New
Bookmarks
Year 2003 Quarter 3: July 1-September 30 Additions to Bob
Jensen's Bookmarks
Bob Jensen at Trinity
University
We're
moved to the mountains on July 15, 2003 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm
For earlier editions of New
Bookmarks, go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Click
here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search
Site.
This search engine may get you some hits from other professors at Trinity
University included with Bob Jensen's documents, but this may be to your
benefit.
This is really a good way to start our your day! --- http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~blagger/the_duel.html
A
sad song for the anniversary of September 11 --- http://www.link4u.com/littledidsheknow.htm
God Bless America --- http://www.dayspring.com/movies/webmovies/america.html
Choose a Date Below for Additions to the Bookmarks File
September 30, 2003 September 20, 2003 September 12, 2003 September 7, 2003
Bob
Jensen's New Bookmarks on September 30, 2003
Bob
Jensen at Trinity
University
For earlier editions of New Bookmarks, go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Click
here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search
Site.
This search engine may get you some hits from other professors at Trinity
University included with Bob Jensen's documents, but this may be to your
benefit.
New
From Bob Jensen --- Video Tutorials on Accounting for Derivative
Financial Instruments and Hedging Activities per FAS 133 in the U.S. and IAS 39
internationally --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm#VideoTutorials
Quotes of the Week
My
vision is to make the most diverse state on earth, and we have people from every
planet on earth in this state.
Gray Davis, California Governor as quoted in Time Magazine, September 23,
2003.
One seems to be from a planet off the earth.
It
was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, "always do
what you are afraid to do."
Ralph
Waldo Emerson
David
Hume's human nature: Have you seen the report recently published in Nature of
the experiments with Capucian monkeys indicating that in those primates (our
very close cousins) a sense of fairness is perhaps an evolutionary legacy? The
experiment with pairs of monkeys involved retrieving a stone in exchange for a
slice of cucumber. After a few trials, one monkey began to receive a grape
instead of a cucumber. The monkey who continued receiving the cucumber altered
its behavior in quite notable ways (in the vernacular, it got POed). The authors
of the study suggested that perhaps Hume hasn't got human nature quite right.
Justice isn't a socially constructed, learned behavior, but perhaps the
Friedmanesque rapaciousness is. Why else would their mantra continue to be that
avarice needs incentives?
Paul Williams at North Carolina State University (in a September 22, 2003 email
message)
You can read an abstract of the article at http://www.nature.com/nature/links/030918/030918-9.html
New
York State Attorney General Eliott Spitzer's charges of improper trading
practices by several leading mutual fund families are another blow to public
trust in financial institutions. Mutual funds have been the place you would
advise the most unsophisticated investors to go: Mutual funds were designed for
grandpa and grandma, and repeatedly recommended to them by all kinds of
benevolent authorities. Thus scandals in the mutual fund sector are potentially
much more damaging to public trust in our financial institutions than are
scandals in other sectors -- such as the one playing out in the New York Stock
Exchange right now.
See Robert Shiller's article --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud093003.htm
The
over-the-counter vanilla interest rate derivatives market grew 24% in the first
six months of the year, to $123.90 trillion
in notional outstanding, according to the International Swaps and Derivatives
Association. The growth alone in interest rate notionals represents almost nine
times the value of the entire credit derivatives market, which itself grew 25%
to $2.69 trillion. "The increase in interest rate derivatives outstanding
reflects the need by market participants for risk management tools during a
period of bond market and exchange rate volatility," said Isda chief
executive Robert Pickel. Equity derivatives - including equity swaps, options
and forwards – grew 14% to $2.78 trillion.
Risk News Weekly on September 26, 2003
This gives you some idea of how interest rate swaps have grown in popularity
since they were invented in 1984. Bob Jensen's latest video on accounting
for interest rate swaps can be found at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5341/fas133/WindowsMedia/
Click on 030FAS133InterestRateSwapAccounting.wmv
'Fred,
where is north?'
'North? North is there, my love.
The brook runs west.'
'West-running Brook then call it.'
(West-running Brook men call it to this day.)
'What does it think it's doing running west
When all the other country brooks flow east
To reach the ocean? It must be the brook
Can trust itself to go by contraries
The way I can with you--and you with me--
Because we're--we're--I don't know what we are.
What are we?'
'Young or new?'
"West Running Brook" by Robert Frost
I am fortunate to have the Robert Frost home and museum within a short walk from
my new house in the White Mountains. You can see some pictures of his old home
at http://www.simplybicycling.com/sugarhill.htm
Bob Jensen's working draft of accounting and finance scandals for September 2003 can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud093003.htm
Beware of the fine print in popular
gift cards issued by major stores --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud093003.htm
Each $50 card may decline by as much as 5% per month even though you paid full
value up front. Looks like a consumer rip off from the big chain
retailers.
When the
Manhattan Institute's researchers added it all up, the result was staggering:
Not only have tort costs risen much faster than either inflation or GDP, the
estimated $40 billion in revenues our tort warriors took in for 2001 was 50%
more than Microsoft or Intel and double that of Coca-Cola.
See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud093003.htm
The Specialist
Myth
Question
Who are the real bad guys that paid the NYSE's Richard Grasso nearly $180+
million per year to cover their evil ways? They willingly paid this
because Grasso was so darn good at his job protecting them.
Answer:
The best account of the inherent corruption in the NYSE system that I've read is
an editorial by John C. Bogle (founder of the huge Vanguard Group) that appears
on the Editorial Page (Page A10) of the September 19, 2003 edition of The
Wall Street Journal --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud093003.htm
From the Bottom of the Stairs: What You See Is What You Get --- to Keep!
Soon your sunglasses could help you capture all the important moments of your life --- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3111004.stm
A prototype pair of sunglasses with a camera built in to them has been created by Hewlett Packard researchers.
"It means you now have a wearable camera which nobody will notice and can take pictures while being involved in events," said Huw Robson from Hewlett Packard.
But experts say there could be privacy implications if this sort of technology becomes part of everyday life.
Continued in BBC News, September 18, 2003
When I got an email with the following message, I was taken to a link that, in turn, said I had to install some Korean language software. Beware of any site that wants to install software on your computer. Check with your Webmaster or other expert before installing such software.
Spy on Anyone by sending them an Email-Greeting Card! Spy Software records their emails, Hotmail, Yahoo, Outlook, ACTUAL Computer Passwords, Chats, Keystrokes. Check up on your SPOUSE, KIDS, or EMPLOYEES!
