Chisoxfn

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 04:49 PM) Then how are they judging if the asset valuations are accurate? To determine whether an asset value is correct, it depends on a whole slew of things and has to do with the valuation rules regarding investments (again part of FASB 157 and 117). It depends heavily on the type of security. If it is a publicly traded stock, easy, it is the ticker. If it is an equity fund that isn't readily traded, you typically get audited financial statements and utilize those to help determine the value of your investment (3 month lag is acceptable so if I was a company I'd most likely be utilizing the 9/30 interim statements as my mark to market for my 12/31/09 financial's; However a company needs to have a written policy if they are following that). Depending on the degree of difficulty you might need to go to an independent pricing service who will appriase the security and give you a rough estimate as to the value of the stock and than the company will document why they took the price they did (and we the auditors would than review it). If it is something where the intent to hold it is long-term, than it is a little different as you'd do a recover-ability test looking more at the future cash flow's, etc, but other triggers might force you to ignore the future cash flows and still write down to present value based upon various analysis). None of the above things I say have anything to do with SOX. Sure, under SOX, the company needs to document the controls they have in place to ensure that all of there securities are appropriately valued, but they only have to do that because guidance exists (and existed well prior to SOX) that you need to mark to market. Mark-to-market changed a bit in 2006 (mainly relating to the support needed and how to value investments without a readily determinable fair value) as did the disclosure requirements, but it also existed well before SOX was ever out there.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 04:44 PM) mark to market is the standard by which those controls are judged. No it is not. I know mark-to-market accounting like the back of my hand and there is zero correlation between mark-to-market accounting and SOX. Do you need controls to ensure you perform mark-to-market accounting on your investments, definitely. But you also need controls to ensure you safeguard your cash and a bagillion other things associated with revenue cycles, payroll cycles, etc. SOX did not create new accounting guidance (ie, how you account for something). SOX looked at things from the operational perspective to ensure controls were in place to prevent fraud, follow GAAP, and basically prevent significant mistatements. A Change to mark-to-market accounting solely has to do with an adjustment to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). As I mentioned, FASB 157 was the latest and greatest on mark to market accounting and SOX had zero impact on why FASB 157 came out. 157 came out because we were at a time where numerous companies were invested in securities, derivatives, mortgage loans which were under value and had very difficult to determine market values. Therefor we needed to find better ways to disclose and account for these investments and 157 did that. The 157 disclosure in the 10K's (Annual Financials) are now very massive and the reason is to make the investments very transparent. I was on calls for hours and hours at a time while we were speculating on what the "White papers" were going to say regarding 157 because I tested and audited investment's for a few years. Our financials of the company we audited literally changed 30 times because the disclosure requirements kept getting adjusted before everything was finally finalized.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 02:40 PM) It sure sounds like they're talking about some sort of newly negative statements about him coming from somewhere within the org. They have made adjustments to shorten his swing. Basically put, he's spending the year in the minors working on a decent overhaul to his swing so that he'll be able to succeed at the major league level (if he can make the adjustments). We shall see.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 12:48 PM) Did you get my donation in the mail? I don't want a pat on the back, just to make sure Uncle Sam's mail department didn't steal the loot. Got it in the mail last night. Thanks Greg

