Search results for ""Author Dimitris N. Chorafas""

Wealth Management has two themes: Private Banking and investment decisions regarding Structural Financial Products. Dr. Dimitris Chorafas examines in a rigorous way whether structured financial products are advisable investments for retail and institutional investors and, if yes, which risks they entail. As our society becomes increasingly affluent, and state-supported pension schemes find it difficult to survive, a growing number of high net-worth individuals, and families, have become retail investors – looking for ways and means to optimize wealth management, and Private Banking deals with these sorts of clients. Private banking also deals with clients that are institutional investors, such as pension funds, mutual funds, and insurance companies, as well as not-for-profits, foundations and companies explicitly set up for wealth management. Both institutional and retail investors are being offered by the banks they work with structured products. Typically, these are securities that provide them with a redemption amount, with may be either with full or partial capital protection, and some type of return. The book examines structured financial products, their polyvalent nature, and the results which could be expected from them. Return on structural instruments, which are essentially derivatives, is paid in function of a specific investment strategy on selected underlying asset(s). This essentially means on the performance of the underlyings, obtained by asset managers, which may be banks or hedge funds, through purchase or sale of embedded options. But there are risks. Both risk and return from structured products are related to three main issues: the volatility of future value of an underlying, the uncertainty of future events, and the exposure of the product. Every type of investment is subject to market forces, and the more leveraged a portfolio is, the greater will probably be both the assumed risk and the expected reward. The fact that structured financial products appeal, or at least are being marketed, to both retail investors and institutional investors makes the dual approach deliberately chosen in this book most advisable. This book addresses all these issues in a practical manner with numerous case studies and real-world examples drawn from the author’s intensive research.

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Information technology auditing and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance have several overlapping characteristics. They both require ethical accounting practices, focused auditing activities, a functioning system of internal control, and a close watch by the board’s audit committee and CEO. Written as a contribution to the accounting and auditing professions as well as to IT practitioners, IT Auditing and Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance: Key Strategies for Business Improvement links these two key business strategies and explains how to perform IT auditing in a comprehensive and strategic manner.Based on 46 years of experience as a consultant to the boards of major corporations in manufacturing and banking, the author addresses objectives, practices, and business opportunities expected from auditing information systems. Topics discussed include the concept of internal control, auditing functions, internal and external auditors, and the responsibilities of the board of directors. The book uses several case studies to illustrate and clarify the material. Its chapters analyze the underlying reasons for failures in IT projects and how they can be avoided, examine critical technical questions concerning information technology, discuss problems related to system reliability and response time, and explore issues of compliance.The book concludes by presenting readers with a "what if" scenario. If Sarbannes-Oxley legislation had passed the U.S. Congress in the late 1990s or even 2000, how might this have influenced the financial statements of Enron and Worldcom? We can never truly know the answer, but if companies make use of the procedures in this book, debacles such as these – and those which led to the 2007-2008 credit and banking crisis – will remain a distant memory.

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A guide to how the financial world got risk so badly wrong - and how it might avoid doing so again. It helps to manage risk through the correct pricing of exposure embedded in financial products.

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In order to achieve long-term profitability and assure survival for their companies, managers must be informed, imaginative, and capable of adapting to shifting circumstances. Practical decisions rather than theories hold the upper ground. Business, Marketing, and Management Principles for IT and Engineering supplies the understanding required to effectively manage an organization in an increasingly competitive global market. Using case studies, the book illustrates the principles, policies, and management practices used by some of the most successful companies around the world. The real-world case studies supply valuable insight into the range of issues that confront decision makers in business. By explaining how to develop effective strategies and business plans, the text supplies both the concepts and the tools to stay on track with those plans. It also: Explains how to evaluate the pros and cons of your organizational policies and how to effect policies for maximum synergy Covers product development, sales, marketing, pricing, and financial analysis Illustrates the right and wrong ways to implement the principles discussed, with case studies of hi-tech companies such as Apple, Google, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Toyota, ITT, and Bloomberg Dimitris N. Chorafas provides valuable insight garnered over half a century of advising financial institutions and multinational industrial corporations. Dr. Chorafas explains how to develop competitive products and use pricing strategies to achieve an edge over your competition. He also includes case studies that examine the price wars in the computer industry. This book supplies a realistic look into the positive and negative aspects of various policies and whether or not current practices related to forecasting, planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling have produced th

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Presents a complete introduction to modern exchange markets and what to know in order to operate them effectively using trading systems, computer-based models and other analytical tools. Contains an in-depth explanation of the emerging structure of new international financial markets including insights into current electronic and global markets.

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