"Chat room charge sign of times," Dave Ebner, Globe and Mail, September 25, 2003 --- http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030925.wmsnn0925/BNStory/Technology/
Microsoft Corp.'s decision to eliminate free chat rooms on its MSN Web sites and replace them with subscription-only rooms is likely the beginning of a trend that will see companies charging for until-now free Internet services.
OYEZ, OYEA,
OOOYAAYY!
For years this has been one of my illustrations of a great multimedia site.
In addition to having audio files on many, many Supreme Court cases, the site
has become much more of a news and archive site for law.
The OYEZ Project http://www.oyez.org
Please forward this link to the President of your college or university.
FAQs
Is there a demo version of Virtual U available? Not anymore because download the entire product now from our download page. Press may order for free a boxed copy of the software, manuals and press kit by contact Beth Bryant at 1-888-286-3540.
Aside from the open-ended play, what are the specific scenarios to play in Virtual U?
Scenario 1 Pay Faculty Better
Scenario 2 Allocate New Money
Scenario 3 Teach Better
Scenario 4 Improve Research Performance
Scenario 5 Win Games
Scenario 6 Reduce Tuition
Scenario 7 Respond to Enrollment Shifts
Scenario 8 Enroll More Minority Students
Scenario 9 Hire More Minority Faculty Members
Scenario 10 Balance the Budget
Note from Jensen:
A new scenario should probably be added on how to deal with the complex problem
of health insurance!
Virtual U. 2.1 http://www.virtual-u.org
Virtual U is designed to foster better understanding of management practices in American colleges and universities.
It provides students, teachers, and parents the unique opportunity to step into the decision-making shoes of a university president. Players are responsible for establishing and monitoring all the major components of an institution, including everything from faculty salaries to campus parking.
As players move around the Virtual U campus, they gather information needed to make decisions such as decreasing faculty teaching time or increasing athletic scholarships. However, as in a real college or university, the complexity and potential effects of each decision must be carefully considered. And the Virtual U Board of Trustees is monitoring every move.
Virtual U models the attitudes and behaviors of the academic community in five major areas of higher education management: Spending and income decisions such as operating budget, new hires, incoming donations, and management of the endowment; Faculty, course, and student scheduling issues; Admissions standards, university prestige, and student enrollment; Student housing, classrooms, and all other facilities; and Performance indicators.
Virtual U players select an institution type and strive for continuous improvement by setting, monitoring, and modifying a variety of institutional parameters and policies. Players are challenged to manage and improve their institution of higher education through techniques such as resource allocation, minority enrollment policies, and policies for promoting faculty, among others. Players watch the results of their decisions unfold in real- time. A letter of review from Virtual U's board is sent every "year," informing players of their progress.
For persons in and around the San
Antonio area, there may be some interest in the Lost Maples State Park Home Page
at http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/lostmap/index.htm
It will be beautiful up there about a month from now.
September 24, 2003 reply from Jacob Tingle
Bob
FYI…Outdoor Rec is offering a trip to Lost Maples on Friday, November 7 (returning in the evening of Nov. 8). As always Fac/Staff are more than welcome to go on the trips. It would be a great opportunity to interact with students outside the classroom.
Trip Cost is only $20. Trip limit is 8.
Jacob K. Tingle
Trinity Recreational Sports
jacob.tingle@trinity.edu
210.999.8281
Bob Jensen's threads on San Antonio are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/sanantonio.htm
For persons in New England, the fall foliage time is now in the north and soon in the southern part of New England.
New Hampshire (slide the mouse across a date) --- http://www.visitnh.gov/foliagereports.html
Maine --- http://www.state.me.us/doc/foliage/
Vermont (Click on The Foliage button) --- http://www.foliage-vermont.com/
Upstate New York --- http://www.roundthebend.com/nysfoli.html
The foliage is at its peak in Sugar Hill. I added the following September 20, 2003 picture of the golf club house that is beside our barn (barn not shown is getting new roof and siding). This is the view of the Green Mountains of Vermont on the back side of our home. We can't quite see the golf club house through the trees, but we can see the Green Mountains from a slightly different angle. The colors were not yet peaked at the time of this picture --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm
Over 30,000 Free Academic Literature and Multimedia Items from EServer (including some "Bad Subjects") --- http://eserver.org
The EServer, founded in 1990, is now based at Iowa State University. We are increasing efforts to publish new works (31846 so far).
The Academy miscellaneous resources for students and faculty Art/Architecture links to art, architecture, and aesthetic theory Audio and Video audio recordings of scholarly presentations Bad Subjects political education for everyday life Books book-length nonfiction and miscellaneous literatures Calls for Papers calls for conference papers and journal articles Cultronix a journal of contemporary art and cultural theory Cultural Logic an electronic journal of marxist theory and practice Cultural Theory readings in cultural studies and critical theory Cyber Tech/Culture discussing links between technology and culture Drama a collection of plays, modern works and classics Early Modern Culture works and discussions in Renaissance studies Education resources for both students and teachers Eighteenth Century a site for eighteenth-century cultural history Electronic Labyrinth a study of the implications of hypertext for writers Feminism select resources in feminism and women's studies Fiction novels and short fiction, classics and new works Film & Television works in film, television and other media studies Gender/Sexuality some resources on gender, sex and sexuality Government materials in government, law, and their social implications History works and links in history and historiography Home Pages the personal home pages of EServer members Internet resources about the internet: guides, essays and articles Journals links to academic journals and popular magazines Languages resources in language studies and theory Libraries links to worldwide library catalogues Literary Events events for any date from literature and the arts The Mamet Review the journal of the David Mamet Society Marx & Engels a collection of writings in economic and social theory Multimedia a small collection of artwork, audio, graphics and video Music a vast collection of works in music and music theory Philosophy writings by modern and classical philosophers Pittsburgh information about the city and its neighborhoods Poetry original and classic verse, literary and poetic theory Race materials on race and ethnicity in the U.S. Recipes vegetarian recipes, and links to good related sites Reference select reference materials useful for research Rhetoric scholarly and pedagogical resources for rhetoricians Software freeware and shareware for your computer Sparks a publisher of fiction, poetry, music, art and spoken word Sudden original poetry that reflects imagination and intelligence Tech Comm Library a web portal for tech, sci and professional communication Thoreau Reader the works of American philosopher Henry D. Thoreau Web Design a site for discussion of new media design Zine375 writings about contemporary American life
September 22, 2003 message from a Trinity faculty member concerning the above EServer.org site:
Bob: You just made my day. This A.M. I couldn't get into the site you had sent but after lunch I tried again. I stumbled around and discovered Mark Twain's "Awful German Language", and since I had never read it before (and had about three years of badly instructed German) I began reading and have laughed constantly ever since. We always made comments about German (never so wittily as Twain, of course,) and he pulls them all together here. And your mail to Tiger Talk got me there.
