Current News
Jumbo Hedge Fund Directors Criticised
QuickTrain - Online Training This Month
Cayman Court rules against in kind distribution of fund assets
SEC reforms ‘will kill’ money market funds
Regulatory focus on hedge funds continues
News Archive
September, 2010
And finally…
For the Accountancy & Business magazine short article on Quickstep, visit http://ab.digitaleditions.co.uk/ie_oct10/ and go to page 29.
August, 2010
Open Courses September 2010
Quickstep Consulting and the Summit Finuas Network bring you the following courses at the Clarion Hotel, IFSC, Dublin, in September: 21st: US GAAP vs IFRS for Investment Funds. For information click here, and to book, click here. 22nd: Hedge Fund Industry Developments - Guide to Sound Practices. For information click here and to book, click here. 24th: UCITS for Hedge Funds. For information click here and to book, click here. Due to the highly interactive, participative nature of these programmes the maximum number of participants is 12. If you’d like to request further information or register your interest for future courses, call Alan Farrell on 01 8058568 or email here.
Open Courses August 2010
Quickstep Consulting and the Summit Finuas Network bring you the following courses at the Clarion Hotel, IFSC, Dublin, on 26th August: Introduction to Hedge Funds and Hedge Fund Accounting For more information and to book, click here. Due to the highly interactive, participative nature of the programme the maximum number of participants is 12. If you'd like to request further information or register your interest for future courses, call Alan Farrell on 01 8058568 or email here.
July, 2010
Accounting Standards Board Considering a New Category for Financial Assets – Held to Bankruptcy?
Meanwhile, in an alternative reality.........Reports that the EU has been lobbying the IASB to introduce a new category for financial assets remain unconfirmed. In the run up to the Stress Tests on European banks, it was alleged that top EU economists and accountants were pushing for an addition to the existing categories of financial assets (Held-for-Trading and Held-to-Maturity). The EU has strenuously denied that it attempted to introduce a new category called ‘Held-to-Bankruptcy’. Although it did say that, if there was such a category, sovereign debt issues would have to undergo stringent tests before qualifying as Held-to-Bankruptcy. As one would expect, banks’ exposures to, and losses on, Held-to-Bankruptcy assets need not be reported. In lieu of the Held-to-Bankruptcy category failing to get the thumbs up, the EU simply decided that the Stress Tests would look only at the bank’s trading book and not at the held-to-maturity book. In other words, the stress tests ignored most sovereign debt held by the banks. Seriously! Only that last bit is true, by the way. It is worth remembering the words of Marx (Groucho): The key to success in business is to develop a reputation for honesty and integrity. Once you learn to fake that you got it made.
June, 2010
No Chance European Bail Out Package Will Succeed
This article will not put a smile on your face but it is interesting. And if we have learned anything (which we probably have not) it is this: bury your head in the sand and, well, you suffocate. And also get sand in your ears which is not nice. A word of warning. Those chaps at zerohedge.com have a tendency towards profanity. Quickstep Consulting takes no responsibility for the content of other websites.
Have Lunch On Us
Apologies to those of you who could not attend the May courses due to over-booking/re-scheduling. We will be scheduling further training in September as part of the Summit programme. This is your chance to have a say in what we do and, at the same time, win a lunch for two at the Ely restaurant in the IFSC.
Summit Finuas Network Courses
Quickstep Consulting delivered two open courses in May: US GAAP vs IFRS FOR INVESTMENT FUNDS and REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS FOR IRISH-DOMICILED FUNDS. Both courses were fully booked and very well received. We also delivered UCITS FOR HEDGE FUNDS a number of times on an in-company basis.
May, 2010
IFRS for Investment Funds Training - USA, UK, Singapore & Dubai
We're delighted to announce that Quickstep Consulting has partnered with IASeminars to deliver IFRS for Investment Funds training in Q4 2010. The 2 day participative workshop enables participants to tackle the issues that arise when preparing or auditing IFRS-compliant financial statements for mutual funds and hedge funds.
Flash Crash Wam Bam
Fancy a beer company with your pint? For a few painful minutes, the value of many major US companies hit zero. And computers may share the blame. On Thursday 6 May, for a few minutes, you could have bought a frothy Sam Adams plus a substantial interest in its maker, the Boston Beer Company, all for the price of a pint. Boston Beer stock, along with dozens of others on the major US stock exchanges, plummeted to zero, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average nosedived 700 points, all in a matter of minutes.
AIFM texts adopted by EU Parliament and Council
Hedge fund managers based outside the European Union (EU) may have to comply with the alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) directive in order to market products to EU member states, under proposals approved last night (May 17). According to the text, hedge fund managers based outside the EU will be able to market to EU investors if they voluntarily subjected themselves to the directive's requirements