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 11:49 AM) Oh I know. I've been an Internal Auditor since 2001. What company you work for again? I've just moved into internal audit from external? Did you work in public prior to going into IA?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 11:38 AM) QFT The key things that came out of SOX: 1. SOX 404 - Companies had to attest to there control environment (read up on COSO to learn more about the Control Environment) and the auditors than evaluated the controls as well and issued an opinion on the controls (much like we issue an opinion on the financial statements). 2. Public Accounting Oversight Committee - The audit firms actually got audited by a public department (in the past they were peer reviewed). Those public findings are documented and failures can become public knowledge (thus impacting our business). 3. Management had additional responsibility and the answer "We didn't know about it" wasn't good enough.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 11:37 AM) Mark to market comes about because of SOX. Companies have to report asset valuations accurately in real time. Sox had nothing to do with mark to market. Mark to Market Accounting began in 1993 with FAS 115 (well before Sox). It was than superseded by FAS 157 which came out in 2006 (4 years after Sox). FAS 157 came out due to the situation's associated with the beginning of the Mortgage/Real Estate crisis, not Sox. FAS 157's big impact was associated with the disclosures and types of analysis that needed to be performed on those hard to "value" securities which don't have readily determined market values. I'm really really familiar with FAS 157 because I was in charge of auditing the entire mortgage loan portfolio with a company which had 111B in total assets, 4B of which were mortgage loans.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 11:04 AM) It is all related. Because of SOX when a bank makes a loan, they have to always have the value of their loan reported on their books. If they are giving out loans below market value, they have to report them as losses, which is counted as a negative against their capital requirements with the FDIC. The subsidy is the payment from the government to make up the difference so that the banks can stay in business while making these sorts of loans. The federal government isn't subject to SOX, so it doesn't matter what the loan's actual worth is. They don't need the subsidy in other words. Hey Mike What you are referring to above has no relevance to SOX. Sox was purely something created to ensure companies evaluated there controls and ultimately appropriately had the necessary controls in place to prevent from Fraud. IT also added a lot of responsibility to upper management to sign off and basically was set-up as a giant CYA for things like Enron. I'm a little confused as to what accounting guidance you are referring to Mike, but my assumption is you are thinking about the mark-to-market?

Tim Floyd rejoins the college ranks. I'd have hired him in a heartbeat.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 06:07 PM) 18 perfectos, and 4 20-K games. I go with Wood's though. I would rather throw a perfect game vs. striking out 20, but if we are comparing Buehrle's perfect game to Woods, I go with Woods. Wood only allowed 2 baserunners, and did not allow a run. Both resulted in a win. Buehrle allowed 2 less baserunners, but Wood struck out what, 12 more batters? And had there been even decent defense at 3B, Wood's 20K game would have also been a no-hitter. I have to go with Wood, such a dominant performance.

QUOTE (SHIPPS @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 08:45 AM) Yeah, SHE works fast on finding a place and getting it set up. LOL. I did nothing. I think she is putting in the proposal to the Palms today. We are gonna book it for 40 to 50 people(small). You are on the list brother along with Jeanette. BTW I still havent got your invitation to your wedding I have been looking for it since you said you were sending them out. Some went in the mail today, another set tomorrow, and than the final set on Thursday so they haven't gone out. They'll be over shortly Miami should be fun!!! Never been.

QUOTE (SHIPPS @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 06:53 AM) Real nice ass munches. lol The date is set to Oct 9th and it looks like it will be at The Palms in Miami on the beach. Pretty sweet. Damn, you all work fast on finding the place. Miami should be fun. How many peeps coming? You guys already book the venue?

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 03:30 PM) My jaw just dropped when I saw a picture of Trayce Thompson. I would have bet my house that this kid was black. I had to google him just incase you got his picture wrong. Wow. He is half African American and have caucasian. He is the son of Mychael Thompson, who was a former #1 overall draft pick in the NBA who played for the Blazers and Lakers.

CSF is super talented. They are young but have plenty of returning youngsters. They flat out just aren't playing right. As hawk would say, they are playing tight.

I was at yesterdays game and Teahen looked real good. Made a nice play at 3rd and was pasting the ball to all fields.

Fullerton won 2 of 3 and is now 12-11 on the season. ugggh, I hope they got rolling.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 28, 2010 -> 12:29 PM) He was at ND for 11 years I believe. He'll recruit a lot better than Lickliter if not for the only reason he likes to coach a brand of basketball that is actually fun to play. I'm very excited. He's the only coach ever to take 3 separate schools from single bid conferences to the tournament. With Carver Hawkeye Arena getting a $50 million renovation, it won't be long before Iowa becomes relevant in basketball again. Add in our new practice facility and I think Iowa is headed back in the right direction. The cupboard also doesn't appear to be as bare as it sounds as if Iowa will hold all of its current recruits and keep some of there guys who were very unhappy with Lick. Lick really really pissed off a lot of players at Iowa. I'm pretty excited to see what happens. I think Fran is a good coach and we'll just have to see how he can recruit. He also seems to be a family guy and I think he's going to be able to represent the Iowa fan base well.

