LLC CITADEL SECURITIES LLC TIMBER HILL LLC GOLDMAN SACHS & CO WOLVERINE TRADING, L.P. GOLDMAN SACHS & CO WOLVERINE TRADING, L.P. CUTLER GROUP, LP CITADEL SECURITIES LLC TIMBER HILL LLC CITIGROUP DERIVATIVES MKTS INC. GOLDMAN SACHS...
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...Matthew Ricci Dr Merricks English 102 28 February 2014 Jet noise throughout South Hampton Roads The sound of freedom or not? Society today is filed with noise; there is no escaping it. The combined toll of occupational, recreational, and environmental noise exposure from sounds that is heard daily can possibly pose a serious public health issue. Everyday noise society looks at as “common” can include heavy construction equipment, sirens from emergency vehicles, lawn mowers and a little more noticeable, jet noise. No denying that anyone who has lived near an airport in any number of big cities or spent time in proximity to a military installation has been exposed to and possibly inconvenienced by the loud sounds of jet aircraft. To the locals that have lived and spent time in the Hampton Roads area, jet noise is as common as hearing a fire engine. Anyone living or working near one of the several military bases in the area or the Norfolk International Airport has heard or been affected in some way by jet noise. Jets noise in this part of Virginia is not just a daily occurrence but also a necessary one in order to preserve troop readiness and even society’s way of life. An examination of the state of global insecurity creating much higher operational military requirements since 9/11 and the economic stability our military bases provide reveal the necessity for higher tolerance of jet noise. Military training and readiness are directly proportional to the rise...
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...company. The company was founded in 2007 and is based in the United Kingdom. Investment Coverage: - Relationship with Investor/Parent: Total Investment ($mm): - Expected Exit Date: - Percent Owned (%): - Return on Investment (%): - Controlling Interest: - Investor Notes: - Transactions: Date: Feb-16-2010 Type: Private Placement Size ($mm): 58.00 Status: Announced Eagle Energy, LLC Pending Acquisition/Investment Electric Utilities Dec-21-2009 - - - - Website: www.eagleenergyllc.com Business Description: Eagle Energy, LLC provides alternative energy supply, and electricity and natural gas consulting and aggregation services to commercial, industrial, and governmental entities. The company also offers energy aggregation for communities. It has operations in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and Washington DC. Eagle Energy, LLC has a strategic alliance with Studebaker Energy, LLC. Eagle Energy, LLC was founded in 2001 and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio....
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...Harvard Business School 9-297-005 Rev. October 18, 1996 D O Private Equity Investment in Russia: Alliance Cellulose Limited N In April, 1995, portfolio managers were reassessing the investment climate in Russia. Since the disintegration of Communism and the Soviet Union in 1991, western investors had been intrigued by the potentially huge returns that could be gained by participating in the restructuring of the Russian economy. Russia’s transformation to a market system, however, had been highlighted by missteps and disappointments. Foreign investors who had jumped into the market only eight months earlier were burned badly by a general market collapse in October. Furthermore, Russia’s political and economic future were uncertain. O Nevertheless, Russia possessed many attractive features that could reward those with the courage to invest at this early stage of market development. Russia’s natural resources accounted for significant portions of the world’s proven oil and gas, timber, coal, and minerals reserves. In addition, the privatization process, lack of internal capital, and country-specific risk resulted in valuations for Russian companies that seemed to be small fractions of their world peers. T Russia in 1995 was frequently compared to America’s “Wild West,” when the search for riches and general lawlessness combined to create very volatile conditions. While western money managers were drawn to Russia by tantalizing asset valuations...
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...APUSH Study Guide 8 A weak Confederacy and the Constitution, 1776-1790 Themes/Constructs: The federal Constitution represented a moderately conservative reaction against the democratilizing effects of the Revolution and the Articles of Confederation. The American Revolution was not a radical transformation like the French or Russian revolutions, but it produced political innovations and some social change in the direction of greater equality and democracy. The American Revolution did not overturn the social order, but it did produce substantial changes in social customs, political institutions, and ideas about society and government. Among the changes were the separation of church and state in some places, the abolition of slavery in the North, written political constitutions, and a shift in political power from the eastern seaboard toward the frontier. The first weak government, the Articles of Confederation, was unable to exercise real authority, although it did successfully deal with the western lands issue. The Confederation’s weakness in handling foreign policy, commerce and the Shays Rebellion spurred the movement to alter the Articles. Instead of revising the Articles, the well-off delegates to the Constitutional Convention created a charter for a whole new government. In a series of compromises, the convention produced a plan that provided for a vigorous central government, a strong executive, the protection for property, while still upholding republican...
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