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Howard Schilit on Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Fraud

July 18, 2021 in Audio, Equities, Explore Great Books Podcast, Featured, Full Video, Interviews, Meet-the-Author Forum, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021 Featured, Meet-the-Author Forum 2022, Member Podcasts, Skills, Transcripts

Howard Schilit discussed his book, Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports, at MOI Global’s Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021. Howard is a pioneer in the field of detecting accounting chicanery.

We are resurfacing this conversation at the Meet-the-Author Summit 2022 as we have received particularly positive member feedback regarding the wisdom and insights shared.

Editor’s note: We are delighted to have Alex Gilchrist, a London-based research associate at MOI Global, host the Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

The full session is available exclusively to members of MOI Global.

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This conversation is available as an episode of Explore Great Books, a member podcast of MOI Global. (Learn how to access member podcasts.)

About the book:

The bestselling classic from the “Sherlock Holmes of Accounting”—updated to reflect key case studies from the past quarter century and the dishonest tactics used to mislead investors. This fourth edition of the bestselling guide shines a light on the most shocking frauds and financial reporting offenders, and gives investors the tools they need to spot deceptive financial reporting in the global markets. This unparalleled guide provides the investigative tools you need to detect:

  • Corporate cultures that incentivize dishonest practices
  • The latest tricks companies use to exaggerate revenue and earnings
  • Techniques devised by management to manipulate cash flow as easily as earnings
  • Companies that use misleading metrics to fool investors about their financial performance
  • How companies use acquisitions to hide deterioration in their underlying business

You’ll learn everything you need to know to unearth deceptive reporting and avoid costly mistakes. This new edition focuses on the key case studies from the past quarter century and brings you up to date on accounting chicanery in the global markets. Howard Schilit and his team of renowned forensic accounting experts reveal the most shocking frauds, expose financial reporting miscreants, and unveil the latest methods companies use to mislead investors.

About the co-authors:

Dr. Howard M. Schilit, PhD, CPA, is the founder and CEO of Schilit Forensics, an investment research consultancy. Howard is a pioneer in the field of detecting accounting chicanery and has testified before Congress and the SEC. Previously, he founded and led CFRA and was a professor at American University.

Jeremy Perler, CFA, CPA, is a partner at Schilit Forensics. Previously, he held positions at Coatue Management, CFRA, and PwC. Jeremy has served on advisory committees for the FASB and PCAOB.

Yoni Engelhart, CFA, is a partner at Schilit Forensics. Previously, he held positions at Partners Capital, Wellington Management Company, and CFRA. Yoni is a graduate of Harvard Business School. –This text refers to the mp3_cd edition.

Chris Mayer on Stocks that Return 100-to-1 and How to Find Them

July 18, 2021 in Audio, Equities, Explore Great Books Podcast, Featured, Full Video, Interviews, Meet-the-Author Forum, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021 Featured, Member Podcasts, Transcripts

Christopher Mayer discussed his book, 100 Baggers: Stocks that Return 100-to-1 and How to Find Them, at MOI Global’s Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

The following session is part of our Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021, designed to provide summer reading inspiration to MOI Global members. We look forward to releasing additional conversations in the coming weeks.

Editor’s note: We are delighted to have Alex Gilchrist, a London-based research associate at MOI Global, host the Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

The full session is available exclusively to members of MOI Global.

Members, log in below to access the full session.

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Thank you for your interest.  Please note that MOI Global is closed to new members at this time. If you would like to join the waiting list, complete the following form:

About the book:

This book is about 100-baggers. These are stocks that return $100 for every $1 invested. That means a $10,000 investment turns into $1 million. Chris Mayer can help you find them. It sounds like an outrageous quest with a wildly improbable chance of success. But when Mayer studied 100-baggers of the past, definite patterns emerged. In 100-Baggers, you will learn the key characteristics of 100-baggers why anybody can do this. It is truly an everyman s approach. You don t need an MBA or a finance degree. Some basic financial concepts are all you need a number of crutches or techniques that can help you get more out of your stocks and investing. The emphasis is always on the practical, so there are many stories and anecdotes to help illustrate important points. You should read this book if you want to get more out of your stocks. Even if you never get a 100-bagger, this book will help you turn up big winners and keep you away from losers and sleepy stocks that go nowhere.

About the author:

Christopher W. Mayer is the portfolio manager and co-founder of Woodlock House Family Capital. Before starting Woodlock House (which went live in January 2019), Mayer worked with Bonner & Partners and the Bonner family office. He was the editor of Capital & Crisis, published by Agora Financial from 2004-2015. He was a corporate banker from 1994-2004, and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in finance from the University of Maryland. He also has an MBA from the same institution. He is the author of Invest Like A Dealmaker: Secrets of a Former Banking Insider (2008), World Right Side Up: Investing Across Six Continents (2012), 100 Baggers: Stocks that Return 100-to-1 and How to Find Them (2015), and How Do You Know? A Guide to Thinking Clearly About Wall Street, Investing and Life (2018).

