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Investments & Financial Planning
What is a Brokered Certificate of Deposit ?
Asked Friday, January 12, 2001 by an anonymous userCPA Answer:
A brokered Certificate of Deposit is a certificate of deposit issued by a bank or thrift institution bought by a brokerage firm in bulk for the purpose of reselling to their brokerage customers. A broker Certificate of Deposit features a higher interest rate, usually 1 percent higher, and is FDIC insured and do not usually have commissions.
Investments & Financial Planning
What does a stock broker do ?
Asked Friday, January 12, 2001 by an anonymous userCPA Answer:
A broker is an individual who is paid a commission for executing customer orders. A floor broker is one who executes orders on the stock exchange floor, or an upstairs broker who handles retail customers and their orders. A broker is also a person who acts as an intermediary between a buyer and seller, usually charging a fee or commission. A broker who specializes in stocks, bonds, commodities, or options acts as an agent and must be registered with the exchange where the securities are traded.
Investments & Financial Planning
What are Investment-grade bonds ?
Asked Friday, January 12, 2001 by an anonymous userCPA Answer:
A bond that is assigned a rating in the top 4 categories by commercial credit rating companies. Standard & Poors classifies investment-grade bonds as BBB or higher, and Moody's classifies investment grade bonds as Ba or higher.
Investments & Financial Planning
In the stock market , what is a " Boiler Room " ?
Asked Friday, January 12, 2001 by an anonymous userCPA Answer:
Boiler room is used to describe a place or operation in which unprincipled, unscrupulous salespeople make telephone calls and try to sell people speculative, even fraudulent, securities.
Investments & Financial Planning
What is considered a " block " of stock ?
Asked Friday, January 12, 2001 by an anonymous userCPA Answer:
A "block" is a large quantity of stock or large dollar amount of bonds held or traded. Generally, 10,000 shares or more of stock and $200,000 or more worth of bonds would be described as a block.
In a merger , what is the Pooling of interests accounting method ?
Asked Friday, January 12, 2001 by an anonymous userCPA Answer:
Pooling of interests is an accounting method for reporting acquisitions accomplished through the use of equity. The combined assets of the merged entity are consolidated using "book value", as opposed to the Purchase method, which uses "market value". The merging entities financial results are combined as though the 2 entities have always been a single entity.
Investments & Financial Planning
What is a corporation poison pill ?
Asked Friday, January 12, 2001 by an anonymous userCPA Answer:
Corporation poison pill is a Antitakeover device that gives a prospective acquirer’s shareholders the right to buy shares of the firm or shares of anyone who acquires the firm at a very large discount to their fair market value.
It gets its name after the cyanide pill that secret government agents are said to be instructed to swallow if capture is imminent.
It gets its name after the cyanide pill that secret government agents are said to be instructed to swallow if capture is imminent.
Investments & Financial Planning
Does Canada have a stock exchange ?
Asked Friday, January 12, 2001 by an anonymous userCPA Answer:
Canadian Stock Exchanges
CNQ
Canada's new stock exchange for trading the equity securities of emerging companies.
ICE Futures Canada
Incorporates the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange.
Montreal Exchange (Bourse de Montréal)
Co-owner of the Boston Options Exchange.
Nasdaq Canada
NGX (Natural Gas Exchange)
North America's largest physical clearing and settlement facility. Wholly owned by TSX Group.
Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)
Incorporates TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Markets and Natural Gas Exchange (NGX).
Investments & Financial Planning
What is a public corporation Leveraged buyout ?
Asked Friday, January 12, 2001 by an anonymous userCPA Answer:
Leveraged buyout is a strategy used to take a public corporation private that is financed through debt such as bank loans and bonds. Because of the large amount of debt relative to equity in the new corporation, the bonds are typically rated below investment grade, properly referred to as junk bonds or high yield bonds. Investors can participate in an leveraged buyout through either the purchase of the debt (purchase of the bonds or participation in the bank loan) or the purchase of equity through an Leveraged buyout fund that specializes in such investments.
What is kiting a check ?
Asked Friday, January 12, 2001 by an anonymous userCPA Answer:
Kiting refers to the practice of depositing and drawing checks at 2 or more banks and taking advantage of the time it takes for the 2nd bank to collect funds from the 1st bank. It
also is a bookkeeping trick to illegally increase the face value of a check by changing the numbers on the check.