“Known By The Company You Keep”

From AAO Weblog

Maybe the Paulson Committee should be mindful of that old chestnut of moms everywhere.

According to this story in the New York Post, there’s good news and bad news for the London Stock Exchange in all the newfound business it supposedly swiped from the U.S. markets because of their required Section 404 reviews. The good news is obviously that, yes, business is great.

But – “last year, financial fraud in the United Kingdom rose 40 percent.” A report by BDO Stoy Hayward “said rising financial crimes cost British businesses more than $2.7 billion. Losses could be higher because the report included only frauds that exceeded $100,000 in losses. A flood of financial collapses of new companies also could be ahead.”

“”I have no doubt that some businesses’ plans have been deliberately overoptimistic, and property, including intellectual property, falsely valued,” Simon Bevan, head of DBO’s fraud unit, told Bloomberg.”

So – is worth it to be in that particular game? If you’re known by the company you keep, it might be a lot more costly to try to pacify the kind of stuff that’s moved to London. Investors should be thankful that seedier companies have found the U.S. markets too difficult to easily game because of Section 404.

http://www.accountingobserver.com/blog/