Adam Mead on the Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway

July 18, 2021 in Audio, Equities, Explore Great Books Podcast, Full Video, Interviews, Meet-the-Author Forum, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021 Featured, Member Podcasts

Adam J. Mead discussed his book, The Complete Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway, at MOI Global’s Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

The full session is available exclusively to members of MOI Global.

Members, log in below to access the full session.

Not a member?

Thank you for your interest.  Please note that MOI Global is closed to new members at this time. If you would like to join the waiting list, complete the following form:

This conversation is available as an episode of Explore Great Books, a member podcast of MOI Global. (Learn how to access member podcasts.)

This session is part of our Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021, designed to provide summer reading inspiration to MOI Global members. We look forward to releasing additional conversations in the coming weeks.

Editor’s note: We are delighted to have Alex Gilchrist, a London-based research associate at MOI Global, host the Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

About the book:

For the first time the complete financial history of Berkshire Hathaway is available under one cover in chronological format. Beginning at the origins of the predecessor companies in the textile industry, the reader can examine the development of the modern-day conglomerate year-by-year and decade-by-decade, watching as the struggling textile company morphs into what it has become today.

This comprehensive analysis distils over 10,000 pages of research material, including Buffett’s Chairman’s letters, Berkshire Hathaway annual reports and SEC filings, annual meeting transcripts, subsidiary financials, and more. The analysis of each year is supplemented with Buffett’s own commentary where relevant, and examines all important acquisitions, investments, and other capital allocation decisions. The appendices contain balance sheets, income statements, statements of cash flows, and key ratios dating back to the 1930s, materials brought together for the first time.

The structure of the book allows the new student to follow the logic, reasoning, and capital allocation decisions made by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger from the very beginning. Existing Berkshire shareholders and long-time observers will find new information and refreshing analysis, and a convenient reference guide to the decades of financial moves that built the modern-day respected enterprise that is Berkshire Hathaway.

About the author:

Adam J. Mead is a life-long student of business and capital allocation. He is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Mead Capital Management, LLC, a New Hampshire-based Registered Investment Advisor he founded in 2014. Adam spent over a decade in banking in commercial credit, including observing first-hand the after effects of the Great Recession and the long credit expansion afterward. Adam has been investing in public securities markets since 2004. He owned two small businesses (non-financial) during college, and grew up in a family of small business owners. In addition to managing assets for his clients at Mead Capital, he is involved with numerous local non-profit organisations.

Adam authors the Watchlist Investing newsletter.

Ted Seides on Capital Allocators: How the World’s Elite Managers Lead…

July 18, 2021 in Audio, Full Video, Interviews, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021 Featured, Transcripts

Ted Seides discussed his book, Capital Allocators: How the World’s Elite Managers Lead and Invest, at MOI Global’s Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

The full session is available exclusively to members of MOI Global.

Members, log in below to access the full session.

Not a member?

Thank you for your interest.  Please note that MOI Global is closed to new members at this time. If you would like to join the waiting list, complete the following form:

Our Meet-the-Author Summer Forum aims to inspire members with reading ideas.

We are delighted to have Alex Gilchrist, a London-based research associate of MOI Global, host the Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

This conversation is available as an episode of Explore Great Books, a member podcast of MOI Global. (Learn how to access member podcasts.)

About the book:

The chief investment officers (CIOs) at endowments, foundations, family offices, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds are the leaders in the world of finance. They marshal trillions of dollars on behalf of their institutions and influence how capital flows throughout the world. But these elite investors live outside of the public eye. Across the entire investment industry, few participants understand how these holders of the keys to the kingdom allocate their time and their capital. What’s more, there is no formal training for how to do their work.

So how do these influential leaders practice their craft? What skills do they require? What frameworks do they employ? How do they make investment decisions on everything from hiring managers to portfolio construction?

For the first time, Capital Allocators lifts the lid on this opaque corner of the investment landscape. Drawing on interviews from the first 150 episodes of the Capital Allocators podcast, Ted Seides presents the best of the knowledge, practical insights, and advice of the world’s top professional investors.

These insights include:

  • The best practices for interviewing, decision-making, negotiations, leadership, and management.
  • Investment frameworks across governance, strategy, process, technological innovation, and uncertainty.
  • The wisest and most impactful quotes from guests on the Capital Allocators podcast.