From the National Institute of Drug
Abuse (Science Facts and Learning Games)
The Science Behind Drug Abuse --- http://www.teens.drugabuse.gov/
The NIDA for Teens Web site is brought to you by the scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Learn more about NIDA for Teens.
Marijuana floods the brain with pleasure-causing dopamine, forcing neurons to produce less of it naturally. Learn more facts on drugs.
Can one-time drug use lead to addiction? Dr. NIDA answers this and other frequently asked questions. Read on!
Have Fun and Learn
Sooo, if all this info is now in your brain, show what'cha know and play a game:
Dr. NIDA's Challenge - Explore a body to find out what happens when someone uses drugs. Take the challenge and see if you can build a better body.
Sara's Quest - Join Sara Bellum to explore the brain's response to different drugs!
You will need the Flash plug-in to play this gameNIDA Libs - Marijuana - Fill in the blanks to create your own article about Marijuana.
"Academic fraud runs rampant at major universities," by Mike Finger, San Antonio Express-News, September 2, 2003 --- http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=200&xlc=1058365&xld=200
The first time a coed casually walked up to him, introduced herself and offered to do his homework, it would have been natural for Terrance Simmons to be taken aback.
When he learned that his basketball coach at Minnesota, Clem Haskins, was being forced out as a result of massive NCAA rules violations, Simmons understandably could have been shocked.
And when he read this spring about another seemingly endless string of new academic fraud cases — involving people who somehow didn't learn from the 1999 scandal that was supposed to be a national wake-up call — one might have expected Simmons to be a bit dismayed.
But he wasn't.
None of it surprised him.
Because the way Simmons sees it, he knew the kind of world he was getting into from the very beginning.
He remembers sitting in his family's living room in Louisiana as a prized high school recruit. He remembers college coaches — "and we're talking about coaches from major universities," he said — giving him all kinds of reasons to join their programs.
Most of all, he remembers many of those recruiters making it quite clear that scholastic integrity wasn't exactly their top priority.
"They didn't come right out and say I didn't have to go to class," Simmons said, "but it wasn't very hard to read between the lines."
Likewise, it doesn't take many code-breaking skills to figure out that academic fraud has become a scourge of epic proportions in major college athletics.
In the past four years alone, the NCAA has doled out punishment nine times for academic infractions, ranging from grade tampering to improper use of tutors. That number doesn't even include all of the schools involved in the latest outbreak.
In the span of just a few weeks at the end of last season, the men's basketball teams at Fresno State, Georgia and St. Bonaventure all removed themselves from postseason play amid reports of fraud.
Those scandals were followed by accusations of similar violations at Fairfield and Missouri. The possibility of academic infractions hasn't been ruled out at Baylor, where the basketball program is already under intense scrutiny after the alleged murder of a player, the ensuing cover-up and the resignation of coach Dave Bliss.
Simmons, who graduated from Minnesota with a degree in communications and economics and wasn't involved in the violations that occurred while he played for the Golden Gophers, thinks the frequency of reported similar transgressions will grow before it subsides.
Continued in the article
Bob Jensen's threads on academic fraud and plagiarism are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/plagiarism.htm
Question
In terms of jobs, who are the winners and losers in the current economic
"recovery"?
Answer:
Actually education and health care are not doing to badly on a relative basis!
"Things Are Looking Up ... Unless You Want a Job This economic recovery really is different—and that has a lot of people worried. Should they be?" by Justin Fox and Anna Bernasek, FORTUNE, September 15, 2003 --- http://www.fortune.com/fortune/subs/article/0,15114,485656,00.html
The economic news has been almost all good lately. Manufacturing is on the rebound. Corporate profits are up. So are retail sales. In the U.S., third-quarter economic growth is expected to clock in at a close to 5% annual clip. Other major economies—even Japan's!—are finally showing signs of economic life.
It's almost enough to make you believe that after three years of economic coughs, fits, starts, and disappointment, we're finally in the clear. That's certainly the consensus on Wall Street. "I'm highly confident about the economy," says Jim Glassman, senior economist at J.P. Morgan Chase. "There's been a distinct change in mood. And whenever confidence in the outlook changes, the economy takes off."
But there's one statistic that keeps getting in the way of such positive thinking. The U.S. economy employs 2.7 million fewer people now than it did when the recession started in March 2001. The layoffs continue: In August, even as other economic indicators were coming up roses, another 93,000 jobs disappeared. According to the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession ended in November 2001. But the jobs recession didn't—almost two million jobs have been lost since then. "We are in a recovery, because output is growing," says one veteran member of the recession-dating committee, Conference Board economist Victor Zarnowitz. "But normally, output and labor growth go together."
| Employment change in selected industries since December 2001. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TIAA-CREF, the investment company that
manages pension plans for teachers, colleges, universities and research
institutions, cut 500 jobs, or about 8% of its work force.
The Wall Street Journal, September 23, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106434056062057700,00.html?mod=mkts_main_news_hs_h
Academic Responsibility and Dilemma
A referee for a submission to a journal discovered that the paper he was reviewing had been previously published. Some questions raised are as follows for the editor that submitted the paper to the referee (I assume that the refereeing process is blind such that the referee cannot identify the author of the submitted paper):
It always seems to me that authors who play this game should be punished more than merely having an editor reject the paper without any other form of punishment. In the above instances, I mailed copies of all previous rejection letters to each editor. E-mail and listservs had not yet been invented.
A second message from the referee reads as follows:
This paper does not seem to be an innocent error. Author has attempted to crudely change the title of the paper (this is the only attempt of change!). The other paper is published in 2001 and NOT any recent one. The most important of all is that the author(s) have lifted printed diagrams as it is in picture formats from this published paper and not a single diagram is hand created. The worst of all is that particular published paper too has similar kind of problems at some places but could not get into the eyes of the editor or reviewers.
Jagdish Pathak, PhD
Assistant Professor of Accounting Systems
Odette School of Business
University of Windsor
401 Sunset
Windsor, N9B 3P4, ON
Canada
September 20 reply from Jagdish
Oh Bob! Your fifth alternative is horrendous where everyone will have to make most unethical choices, i.e. referee to recommend-editor to accept-publisher to publish and in the end we never know (except the editor, of course) who is the real author . Is it the same published authorship trying to have one more number or somebody else simply lifting from others published stuff?
Other than author, all the related parties may have to bear a big potential legal liability!
Jagdish Pathak,
September 20 Reply from Bob Jensen
Hi Yet Again Jagdish,
As long as you got me into old plagiarism stories, I will tell you another one (I may have mentioned this some years back on the AECM).
