Commercial Lending Review articles from March 2005

Commercial Lending Review archives from March 2005

New tabular disclosures of commercial commitments.(off-balance-sheet financing and financial disclosure limitations)
March 1, 2005... When estimating the amounts and timing of future cash flows, analysts often think about financial and operating leverage in terms of fixed and variable costs. A new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulation requiring new disclosures...

CFO resignation and earnings management.(Chief Financial Officer)
March 1, 2005... Earnings management occurs when managers use judgment in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports to either mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performance of the company or to influence...

Best practices for protecting corporate electronic banking customers.
March 1, 2005... Imagine for just a moment that you are a cyber-criminal preying on the users of online banking systems. Rather than stealing the identities and accounts of individual consumers, wouldn't it make sense to go after some corporate giants' big bank...

Check 21: opportunities to strengthen banking relationships.
March 1, 2005... Check 21 legislation has set in motion a fundamental restructuring of the check collection process, which will have a profound impact on banks' operations and infrastructure. By mandating that a substitute check (printout of the images of both...

Factors determining commercial banks' allowance for loan losses.
March 1, 2005... Loans represent a major portion (about 60 percent) of most commercial banks total assets. (1) Loan losses, which can drain a bank's reserve and ultimately consume its equity capital, have been the dominant cause of most bank failures, such as...

Best practices for appraisal review.(Risk Management)
March 1, 2005... Appraisal review: Just the thought of it confuses people. Just when we think we understand the goals and requirements, we find out from our regulators that there is a new wrinkle we had not heard of or thought of before. But although...

In cash management, banks and companies concentrate on key relationships.(Cash Management)
March 1, 2005... In cash management today, relationships rule. U.S. companies are lauding the improved service provided by their important cash management banks, and they are rewarding these key providers of service and advice by concentrating more business in...

FASB proposes interpretation on Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations.(Accounting)(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
March 1, 2005... The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently issued an exposure draft of a proposed FASB Interpretation (FIN) entitled Accounting for Conditional Asset Retirement Obligations, an interpretation of FASB Statement No. 143. The...

Fooled by randomness?
March 1, 2005... Pity the lot of the corporate credit analyst in a bank. He or she is asked to look at historical cost financial statements and reach a judgment as to whether the borrower will have both the means and the willingness to use a loan wisely and...