Learn from the likes of the CIOs at the endowments of Princeton and Notre Dame, family offices of Michael Bloomberg and George Soros, pension funds from the State of Florida, CalSTRS, and Canadian CDPQ, sovereign wealth funds of New Zealand and Australia, and many more. Capital Allocators is the essential new reference manual for current and aspiring CIOs, the money managers that work with them, and everyone allocating a pool of capital.

About the author:

Ted Seides, CFA created Capital Allocators LLC to explore best practices in the asset management industry. He launched the Capital Allocators podcast in 2017 and the show reached five million downloads in January 2021. Barron’s, Business Insider, Forbes and Value Walk each named it among the top investing podcasts. Alongside the podcast, Ted works with both managers and allocators to enhance their investment and business processes. In March 2021, he published his second book, Capital Allocators: How the world’s elite money managers lead and invest to distill the lessons from the first 150 episodes of the podcast. You can follow Ted on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Adam Fergusson on His Book About Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany

July 18, 2021 in Audio, Full Video, Interviews, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021 Featured

Adam Fergusson discussed his book, When Money Dies: The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany, at MOI Global’s Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

The full session is available exclusively to members of MOI Global.

Members, log in below to access the full session.

Not a member?

Thank you for your interest.  Please note that MOI Global is closed to new members at this time. If you would like to join the waiting list, complete the following form:

Our Meet-the-Author Summer Forum aims to inspire members with reading ideas.

We are delighted to have Alex Gilchrist, a London-based research associate of MOI Global, host the Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

This conversation is available as an episode of Explore Great Books, a member podcast of MOI Global. (Learn how to access member podcasts.)

About the book:

When Money Dies is the classic history of what happens when a nation’s currency depreciates beyond recovery. In 1923, with its currency effectively worthless (the exchange rate in December of that year was one dollar to 4,200,000,000,000 marks), the German republic was all but reduced to a barter economy. Expensive cigars, artworks, and jewels were routinely exchanged for staples such as bread; a cinema ticket could be bought for a lump of coal; and a bottle of paraffin for a silk shirt. People watched helplessly as their life savings disappeared and their loved ones starved. Germany’s finances descended into chaos, with severe social unrest in its wake.

Money may no longer be physically printed and distributed in the voluminous quantities of 1923. However, “quantitative easing,” that modern euphemism for surreptitious deficit financing in an electronic era, can no less become an assault on monetary discipline. Whatever the reason for a country’s deficit — necessity or profligacy, unwillingness to tax or blindness to expenditure — it is beguiling to suppose that if the day of reckoning is postponed economic recovery will come in time to prevent higher unemployment or deeper recession. What if it does not? Germany in 1923 provides a vivid, compelling, sobering moral tale.

About the author:

Adam Fergusson is a British journalist, author, and Conservative Party politician who served one term in the European Parliament as an MEP. He has remained involved in the field of European Union affairs since, as a Special Adviser to Conservative governments and as a business consultant. Among other books, he wrote When Money Dies, a classic account of hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic. It deals with not only the economic impacts that hyperinflation had upon society in the Weimar Republic, but also the way that society itself changed. Societal norms were broken down in the wake of hyperinflation, and Fergusson approaches this topic. First published in 1975, When Money Dies was hailed as a cult classic in the wake of the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, with copies changing hands on eBay for up to $1,000. As a result, When Money Dies was republished in July 2010, becoming an internet sensation after allegedly being commended by financier, Warren Buffett.

Richard Fenning on His Book, What on Earth Can Go Wrong

July 17, 2021 in Audio, Full Video, Interviews, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021

Richard Fenning discussed his book, What on Earth Can Go Wrong: Tales from the Risk Business, at MOI Global’s Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

The full session is available exclusively to members of MOI Global.

Members, log in below to access the full session.

Not a member?

Thank you for your interest.  Please note that MOI Global is closed to new members at this time. If you would like to join the waiting list, complete the following form:

Our Meet-the-Author Summer Forum aims to inspire members with reading ideas.

We are delighted to have Alex Gilchrist, a London-based research associate of MOI Global, host the Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

This conversation is available as an episode of Explore Great Books, a member podcast of MOI Global. (Learn how to access member podcasts.)

About the book:

In a whirlwind tour that takes us from the battlefields of Iraq to the back streets of Bogotà, from the steamy Niger delta to the chill of Putin’s Moscow, Richard Fenning looks back with wit and insight on the people and places he has got to know, while also offering some timely thoughts about the relationship between risk and danger in a terrifyingly changeable world.