One of my very close colleagues, Professor S, earned a PhD in Organization Behavior from one of the top ten universities of the nation, let's say Prestige University X. After he graduated his first job was at University Y before we both joined the faculty at University Z. Student S's thesis advisor at Prestige University X made him return for a hearing regarding whether his PhD degree should be revoked since evidence was raised that portions of Student S's thesis were plagiarized.
Student (by then Assistant Professor) S was entirely confused by all this and swore that he did not plagiarize those passages supposedly taken from an article published by Accounting Professor A at Prestige University X. Further investigation of timing of article refereeing, etc. revealed that it was the other way around. Professor A actually plagiarized passages of the thesis of Student S.
Like at the ending of a who-done-it movie, the revocation hearing was abruptly adjourned, and the entire matter was hushed over. I would never have learned about this except that Student S had a few too many cocktails one night at a party and revealed the entire incident to me and several other close friends.
Years ago, Professor A at Prestige University X was a casual friend of mine who used to attend every American Accounting Association annual meeting. Until Student S revealed his secret, I always wondered why Professor A abruptly stopped attending AAA meetings and seemed to disappear from the scene. However, he's still listed in the Hasselback Directory as being on the faculty of Prestige University X and is probably a rather invisible professor among his own colleagues.
Student S eventually became a very young President of State University C.
Bob
"Yahoo Hopes Its New Service Turns Searchers Into Shoppers," by Mylene Mangalindan, The Wall Street Journal, September 23, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB10642735647966500,00.html?mod=todays%255Fus%255Fmarketplace%255Fhs
Yahoo Inc. wants to shake up shopping.
The Internet company is revamping its online shopping services to make it easier for users to find merchandise such as electronics, baby goods and music CDs. Starting Tuesday it plans to add tools to help Internet surfers make better side-by-side comparisons by criteria such as brand, price, features and consumer ratings of merchants.
Online comparison shopping is hardly a new idea, and Yahoo already offers some comparison features. But the Web giant's stepped-up focus could affect smaller e-commerce players and even the strategies of big online merchants such as Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. Yahoo plans to add similar improvements to other content areas of its network, such as movies, music, travel and autos.
The landscape of comparison-shopping services, including DealTime.com, mySimon, BizRate, and PriceGrabber, is highly fragmented -- so much so that Web-search giant Google Inc. caused an industrywide buzz last year when it unveiled just a test version of a shopping site dubbed Froogle.
Yahoo's move is another example of Chief Executive Terry Semel's campaign to use improved search technology to generate additional revenue. By providing better tools for users, it hopes to deliver more likely buyers to merchants and advertisers, allowing it to charge more for Web ads and referrals.
Yahoo also is making a subtle change in its business model for shopping, which may affect both the company's fortunes and the comprehensiveness of the service. While Yahoo now mainly gets shopping revenue from commissions on sales that originated on its site, the company plans to start charging merchants to guarantee inclusion in its new shopping search engine. Yahoo says it won't identify in the search results which merchants have paid such a fee.
The company says it still will be possible for merchants who don't pay for listings to have their products show up in comparisons. But there is no guarantee such information will be up to date, since these unpaid listings will reflect Yahoo's regular sweeps of information on the Web rather than data the paying merchants submit to the service. Yahoo said the paid inclusion program doesn't taint its product results because the items that show up in response to a consumer query are listed by relevance, not by order of which merchant paid to be included in the program.
Yahoo's large audience may make the new service seductive to online stores. Amazon, in fact, has decided to join the "paid inclusion" service, and is one of more than 100 big-name merchants Yahoo hopes to lure.
Bob Jensen's threads on eCommerce and eBusiness are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm
The digital cable-TV revolution has a
problem: Many subscribing households quit every month, with viewers reluctant to
pay extra for channels they don't watch.
"Digital World Churns As Cable Subscribers Ignore Many Channels." by
Peter Grant, The Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106435876653748300,00.html?mod=todays%255Fus%255Fmarketplace%255Fhs
Selected Online Calculators
Business Valuation Calculators
Online Forecasting Calculators
A really
comprehensive listing of financial calculators from MathTools.net ---
http://www.mathtools.net/Applications/Finance_and_Economics/Software_and_Tools/Calculations/On-line_Calculators/index.html
I shortened the above link to http://snurl.com/MathTools
Great financial calculators at http://www.accountingweb.com
Look under Resources and then Calculators
Martindale's Calculators (STOCKS, BONDS, OPTIONS, COMMODITIES, FUTURES) --- http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculators1C_1_Stock.html
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Calculators for Investors --- http://www.sec.gov/investor/tools.shtml
Many Other Online Calculators --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#080512Calculators
"(Hard Drive) Size Does Matter," by Reuters, Wired News, September 18, 2003 --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60505,00.html
A group of computer owners has filed a lawsuit against some of the world's biggest makers of personal computers, claiming that their advertising deceptively overstates the true capacity of their hard drives.
The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, was filed earlier this week in Los Angeles Superior Court against Apple Computer, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba.
An interview with an economist who won a Nobel Prize. He places a lot of blame for the latest economic downturn on the popularity of the accountant's "bottom line."
"The Dark Side of the Boom," Wired Magazine, October 2003
To the downsized or those with withered 401(k)s, the '90s were a golden age. But don't remember the Clinton years too fondly, says Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. In his new book, The Roaring Nineties, the ex-World Bank honcho argues that all the prosperity masked some troubling trends - like accounting tricks and the rise of the disposable employee - and left us with an overly volatile economy. So much for progress.
Who deserves the most blame for the crash?
I identify three or four culprits. The deregulation movement went too far, too fast. Then I have to give some blame to the Fed. Greenspan gave the "irrational exuberance" speech but didn't do anything about it. And there was the bad accounting framework, which emphasized stock options and created a series of perverse incentives. Wall Street and Silicon Valley conspired to maintain those bad standards.But that economic climate led to a lot of innovation, especially in the Valley. The majority of innovation comes from public investment. Where did the Internet come from? The government. Radar? Jet engines? Publicly funded.
You come down hard on deregulation in your book, especially in the telecom sector. What about airline deregulation, which led to lower ticket prices? I don't like the word deregulation. I like to say "finding the right regulatory structure." For example, you shouldn't have a regulation about where you can locate an ATM. But you have to think about the conflicts of interest that we saw in banking.You claim too much R&D money was wasted on "useless software" and "unused fiber" in the '90s. Isn't it kind of early to know?
Over the long run, yes, those will be productive. The point is that market signals - like price - only work if you have the right information. We didn't have the right information because of the distortions caused by stock options.Will doing away with stock options put an end to market volatility?
