Last time I posted a topic about whether the United States would adopt the international accounting standards (IFRS) since there have been numerous problems surrounding these issues. Just this week, the US SEC has approved for public comments its proposed "roadmap" for conversion to IFRS for public companies in the US. The proposal says US public companies begin reporting IFRS in 2014 (still six years from now), with full conversion to occur by 2016!
Last weekend, my friends and I went on a 2-day road trip from Sydney to the Snowy Mountain Range! The idea of this adventure began three days before I was suppose to fly back to my home city of Perth after spending 3 weeks in Sydney.
The result of the June 2008 CFA level 1 exams were out last night! Congratulations to all who passed especially to my good friends Roderick and Michael! Well Done! Now it's my turn to wait for my level 3 exam result in three weeks time!
Imagine paying $500 billion for your dinner bill or spending $10 trillion for your grocery shopping. Well, it sounds impossible but it's real and it's happening in the hyperinflation-ravaged African country - Zimbabwe! The country has a record breaking 2.2 million percent of inflation where all prices of goods double or triple every other day! The country's central bank has been printing money of high denomination notes to cope with the skyrocketing prices and higher demand for money! Recently, the central bank just issued a $100 billion note.
The ongoing failure of the US Subprime Lending market is threatening the US and the global economy as a whole to collapse. Subprime lending generally involves extending loans to borrowers with poor credit history at a higher interest rate than the market rate. The increases in the interest rates increased the default rates of the subprime loans causing subprime lenders to file bankruptcy. The securitisation of subprime loans into marketable securities such as mortgage backed securities (MBS) has magnified the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis to the investors of MBS's not only in the US but also in the whole world market triggering recession of the world economy.
Last week I went to Melbourne for a 3-day business trip. I consider myself lucky as the day after I flew, Qantas Engineers had a strike causing massive delays of all Qantas flights and stranding thousands of passengers all around Australia. I will be flying again next week to Sydney and there's a rumour that another strike will strike again. Fingers crossed that this won't happen as I don't want to be delayed and also there are a lot of people travelling to Sydney for the World Youth Day who will be affected.