About the author:

Richard Fenning joined the risk consulting firm Control Risks in 1993. He was Global CEO from 2005 until 2019, leading the firm through a period of international expansion. He has lived and worked in the UK, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and the US and has advised numerous global corporations of the impact of geopolitical uncertainty, often in volatile parts of the world. He remains a senior adviser to Control Risks and is also a non-executive director of infrastructure consultancy, Steer Group.

Scott Davis on His Book, Lessons from the Titans

July 16, 2021 in Audio, Full Video, Interviews, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021

Scott Davis discussed his book, Lessons from the Titans: What Companies in the New Economy Can Learn from the Great Industrial Giants to Drive Sustainable Success, at MOI Global’s Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

The full session is available exclusively to members of MOI Global.

Members, log in below to access the full session.

Not a member?

Thank you for your interest.  Please note that MOI Global is closed to new members at this time. If you would like to join the waiting list, complete the following form:

Our Meet-the-Author Summer Forum aims to inspire members with reading ideas.

We are delighted to have Alex Gilchrist, a London-based research associate of MOI Global, host the Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

This conversation is available as an episode of Explore Great Books, a member podcast of MOI Global. (Learn how to access member podcasts.)

About the book:

Three top Wall Street analysts reveal enduring lessons in sustainable success from the great industrial titans―the high-tech companies of their day―to the disruptors that now dominate the economy.

Before Silicon Valley disrupted the world with new technologies and business models, America’s industrial giants paved the way. Companies like General Electric, United Technologies, and Caterpillar were the Google and Amazon of their day, setting gold standards in innovation, growth, and profitability. Today’s leaders can learn a great deal from their successes, as well as their missteps. In this essential guide, three veteran Wall Street analysts reveal timeless lessons from the titans of industry―and offer battle-tested survival tactics for an ever-changing world. You’ll learn:

  • how GE became the largest company on earth―only for a culture of arrogance to set in motion the largest collapse in history
  • how Boeing reassessed risks, raised profits―and tragically lost its balance
    how Danaher avoided the pitfalls of tremendous success―by continually reinventing itself
  • how Honeywell experienced a near-fatal cultural breakdown―and executed a flawless turnaround
  • how Caterpillar relied too much on forecasting, lost billions―and rallied by recommitting to the basics

Filled with illuminating case studies and brilliant in-depth analysis, this invaluable book provides a multitude of insights that will help you weather market upheavals, adapt to disruptions, and optimize your resources to your best advantage. You’ll learn hard-won lessons in innovation, growth, resilience, and operational excellence, as well as the time-proven fundamentals of continuous improvement for lasting success. In the end, you’ll have your own personal toolbox of useful takeaways from more than a century’s worth of data, experience, wisdom, and can-do spirit, courtesy of some of the greatest business enterprises of all time. This is how manufacturers survived the first disruptors of technology―and how today’s giants can survive and thrive during continuous cycles of disruption.

About the author:

Scott Davis serves as Chairman and CEO of Melius Research, where he is also the lead research analyst covering the multi-industry sector. He has 25 years of industrials equity research experience and has covered over 30 multi-industry names with an aggregated market capitalization of approximately $1 trillion.

Davis has led elite research teams for the past 20+ years, ranking in the top decile of all Wall Street analysts in nearly every time period. For the past 17 years, Institutional Investor magazine has recognized Davis as the number one ranked multi-industry analyst on six occasions and within the top three in most of the remaining years. Prior to Melius Research, Davis was a Managing Director and Head of the Global Industrials Research Group first at Morgan Stanley for 16 years then at Barclays Plc for 6 years. He and his work have been cited in hundreds of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, and Fortune, and he appears regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox, and CNN.

Professor Robert Aliber on His Book, Manias, Panics, and Crashes

July 16, 2021 in Audio, Full Video, Interviews, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021

Robert Z. Aliber discussed his book, Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises, at MOI Global’s Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

The full session is available exclusively to members of MOI Global.

Members, log in below to access the full session.

Not a member?

Thank you for your interest.  Please note that MOI Global is closed to new members at this time. If you would like to join the waiting list, complete the following form:

Our Meet-the-Author Summer Forum aims to inspire members with reading ideas.

We are delighted to have Alex Gilchrist, a London-based research associate of MOI Global, host the Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

This conversation is available as an episode of Explore Great Books, a member podcast of MOI Global. (Learn how to access member podcasts.)

