Bank Accounting & Finance articles from February 2006

Bank Accounting & Finance archives from February 2006

The audit committee as sleuth: conducting an internal investigation: the audit committee often takes the lead in commissioning, overseeing and taking action based upon the results of an independent investigation.
February 1, 2006... In the post-Sarbanes-Oxley world, where corporate criminal and regulatory investigations have become much more common, audit committees are increasingly presented with issues that require them to consider whether they should commence an...

Core deposit-gathering models: what works best? Traditional reviews of core deposit gathering--focusing costs and fees--are too narrow.
February 1, 2006... Alternative approaches to core deposit gathering create deposit bases with very different contributions to profitability and value. The highest-performing core deposit gathering model combines all dimensions of the funding attracted--growth,...

Financial management software in retail banking: applications and users are evolving: specialized financial applications are moving into more diverse and dispersed areas in the bank.
February 1, 2006... Managing a retail bank successfully is no small feat. While banking is at its core a business based on the performance of people, it is also a business solidly rooted in the efficient exchange and manipulation of data and information (market,...

Cyberthreats facing the banking industry: a review of the current risks and countermeasures.
February 1, 2006... With the advent of computers, and especially with the advent of the Internet, businesses are subject to threats of malicious activities and cybercrimes. Cybercriminals use computers and technology to carry out the destructive activities that...

Multifactor authentication: a blow to identity theft? New guidance from the FFIEC addresses authentication for online banking.(Regulatory Outlook)(Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council)
February 1, 2006... Identity theft, (defined by the Federal Trade Commission as a "fraud committed or attempted using the identifying information of another person without authority") is a significant concern in the United States. A March 2005 ABC News/Washington...

Fair-value option to account for financial asset-servicing rights: constituents have comments on the latest draft of the FASB proposal.(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
February 1, 2006... At its meeting on the accounting for mortgage-servicing rights on March 31, 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) decided to investigate the feasibility to permit, but not to require, financial-servicing companies to account for...

New international standard for disclosures of financial instruments: minimum disclosures about credit risk, liquidity risk and market risk are specified.(International Standards)
February 1, 2006... On August 18, 2005, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued International Financial Reporting Standard 7, Financial Instruments: Disclosures (IFRS-7), and a complementary Amendment to International Accounting Standard 1,...

Derivatives arrive at community banks: the derivatives revolution is now making its way into community financial institutions.(Community Bank A/L Management)
February 1, 2006... Derivatives, at once useful and scary, have arrived at community financial institutions in a number of novel ways. These markets, in their modern form, are products of the financial revolution that began probably in the 1970s with the Black...