http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance.aspxenhttp://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/10012.aspxFri, 13 Nov 2009 19:40:05 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:10012summerbanksWith the lower interest rate, Toyota is hoping to lure buyers into their showroom to buy cars even though financial and economical predictions continue to show a decrease in new car sales. Consumers can use a car finance calculator to calculate monthly payments before buying. Who is Toyota to the United States? Toyota is a large Japanese automa...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/reviews/11308.aspxThu, 22 Oct 2009 12:48:48 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:11308LWatrousLooking for a way to balance your budget without having to pay to keep track of it? Looking for a way to track your spending and save money for free? Read this review of Mint.com and see what you think. What is it? Mint.com is a website offering free money management by linking all of you accounts together and analyzing your spending an...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/51399.aspxFri, 02 Oct 2009 03:54:11 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:51399MegCStarting with fiscal years ending after November 2007, the SEC stopped requiring a reconcilation to US GAAP income for companies reporting using IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards)., Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Reconciling Company Earnings Companies reporting using accounting standards other than US GAAP (United ...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/51101.aspxWed, 30 Sep 2009 18:32:06 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:51101MegCPension accounting is a difficult concept for students and investors to grasp. What adds to the complexity is the fact that many foreign companies with US operations report using IFRS. A pension expense or liability under IFRS could be more or less than if the company reported under US GAAP. Overview of Pension Expense Accounting Pension accounting...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/50620.aspxTue, 29 Sep 2009 02:05:19 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:50620MegCIFRS, or International Financial Reporting Standards have received a lot of hype over the past few years. It is important that accountants, finance professionals, and investors all need to understand and learn the IFRS method, as its implementation has serious ramifications for financial reporting. SEC Moving to International Standards IFRS, or Int...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/21687.aspxMon, 28 Sep 2009 20:49:41 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:21687BabesQuicken is popular personal financial management software from Intuit&#59; QuickBooks is a financial software solution from the same organization aimed at small businesses. As long as the versions of both are compatible with each other, converting data from Quicken to QuickBooks is a breeze. Compatibility Between Quicken and QuickBooks Quicken ( ht...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/15544.aspxMon, 28 Sep 2009 20:18:38 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:15544johngAs accounting and finance are indelibly linked, one view of a corporation considers the firm to be a set of financial records which provide a snapshot of corporate health. However, financial records are largely historic, not forward thinking. The Basics of the Accounting Model As a subset of the Investment-Vehicle Model, the Accounting Model revolv...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/9947.aspxTue, 22 Sep 2009 14:59:04 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:9947summerbanksBack in the 1980s, department stores were buying other department stores chains like there was no tomorrow. Many of these merged businesses eventually failed and dissolved into nothing. Today, banks are following suit. Will they fail as well? Back in the Day - Before Department Store Banking Remember back in the 1980’s when department stores we...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19318.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:16:13 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19318johngAn investor’s valuation of firm must go beyond book values of assets and liabilities. The market values give a much better estimate of stockholder equity. The historical information found on a corporation’s financial statements represents only the company’s financial position at some time in the past. No matter how strict accounting practices...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19317.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:15:49 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19317johngBook values and market values of liabilities can differ when a company is experiencing financial distress. Investors must be able to properly value liabilities under this condition. Financial statements are historical records of a company’s position at some point in the past. By the time financial statements are made public, changes in various econ...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19314.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:15:21 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19314johngJust like assets, the book value of a liability can differ from its market value. Usually this discrepancy is smaller and less important. Since financial statements are historical records, they represent what a company was at a point in the past. However, the value of a company’s assets and liabilities are constantly changing in reaction to market ...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19313.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:14:51 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19313johngThe values of intangible assets can be much more variable than tangible assets. This variability increases the likelihood of a discrepancy between book and market values. Financial statements are historical documents that show what a company was worth at one point in time. Because of standard accounting practices, an asset must be recorded at the v...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19312.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:12:55 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19312johngLiquidity affects the discrepancy between the book and market value of an asset. Lower liquidity means lower value. Financial statements provide snapshot summaries of a company’s financial position. This snapshot is always from a historical perspective because even by the time the statements are published, market conditions and other factors have c...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19310.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:12:18 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19310johngInflation can have a large impact on the discrepancy between an asset’s book and market value. Inflation is another lesson in the time value of money. Calculating Inflation Financial statements provided by a company are nothing more than historical documents that indicate the financial position of the company at some time in the past. Fast-ch...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19309.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:10:36 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19309johngOne of the reasons there is a discrepancy between the market and book value of an asset is the time since its acquisition. Wise investors can spot and value this difference well. Financial statements are historical documents that show what a company looked like at one point in time in the past. The problem with this historical perspective is that m...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19034.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:10:02 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19034johngWhen one person acts in the interests of another, the possibility of a moral hazard results in expenditures to avoid a negative outcome for the principal. Agents acting in the interests of a principal present the danger of a moral hazard when agents can behave unobserved in their own self-interest. The separation of ownership and control in the mod...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19033.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:09:33 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19033johngConflict in principal-agent relationships, called an agency problem, results in monitoring by principals to protect their financial interests. Principal-Agent Relationships occur whenever one person acts in the interests of another. Complex modern corporations have so many stakeholders that there are many simultaneous principal-agent pairings makin...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19031.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:09:04 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19031johngWhenever one person acts in the interests of another, there are bound to be conflicts between the agent acting on behalf of the principal and working in his/her own self-interest. Principal-Agent Relationships exist whenever one person or party works in the interests of another party. Some of these relationships arise through obligatory contrac...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/19030.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:08:21 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:19030johngPrincipal-Agent relationships occur in many forms in business. Understanding these relationships is crucial for investors. As discussed in another article, the modern corporation can be conceptualized in a variety of ways . The set-of-contracts view illustrates that relationships between and among multiple stakeholders is complicated and provides m...http://www.brighthub.com/office/finance/articles/18893.aspxMon, 21 Sep 2009 19:07:45 GMTb133e95a-c263-4882-8f2a-b24547eff78e:18893johngInvestors are constantly evaluating the value of owning stock in companies. Three common ratios often help investors make decisions about market values. Investors are constantly concerned with the market value of a share of stock. Perceptions that a stock is rising prompts the purchase of stock while perceptions of a fall in price prompts selling. ...