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(Don’t) Lie to Me: Detecting Lies and Deceit in Interviews

Share Interviews are a key part of a fraud investigation, and often one of the first steps in the investigative process. An effective interview can expose organizational weaknesses, identify employees who may be motivated to steal, and, of course, produce a confession from a guilty party. Although it is difficult to tell if a person...

The Next Warren Buffett

The Next Warren Buffett I have been traveling the past couple of weeks performing peer reviews, visiting prospective clients, and now I am at our firm’s retreat to strategize our future. Trying to write a blog that is educational and purposeful can sometimes be a tedious time-consuming task, especially when I am trying to be...

FINRA Is Getting More Analytical

Share FINRA Is Getting More Analytical Well, it’s September 12th and the tax filing deadline is fast approaching. Several years ago the final date to file a partnership return was October 15th but that date was pushed forward to September 15th. While most of my clients have filed their returns already, I have several that...

SRO DEAD… For now?

SRO DEAD… For now? A few weeks back I blogged about an article my partner Matt Pribila wrote concerning the push for more regulations over Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs). The issue, at the time, seemed to be whether the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), FINRA (Financial Investment Regulator Association) or an SRO (self regulating organization)...

My Warm Fuzzies Have Gone Cold

My Warm Fuzzies Have Gone Cold I did some reading on my boat this weekend. I’m not a big fisherman, I like to just cruise to a nice spot, drop anchor and relax.    Well, after reading I may pull my investments and put the money under my mattress. Last week’s blog discussed the issue of...

So You Want to Be a Trader?

So You Want to Be a Trader? About 15 years ago or so, a friend of mine told me about a stock. He said it can’t miss. So I looked up the company and saw it was manufacturing parts for the Palm Pilot. I decided to invest and within 24 hours I had sold the...

Facebook IPO

Facebook IPO While this blog deals with the financial services industry and not investment strategy or even one stock, I would be remiss if I, too, didn’t jump on the Facebook blog bandwagon. With everyone gearing up for the huge Facebook IPO last Friday, one would think that things would go smoothly.  Brokers were ready,...

Governance: Compensation

Governance: Compensation 3rd in a Series As a follow-up to our initial tax tip in this series entitled “Governance Issues for Tax-Exempt Organizations”, which was released on April 25, 2012, WithumSmith+Brown has compiled a list of what we believe to be “best practices” with respect to each topic included in the Federal Form 14114, Governance...

Advice to all Broker-Dealers Out There…

Advice to all Broker-Dealers Out There… Last week’s blog mentioned issues discussed at the New York State Society Broker-Dealer Conference. In particular, one of the presenters mentioned that BDs should keep it simple. The BD should not guarantee anything nor should its assets secure anything. Why is this important to the BD? Well, in calculating...