There's no way to eliminate volatility. In the '90s, though, we did things that made us more susceptible to it. Two of the most important economic stabilizers, unemployment insurance and welfare, have been reduced. Then there's a mentality that all that matters is the bottom line. That subjects us to a lot more volatility in a downturn.
Question
Which is the more economical platform, Windows or Linux?
Answer
From Mitch Wagner in Information Week, September 19, 2003
A Gartner study concludes that Linux isn't cheaper than Windows on the desktop. Gartner says the cost of switching eats up free-software savings. One of the major costs is rewriting Windows applications to run on Linux.
The Gartner study pairs off nicely with a recent study from Forrester Research that found that Linux was a more expensive development platform than Windows.
The other reason this study is suspicious is that it falls prey to the Pee Wee Herman Critique Of Analyst Reports: "Duh. Tell me something I DON'T know." Linux is still not QUITE ready for most desktops. The really exciting thing about Linux on the desktop is not where it is now, it's how far the operating system has come in the past three years or so, and how far it can be expected to go in the near future. My crystal ball for late 2006 shows me lots of interesting headlines about Windows' eroding market share on the mainstream desktop. But not today. Today, your mainstream operating system choices on the desktop are Windows, Windows and Windows.
Page down to the end of the newsletter for links to the earlier Forrester study, along with my earlier discussion of it.
Also on InternetWeek.com today: Open source weblogger Don MacVittie says Microsoft's plans to increase integration in Windows will fail to achieve the goal of increased security.
Question
Which is the better PC operating system: Windows versus Mac?
Answer
"Behind the Myth: Macs Aren't Miraculous, They're Just Better
PCs," by Jeremy Wagstaff, The Wall Street Journal, September 24,
2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106442486955959100,00.html?mod=technology%255Ffeatured%255Fstories%255Fhs
The PowerBook is a sleek, svelte machine that dominates the room, quietly: no whirring drives or clunky CD trays. Slide your CD into a slot an ant couldn't climb through, let alone a house lizard, and it just disappears -- no extraneous flashing lights; indeed it's hard to tell whether the computer is actually on. The screen and desktop are a marvel to behold and use. (New, lighter, versions of the PowerBook were launched earlier this month.)
The iPod MP3 player is also a delight. The buttons take five minutes to master, making you wonder why anybody designs buttons any other way. It's not perfect sailing of course: The PowerBook heats up quickly. While operating wireless technologies, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, are much easier than on a PC -- two small icons tell you when both are working, I found that the iTunes music-downloading and organizing software would crash if it had problems accessing the Internet through Wi-Fi.
But these are quibbles. Apple has designed products to be proud of, and Windows users should not feel that by moving over to Apple they will need to forget everything they learned. It may not be what Apple was looking to do, but if you buy yourself a Mac -- and you should seriously consider it -- you're buying a better PC. Nothing more, nothing less.
Football is
popular because stupidity is popular.
Jorge
Luis Borges
Don't Weep for the Cowboys
Question
Why is Dallas Cowboys NFL team owner Jerry Jones dumb like a fox?
Answers
"Ride 'Em Cowboy," by John Helyar, Fortune, September 29, 2003 --- http://www.fortune.com/fortune/ceo/articles/0,15114,485659,00.html
That is one reason there's no business like sports business. In bad times an owner sometimes feels like he's being gang-tackled by 320-pound linemen. An NFL franchise is a private enterprise that customers—the fans—treat like a public institution. When their team wins, fans shout, "We're No. 1!" When their team stinks, fans believe the owners should stand for a recall vote. "It's a very hard, unforgiving business," says Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and a friend of Jerry Jones's. "You've got to be on your toes, and you've got to be flexible, and all that does is give you a chance. Over time you get beaten up pretty bad." In great times it almost seems too much fun to be a business. When Jerry Jones is hosting Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who is a huge Dallas fan, or taking a call from the President, who wants to extend Super Bowl congratulations, he might as well be a head of state. He runs a $200 million business yet gets more attention for his product than CEOs of $200 billion businesses. If Exxon Mobil has a great year, its CEO, Lee Raymond, likely gets vilified for high gasoline prices. If the Cowboys have a great year, Jerry Jones hoists the Vince Lombardi Trophy before 134 million TV viewers. Then he hits up Dallas-based Exxon Mobil to be a sponsor. Hey, Lee, you need the goodwill.
The savvy owner makes hay while the sun shines, and Jones has been just about the savviest. He leads the league in corporate sponsors, having signed scads of them to long-term deals when the Cowboys were hot and companies were hot to be associated with them. Jones charges his sponsors top dollar—Pepsi is paying $20 million for ten years—but gives them not just the usual stadium signs but his own top effort. "Jerry speaks to our sales meetings at 6:30 in the morning," says Barry Andrews, a Texas beer distributor whose Miller brand is a Cowboys sponsor. "He's one of a kind." What Jones understands is that the Cowboys are a brand, as surely as Miller Lite is. In that respect, whatever its other differences, the sports business is like all consumer products. A smart team doesn't just open the stadium gates and play games. It tries to build brand equity in its market and make its logo stand for something, whether it be the Chicago Cubs (lovable losers), the Los Angeles Lakers (flashy winners), or the Green Bay Packers (small-town America).
Microsoft is discontinuing its employee stock options program!
September 19, 2003 message from Elliot Kamlet SUNY Account [mailto:ekamlet@BINGHAMTON.EDU]
I would love to see the results of the research that shows what would have happened if fair value had been applied say 5 years ago in a random sample of companies. In other words, would BS or some other pricing model have worked?
Elliot Kamlet
Binghamton University
September 19, 2003 reply from Bob Jensen
Hi Elliot,
I doubt that
anything would have worked five years ago except the Wizard's Crystal Ball that
always predicts "nothin' ain't worth nothin'."
Remember, Enron's "collapse" (I was tempted to use a plural
"p" word with a better connotation) burst the world's equity bubble
about four years ago such that every options valuation model badly overshot the
mark five years ago. In the midst of
enormous valuation errors, differences in valuations most likely are just noise.
But "options
are worth somethin' " according to the following article:
"Why Stock Options Still Rule," by Michael S. Malone, Wired News, September 19, 2003 --- http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.10/start.html?pg=2
Nothing lures top talent like the chance to get really rich. Watch out, Microsoft (Microsoft dropped its stock options compensation program.)
A cabal of very strange bedfellows - federal regulators, union organizers, cynical politicians, and Microsoft - have teamed up to crush the dream of economic freedom for every working stiff in America. In the process, they may be unwittingly kicking off the next great entrepreneurial boom.
