Given the SEC Chair’s promotion of IFRS, why do you suppose that movement on the issue continues to drag on so slowly?
Why is there a trend toward “de-equitizing” the capital markets? Do you believe (over) regulation of public companies plays a part? If you needed cash, what options are available and how would you choose?
Do you agree that Apple (and CEO Tim Cook in particular) had a “terrible” year? What performance metrics, such as financial ratios, would you personally use to judge Apple’s performance? How would you assess their prospects?
Can you connect the dots between exchange rates and goodwill impairments? Are the effects related to FX transactions or translations?
So VW may accrue another billion as a contingent liability. What is the threshold for balance sheet recognition of contingencies under US GAAP? Under IFRS? Do you believe these future costs have already been reflected into the firm’s stock price? How could you determine if they have?
Are share repurchases “investments” in a firm’s own stock? Are they a form of “financial engineering”? What do you think is the real reason for the surge?
Microsoft obtained SEC approval before disclosing non-GAAP revenue figures in its financial filings. What do you think the consequences would have been had Microsoft not received pre-clearance before announcing non-GAAP revenue?
What do you think were all the factors that Walmart considered in its decision to settle the lawsuit? How (and where . . . i.e., which part of the 10-K) would you check to see if Walmart had a accrued a liability for this?
The “Dodd-Frank” legislation was enacted largely because of the financial crisis of 2008. What is your opinion about, for example, the following: 1) say-on-pay 2) insiders hedging company stock 3) pay-ratio disclosure 4) conflict minerals disclosure? Should these provisions be maintained? Why or why not? Who benefits from these disclosures?
If you were the CEO of a MNC doing business in the U.K., how would you rank the factors in order of importance, including the corporate income tax rate, that you would consider in whether to continue to remain in the U.K.? What factors do you think Nissan considered?
Can you tell from this description whether the pro forma (adjusted) results for Marvell Technology are “good”?
How can lower inventory levels be associated with higher gross margins? What’s the counter argument? If you were the head of merchandising at Macy’s, what factors do you consider in inventory levels?
If you were on the compensation committee of your firm’s board, would you require indexing equity based compensation? If you were CEO, would you be against it? If so, how would you argue against it?
Do you think that requiring firms to disclose political contributions politicizes the SEC? If so, how exactly? Why would firms not want to disclose their politcal contributions? Why would they want to disclose them? Should the SEC force firms to make this disclosure? How does this disclosure accord with the SEC’s mandate?
If you were CEO, and if you believe the results of the research that suggests that explicitly mentioning “shareholder value” in your annual letter to shareholders affects your compensation, how would you write your letter?(!)
Exxon has been criticized (and investigated) for not writing down the value of its oil reserves. Two different models for writing down these reserves are mentioned in the article. Why are there different models? Should there be?
KPMG received a letter from Senator Warren questioning the quality of the firm’s audits in the wake of Wells Fargo “scandal.” Do you think KPMG shares in the responsibility? Should they be responsible? What is a potential downside to changing the nature of the audit and the auditor’s responsibility with respect to this and similar issues?
How would you determine whether financial reporting is “unbalanced”? How would you measure quality financial reporting? Do you think this attribute of financial reporting varies by country?
