One of the key issues of the year is a simple one. Across Europe all listed companies will have to carry out their financial reporting under the rules promulgated by the International Accounting Standards Board by the year 2005. This means that 2004, given that comparative figures will have to...

The author analyses the recent history of financial reporting and shows that its complexities are inevitable. He sets out the basis for a fair value model stemming from a conceptual framework and argues that if financial reporting rules are to be correctly drawn from such a framework the...

The authors look at the way in which Enron used hedging techniques before the corporate collapse of the organization triggered a crisis of confidence in US business practices and standards. They provide an analysis of how the system was structured and show how the transactions worked before...

The growth in popularity of hedge funds has led UK regulators to put forward ways of protecting investors. Here the authors, from a noted law firm in the City of London, set out the ways in which hedge funds can be set up and how they work. They then examine the prospects for regulation and...

UK companies face an increasingly aggressive regulatory environment. A recent study by the LSE shows that UK directors are ill‐equipped to deal with increasing regulatory risk. While they are aware of these growing risks, almost a third of boards do not know about the activities in their...

Research carried out by KPMG shows that a growing number of asset managers are seeking out high standards of governance as the criteria for their risk‐management assessment of a company as a possible investment. The author provides an overview of the research findings and a guide to how to...

The author, one of the founders of the UK Asset and Liability Management Association ten years ago, looks back at developments since. He looks at how the embryo skills of asset and liability management used to be used and at the threats, like the international accounting standard dealing with...

The author looks back over ten years of the UK asset and liability management profession and compares the US and UK banking industries. He suggests that the value of ALM techniques is still undervalued and left to specialists rather than being embraced by the banking business.

The author suggests that methods for rating investment risk are flawed. He suggests a risk analysis, management and projects (RAMP) approach. Number‐crunching will produce better results than listening to analysts.