I'm talking about stock options. You remember those. Way back in the last century, options were the ticket to personal liberation; the one chance, besides organized crime and Lotto, for an everyday person to get rich. In those balmy days, options - which give the holder the right to buy or sell a company's stock at a specific price, by a specific date - were celebrated as the great egalitarian tool, spreading wealth according to hard work and merit.
They were also recognized as the fuel of entrepreneurial fire, driving the creation of new technologies, new products, and new companies. The US tech sector had perfected the use of options as a recruiting device and employee incentive, and in doing so became the fastest-growing, most innovative economic force in history.
Lately, though, options have become the bête noire of 21st-century corporate life. Ken Lay and Frank Quattrone face prison time for abusing them. The Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets accounting guidelines for public companies, is preparing to force US corporations to report stock options through "fair value" expensing.
Now, in what pundits are calling the final nail in the coffin, Microsoft is discontinuing its options program. No wonder it seems like the end of an era. Bill Gates may be the Prince of Darkness, but he's also a genius. If he says options are dead, who's to argue? Entrepreneurs, for starters. They want the same powerful tool at their disposal that Gates used to attract top-flight talent to a budding Microsoft. But if they're smart, they'll keep their mouths shut.
Continued in the essay.
Why you should think twice about using computers at Kinkos, libraries, airports, and other public access locations. This also applies to having your computer serviced by someone you don't know and trust. This link was forwarded by Glenn Gray.
From Microsoft BCentral --- http://bcentral.com/articles/komando/140.asp
"Danger, danger: 5 tips for using a public PC," by Kim Komando
There's a guy in New York who may have gotten into your personal business. If he did, he probably looted your online bank account.
Juju Jiang is serving time now after pleading guilty. But for a couple years, he bugged public computers at Kinko's with software that logged keystrokes. He used it to capture usernames and passwords. Some he used to steal money; others he sold on the Web.
He got caught when he manipulated a victim's home computer while she was present. She watched incredulously as he methodically searched her computer. He was using GoToMyPC, which allows travelers to manipulate their computers from afar. The victim had used GoToMyPC previously from a Kinko's machine. Jiang stole her username and password.
This raises an issue which many people haven't considered. Spying software can easily be placed on public computers, such as those not only at Kinko's stores, but in Internet cafés, airports, libraries and other public places.
With spying software, a criminal can grab your passwords and usernames. Ultimately, you could lose your money or have your identity stolen. That should tell you enough to be wary of public PC terminals.
Software is unobtrusive
Spies usually use software because it is invisible to the untutored eye. Hardware to do virtually the same thing also can be used, placing it between the keyboard and computer. But using it is too obvious in a public place.
The software programs, however, can unobtrusively make a record of a victim's every keystroke. The keystroke loggers can then e-mail the collected information on a set schedule. It also can be downloaded. Other software programs take screen shots of places you go. These, too, send their collected information via e-mail.
Continued in the article.
Bob Jensen's threads on fraud are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm
Founded by Derek Bok (the former
president of Harvard University), the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations
was launched in 1997 with a mission "to expand understanding and accelerate
critical thinking about civil society among scholars, practitioners, policy
makers, and the general public."
The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations --- http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/hauser/
The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations is an interdisciplinary research center at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The Center aims to illuminate the vital role that the nonprofit sector and nongovernmental organizations play in aiding societies to discover and accomplish important public purposes.
The Center seeks to expand understanding and accelerate critical thinking about civil society among scholars, practitioners, policy makers and the general public, by encouraging scholarship, developing curriculum, fostering mutual learning between academics and practitioners, and shaping policies that enhance the sector and its role in society.
Bob Jensen's threads on education and public policy are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
News Articles About Gender Equity Issues --- http://www.maec.org/gender-news.php
GenderNet (Women's Studies) --- http://www.worldbank.org/gender/
Breaking and Making Tradition: Women at the University of Virginia (History, Art) --- http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/women/
Questions
Why is blame squarely on corporate accounting for a lot of the mess that we are
into now in health care insurance?
Why have derivative financial instruments become so popular in the international
world of business?
Why are derivatives possibly under-used or misused by business firms?
How does insurance differ from hedging?
Answers (Note my new videos that are linked at the bottom of this message.)
You can also read the answers below at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/000overview/mp3/133intro.htm#Arrow
I highly recommend Nina Mehta's FEN
interview with Nobel economist Kenneth Arrow --- http://fenews.com/fet_aug2003/one_on_one_interview/one_on_one_arrow.html
Arrow does not get into the FAS 133-type accountancy mess, but he does make a
good case for use of derivatives in managing risk.
Arrow's comments indicting corporate accounting for much of the health care mess comes at near the end of the interview, so be patient and read the article to the bitter end.
In his closing comment (last sentence), Arrow states: "It’s a general problem of accounting."
FEN: There’s been tremendous innovation in financial products in the last few decades and more risks are being transferred to those willing to shoulder them. What are the biggest economic risks that are not being transferred?
Arrow: It’s a surprise to me that ordinary business risks are not transferred to the extent one might have supposed, despite the existence of financial derivatives. Companies are engaged in all sorts of transactions that aren’t really hedged. A company will acquire another company, sometimes a competitor, sometimes a supplier or downstream business, and every now and then it turns out sour. Or a company will come out with new products and some will work and some won’t. There are good reasons why one can’t hedge everything—there are incentive effects and things like moral hazard and adverse selection. The result is that companies have rollercoaster rides on their earnings. The other problem is that derivatives and securities that offer methods of reducing risks are not necessarily used for that purpose. They are neutral and can be used to reduce risks, but people gamble on them.
FEN: On your last point, what about the argument that without speculators risk-transfer markets wouldn’t be large or deep enough?
Arrow: With derivatives, whether the risk-reducing aspects are predominant or the risk-enhancing aspects are predominant, they can be used for gambling. That means speculators are adding to the swings rather than reducing them. What you said is 100 percent correct: from a social point of view it’s important to have the speculators—they’re the ones who provide the liquidity that keeps the markets operating. But it doesn’t automatically follow that derivatives are risk-reducing.
FEN: Okay. So what risks should businesses or investors be able to hedge that they currently can’t?
Arrow: Consider, for example, mergers or acquisitions. These are risky from the point of view of all the stockholders involved. There’s room for risk-reducing products, not for the firms going through a merger but for stockholders. Firms should have inside information—that’s what you buy the services of a CEO for. If he can lay off the bets, you can see his incentives reduced. So you’d be a little leery of that. But stockholders in a merger should be able to acquire some kind of instrument for insurance purposes.