About the book:

“The turmoil of 2007-8 reminded us only too painfully that financial crises are not confined to distant times and places. This latest edition of Charlie Kindleberger’s classic study of man’s serial financial follies, updated by Robert Aliber, brings the story right up to the present. A fount of wisdom not only for students of finance and economics, but also for central bankers and financial market practitioners.” –Professor Sir Charles Bean, The London School of Economics, UK

“Since its original publication, this has been one of my indispensable books. It served to help me grasp the gravity of financial crises that afflicted my country and guided me, hopefully, to recommend and take better policy decisions. It has also been an essential teaching tool. For example, on 15 September 2008 I asked my students to read at once several chapters so that they could better understand the events that started to unfold that morning. I welcome with enthusiasm this new edition!” –Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, Director Yale Center for the Study of Globalization; Former President of Mexico

“Underneath the hilarious anecdotes, the elegant epigrams, and the graceful turns of phrase, Kindleberger is deadly serious. The manner in which humans beings earn their livings is no laughing matter to him, especially when they attempt to do so at the expense of one another. As he so effectively demonstrates, manias, panics, and crashes are the consequence of an economic environment that cultivates cupidity, chicanery, and rapaciousness rather than a devout belief in the Golden Rule.” –From the Foreword to the Fourth Edition by Peter L. Bernstein, author of The Power of Gold

“Alas, both the need for a book such as Manias, Panics and Crashes, and the coverage of its material, keep on increasing, almost exponentially. So much has happened in the last few years that this is now Bob Aliber’s book, as much as, perhaps more, than Charles Kindleberger’s. Aliber has enhanced the prior high standards that Kindleberger set. This is an easily accessible book, filled with fascinating historical vignettes, and one that everyone from the experts to newcomers to the field should read and would profit greatly by doing so.” –Charles Goodhart, London School of Economics, UK

About the author:

Robert Z. Aliber is Professor Emeritus of International Economics and Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, USA. He was director of the Center for Studies in International Finance; on the research staff for the Committee for Economic Development and Commission on Money and Credit; and senior economic advisor for the Agency for Economic Development, U.S. Department of State.

Best-selling publications include The Reconstruction of International Monetary Arrangements (ed., Macmillan, 1986), The Handbook of International Financial Management (ed. Dow Jones Irwin, 1989), and Global Portfolios (co-editor, Business One Irwin, 1991). He is a co-author of Money, Banking, and the Economy (Norton, First Edition, 1981, Fourth Edition 1990), Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises (Palgrave MacMillan, 5th ed. 2005, 6th ed. 2011), and author of The International Money Game (Palgrave MacMillan, 2001).

Aliber has consulted to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and to other U.S. government agencies, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, testified before committees of the Congress, and lectured extensively in the United States and abroad.

Tim Kehoe on His Book, A Monetary and Fiscal History of Latin America

July 16, 2021 in Audio, Full Video, Interviews, Meet-the-Author Forum 2021, South America

Professor Timothy Kehoe discussed his book, A Monetary and Fiscal History of Latin America, at MOI Global’s Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

The full session is available exclusively to members of MOI Global.

Members, log in below to access the full session.

Not a member?

Thank you for your interest.  Please note that MOI Global is closed to new members at this time. If you would like to join the waiting list, complete the following form:

Our Meet-the-Author Summer Forum aims to inspire members with reading ideas.

We are delighted to have Alex Gilchrist, a London-based research associate of MOI Global, host the Meet-the-Author Summer Forum 2021.

This conversation is available as an episode of Explore Great Books, a member podcast of MOI Global. (Learn how to access member podcasts.)

About the book:

What went wrong with the economic development of Latin America over the past half-century? Along with periods of poor economic performance, the region’s countries have been plagued by a wide variety of economic crises. This major new work brings together dozens of leading economists to explore the economic performance of the ten largest countries in South America and of Mexico. Together they advance the fundamental hypothesis that, despite different manifestations, these crises all have been the result of poorly designed or poorly implemented fiscal and monetary policies.

Each country is treated in its own section of the book, with a lead chapter presenting a comprehensive database of the country’s fiscal, monetary, and economic data from 1960 to 2017. The chapters are drawn from one-day academic conferences—hosted in all but one case, in the focus country—with participants including noted economists and former leading policy makers. Cowritten with Nobel Prize winner Thomas J. Sargent, the editors’ introduction provides a conceptual framework for analyzing fiscal and monetary policy in countries around the world, particularly those less developed. A final chapter draws conclusions and suggests directions for further research.

A vital resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of economics and for economic researchers and policy makers, A Monetary and Fiscal History of Latin America, 1960–2017 goes further than any book in stressing both the singularities and the similarities of the economic histories of Latin America’s largest countries.

About the author:

Professor Tim Kehoe has been a professor at the University of Minnesota since 1987. Currently he is the Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Economics and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Tim has served as an advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis since 2000. A native of Newport, Rhode Island, he received his B.A. in economics and mathematics

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