I got mine out, was in mild pain the 1st day and little pain going forward. Was eating chips by day 4 or so. Normal foods by day 2. Only part that sucks is the period where you need to clean the holes with fluids to prevent infection (cause food gets stuck in them). That and spitting out blood and not being able to actually brush for 2-3 days. They give u this stuff to swish and spit.

Congrats Sir Shipps!!!

I heard them talking about it on the radio a couple days ago. I thought it was Gottlieb talking about it with someone else while talking about the Oregon job and why it is considered a premium job.

QUOTE (Felix @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 03:10 PM) My point isn't that Minnesota is a prestigious program. My point is that I seriously doubt Tubby would leave a program that he just rebuilt for another rebuilding process at this stage of his career. You can disagree with that all you want, but I don't think there's much of a doubt that Oregon would be a rebuilding project right now, which Tubby doesn't sound interested in tackling. EDIT: There's also a lot of talk that Tubby is holding off on fully committing to the Gophers until he gets a new practice facility for the team, which wouldn't surprise me either. It's supposedly something that's been promised to him and he could be using the other "offers" as leverage to get it done. But Minnesota is still in a rebuilding mode. It isn't like Minnesota is a national title contender right now. They only got into the tourney this year because they got hot at the right time. Otherwise they'd have been NIT bound. Sure he's recruited well by Minny standards but lets not think for one minute that Minnesota is a fully built title contender or anything even close to that. Oregon isn't either and maybe it would be a step back but the question is, would one step back allow him to take 2 steps forward more quickly. And I don't even think Oregon is a big step back from Minny. Oregon has been more relevant than Minny in basketball this decade anyway and they have superior facilities and more money to draw (plus a big time football program as well). I just don't see Minny being as good as you are saying they are in comparison to Oregon. You are really underselling Oregon.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 02:27 PM) Actually I believe 1 and 2 are Texas and OSU depending on the year. They constantly battle for the top spot. OSU comes in at around 118 million annually. Oregon has ridiculous donor money though that I believe still puts them overall at #1.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 02:18 PM) Why is Oregon a crappier program than Minny BTW? Whens the last time the Gophers won a conference title? Looks like 1982. The Ducks won in 2002 and won the conf tourney in 03 and 07. Oregon has made the NCAA tourney 5 times in this decade, while Minny has only done it 3 times. In those appearances, Oregon made the elite 8 in 02 and 07, Minny last did that in 1990. I understand alot of the success of the Gophers has been washed away due to scandals in the 90's but I still dont understand why you call Oregon a crappy program when they've been more successful than Minnesota has been of late. Auburn does suck though. Oregon also has the richest athletic department thanks to the large Nike donations. Afterall, they stole my baseball coach.

QUOTE (Felix @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 02:06 PM) Given the stage of his career he's in, I don't think that really matters. Why would he leave a program that he just rebuilt for another rebuilding process? It doesn't make sense, especially since he's happy in Minnesota. Oregon can put together premium facilities, etc, to the point he may feel like he could turn them into a national title contender. I don't know if he feels like he can do that in Minny. Again, just potential reasons. I have no idea what he is going to do and I tend to put Iowa and Minnesota in a similar position as job landscape goes. You guys got one hell of a coach and for the big ten's sake hopefully you keep him! Sounds like Iowa is making a big push at Wichita State's coach, but who knows how true that is. They also have interviewed UTEP's coach Tony Barbee.

QUOTE (Felix @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 12:30 PM) I certainly wouldn't rule that out, if only because GT is a fairly solid program with a lot of good talent. That being said, all the discussion of him leaving for a crappy program (Oregon or Auburn) is hilarious and has no validity. Oregon has $$$