FEN: Would these products come from actual insurance companies or from other entities?
Arrow: I’m using the word “insurance” metaphorically. Insurance traditionally deals with a set of risks that are fairly well defined. It would have to be not a traditional insurance company. As a theorist, I’d think there’s room for third parties.
FEN: A lot of attention is now focused on the use of options in executive compensation and on how the options might influence the decisions executives make. Given your early, seminal work on moral hazard, what do you think of this issue?
Arrow: Options have a legitimate place as one part of a package. When they become dominant, lots of problems arise. If the financial structure of a company were completely transparent, it wouldn’t matter. The market would know what the situation is. But there’s a lot of judgment in financial projections and even in the actual items on the balance sheet, so a CEO has incentives to put the most favorable—from his point of view—structure forward. However, I think the incentive effects have been greatly exaggerated. Aligning the interest of an executive or CEO with the company—well, the officers have a big stake in the success of the company even if they’re paid salaries, because of their reputation. Tax-handling is a big part of why CEOs have been shifting toward options. Plus, from a company’s point of view, stock options are not regarded as costing anything—which is absurd. People buy stock on the idea that it might go up, so part of their gain is being diluted if there are more options out there. The result is that it is a potential, uncertain hit to stockholders. It changes the terms on which they’re speculating, yet it doesn’t appear as a cost to the company.
Continued in the article
And a quote from the end of the article places the blame squarely on corporate accounting for a lot of the mess that we are into now in health care insurance.
FEN: In an interview a few years back with Ellen McGrattan at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, you made the point that there’s no natural or logical relationship between employment and health insurance. Can you expand on that?
Arrow: The need for economies of scale is why many small companies don’t elect to have insurance. Something like one-sixth of the country is uninsured. We have a peculiar, hybrid system of going through an employer for coverage. It’s an easy way to reach people, but why should a wife be covered on her husband’s policy? Why should she not have her own policy? If married people are covered, why not two people living together, or a homosexual couple? The issue shouldn’t arise at all. If we take a purely individualistic point of view, each person is responsible for his or her own insurance. One extreme is universal coverage. Most of the advanced world has this. By virtue of being a citizen of the United States, you’d be covered—this is the case in Great Britain, France, Canada and elsewhere. That would separate the accident of whether you’re employed from whether you are insured.
FEN: Many people in the insurance industry say the HMO system is not working now because prices are getting out of control and that this problem needs to be addressed.
Arrow: Where should a country spend its money? We’re a rich country. Fifteen percent of GNP [gross national product] goes to healthcare, and it’s rising. But what better to spend your money on? The problem is how it’s arranged. If this were something each individual bought on his or her own, it wouldn’t be a social problem. It would be handled through the price system or through contractual arrangements with corporations.
It’s not easy to see why corporations should be troubled right now. They knew they were taking on this obligation. They could calculate actuarially what the costs would be. The costs should have already been accounted for. When you hire a worker, part of the worker’s compensation is wages, another part is health benefits, a third part is retirement benefits, and a fourth part is retirement health benefits. So the compensation wasn’t $10 per hour but $15 per hour. The money should have been set aside as part of a worker’s compensation. For various accounting reasons companies didn’t do it. They resisted the idea that retirement health benefits should be taken as an expenditure when they hired the worker. Since it didn’t appear on their balance sheets, their profits looked bigger—but fictitiously, because there were these obligations. Now there are losses. FASB was looking into this 10 or 15 years ago and had hearings on this question. It’s a general problem of accounting.
Bob Jensen's threads on derivatives
and accounting for derivative financial instruments and hedging activity can be
found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm
New video helpers on this topic will soon be available.
Some of the preliminary videos are already posted at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5341/fas133/WindowsMedia/
Updates from Syllabus News on September 19, 2003
Beijing Students Enroll in Stevens Hybrid Telecom Masters
WebCampus, the online unit of Hoboken, N.J.-based Stevens Institute of Technology, will deliver a "hybrid" master's degree to 32 graduate students enrolled in a Stevens' degree program in China. The masters in telecommunications management is being offered to Chinese students--partly online and partly in conventional classrooms--at the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), one of China's top engineering universities. The first students start classes in November. Instruction will be delivered a third online by Stevens faculty, a third by Chinese instructors in Beijing, and a third by Stevens faculty in intensive courses in China. The Stevens-BIT program, approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education and other government bodies, is the first such "hybrid" degree from a US university in China.
For more information, visit: http://www.webcampus.stevens.edu
Firm Promoting ‘Functional Verification” to Higher Ed
Verisity Ltd., a developer of “ verification process automation solutions,” said 22 schools around the world joined its University Program, which promotes “functional verification” of engineering designs and new standards for an electronic verification language. The company’s university members are using its tools to introduce functional verification to their undergraduate students and for projects ranging from e-based tool research, verifying complex designs, and tool and methodology instruction. Functional verification tools automate the process of identifying flaws in electronic designs, enabling technology developers to reduce their overall development costs and increase productivity and time-to-market.
For more information, visit: http://www.verisity.com/programs/university/index.html
Receive Your Undergraduate or Graduate
Diploma in Days Rather Than Years
September 22, 2003 message from Sheri Shipley [ynvbgay0l@excite.com]
Improve your income and your life, with increasing your earning power from a diploma within days from a prestigious non-accredited university based on life experience.
Bob Jensen's threads on diploma mill frauds are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#DiplomaMill
I vote no on
credit for "life experience"!
From Syllabus News on September 26, 2003
Online Service Launched for Crediting Professional Experience
A training services firm has launched an online method for preparing business professionals to take and pass College Level Examination Program (CLEP) method for assessing academic credit for students wishing to "place out" of college courses. The InstantCert Academy said the service could potentially lower the requirements and costs for working people seeking advanced degrees and certifications. The service is being offered on a monthly subscription basis for $19.95. One caveat is that not all universities accept CLEP results as a measure for their own credit equivalents.
For more information visit: http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=2921
InstantCert Academy specializes in helping adults from all walks of life achieve college-level proficiency. With our help, hundreds of students have saved time and money through course waivers, slashed tuition, and early employment.
Bob Jensen's threads on distance training and education alternatives are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm
Parents 'oblivious' to children's surfing," BBC News, September 16, 2003 --- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3114114.stm
Do you know what your kids do online? A lack of knowledge about the internet means too many parents in the UK have no clue what their children are doing online.
Historic Tale Construction Kit --- http://www.adgame-wonderland.de/type/bayeux.php
You can create your own stories with the Historic Tale Construction Kit complete with pictures. It's like writing your own Prince Valiant.
The Historic Tale Construction Kit is based on Tapestry Bayeu, a masterpiece of the Middle Ages. It is a narration about the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D.
Interactively create your own city.
City Creator --- http://www.citycreator.com/
James Dickey in The Atlantic (Poetry and Other Literature, Including Audio Readings) --- http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/poetry/dickey/jdindex.htm
Forwarded by Mathis, Donald Mathis on September 19, 2003
The Australian 19 September 2003
Wine-drinking women 'more fertile' From correspondents in Copenhagen
Women who drink moderate quantities of wine become pregnant more easily than their teetotal or beer-supping sisters, a Danish medical review reported.
According to Dagens Medecin a study of 30,000 women showed that those who chose a glass of wine over beer or spirits were most likely to conceive. The least likely to become pregnant were those who drank no alcohol at all.
The research was carried out by a team headed by Mette Juhl of the state serology institute, Statens Serum Institut. They could not explain the reasons for their findings.
"We know that wine-drinkers eat more healthily and are of a higher social status than beer drinkers. But ability to become pregnant does not vary according to social class," Juhl commented.
"So we cannot rule out the possibility that wine contains substances that are beneficial for fertility."
South African Government Online --- http://www.gov.za/
September 25, 2003 message from editor jda [editor.jda@gmx.de]
Dear Professor Bob Jensen,
The Journal of Deivatives Accounting (JDA) is preparing to publish its first issue and I would be grateful if you could post the following announcement on your web site.
Regards
Mamouda
Dear Colleagues,
There is a new addition to accounting research Journals. The Journal of Derivatives Accounting (JDA) is an international quarterly publication which provides authoritative accounting and finance literature on issues of financial innovations such as derivatives and their implications to accounting, finance, tax, standards setting, and corporate practices. This refereed journal disseminates research results and serves as a means of communication among academics, standard setters, practitioners, and market participants.
The first and special issue of the JDA, to appear in the Winter of 2003, will be dedicated to:
"Stock Options: Developments in Share-Based Compensation (Accounting, Standards, Tax and Corporate Practice)"
This special issue will consider papers dealing with:
* Analysis of applicable national and international accounting standards * Convergence between IASB and FASB * Accounting treatment (Expensing) * Valuation * Corporate and market practice * Design of stock options * Analysis of the structure of stock options contracts * Executives pay incentives and performance * Taxation * Management and Corporate Governance
For more details on how to submit your work to the journal, please visit http://www.worldscinet.com/jda.html
Sincerely,
The Editorial Board Journal of Derivatives Accounting (JDA)
September 25, 2003 reply from Bob Jensen
Hello Mamouda,
I put the link on a number of documents, the most important ones being the following:
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/000overview/mp3/133intro.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/speakers/133glosf.htm
You might note that I am developing some video tutorials on accounting for derivative financial instruments and hedging activity under FAS 133 and IAS 39 standards --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5341/fas133/WindowsMedia/
COBRA Insurance Link --- http://www.cobrainsurance.com/
What is COBRA?
Congress passed the landmark Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) health benefit provisions in 1986. The law amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Internal Revenue Code and the Public Health Service Act to provide continuation of group health coverage that otherwise would be terminated.
COBRA contains provisions giving certain former employees, retirees, spouses and dependent children the right to temporary continuation of health coverage at group rates. This coverage, however, is only available in specific instances. Group health coverage for COBRA participants is usually more expensive than health coverage for active employees, since usually the employer formerly paid a part of the premium. It is ordinarily less expensive, though, than individual health coverage.
The law generally covers group health plans maintained by employers with 20 or more employees in the prior year. It applies to plans in the private sector and those sponsored by state and local governments.{2} The law does not, however, apply to plans sponsored by the Federal government and certain church- related organizations.
Group health plans sponsored by private sector employers generally are welfare benefit plans governed by ERISA and subject to its requirements for reporting and disclosure, fiduciary standards and enforcement. ERISA neither establishes minimum standards or benefit eligibility for welfare plans nor mandates the type or level of benefits offered to plan participants. It does, though, require that these plans have rules outlining how workers become entitled to benefits.
Under COBRA, a group health plan ordinarily is defined as a plan that provides medical benefits for the employer's own employees and their dependents through insurance or otherwise (such as a trust, health maintenance organization, self-funded pay-as-you-go basis, reimbursement or combination of these). Medical benefits provided under the terms of the plan and available to COBRA beneficiaries may include:
- Inpatient and outpatient hospital care
- Physician care
- Surgery and other major medical benefits
- Prescription drugs
- Any other medical benefits, such as dental and vision care
You can read the following at http://www.shiip.state.ia.us/FactSheet12.html
Age 65 or Older, and You or Your Spouse Works
- If the employer has 20 or more employees, you and your spouse must be allowed to continue any health insurance coverage you had before age 65.
- The employer health plan will be the first payer on claims.
- You or your spouse should enroll in Medicare Part A when eligible. It is free for most people and provides benefits in addition to an employer plan.
- Enrolling in Medicare Part B isn't necessary until you or your spouse quits working or drops out of the employer health plan. At that time you won't have to pay a higher premium, even though you are past age 65. You will also have the right to a Medicare supplement open enrollment at that point.
- If you or your spouse is enrolled in Medicare before retiring, employer group health coverage can be continued under the COBRA law. Medicare will pay first when you are retired even if you continue under COBRA. You will continue to pay the full premium for the employer plan, and it will supplement your Medicare. It is necessary to enroll in Medicare Part B when you retire, or you may pay a higher premium later.
- If you do not have a retirement health plan when you quit working, consider the need for a Medicare supplement policy. You will be eligible for a six-month open enrollment period that starts on the date your Medicare Part B coverage starts. During open enrollment you can buy any Medicare supplement a company sells in Iowa.
Age 65, Retired and No Working Spouse
- Medicare is your primary insurance regardless of any other health insurance you have. You should enroll in Medicare Part A and Part B. If you don't enroll at this time, you may pay a higher premium later.
- Call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 to enroll in Medicare.
- If you have retirement health insurance, it will pay after Medicare. If you need a Medicare supplement policy, you will have a six-month open enrollment period beginning on the date your Medicare Part B coverage starts.
Issues for a spouse
- Does the employer continue coverage for a spouse when an employee retires?
- Does the coverage continue when the spouse is eligible for Medicare?
- Does the spouse's coverage continue if the retired employee becomes eligible for Medicare or dies?
- Do any other limits apply to health insurance coverage for the spouse?
My colleague Billy Burke (Business Law) provided the following very helpful link --- http://biz.findlaw.com/employment_employee/newcontent/workingwoman/wmnchp4_g.html
