Investment Traps
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High Returns Don’t Always Require High-Risk Stocks
To earn high returns you need to take high risk! – at least that’s what everyone in the investment world thinks. But what we forget is that, higher the risk, higher is the chance of incurring losses! So why do we want…
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Can You Invest on Your Own? Why Self-Investing May Be the Key to Better Long-Term Returns
Most people are afraid of the stock markets, the common perception being that it’s a gambling den! As a result, we end up handing our hard earned money to the so called experts. After all they’re sure to know much more than…
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How do companies use Mergers and Acquisitions to manipulate financial statements?
Tata Steel acquires 100% stake in Corus Group; Vodafone purchases 67% stake owned by Hutchinson-Essar; Indian major Ranbaxy acquired by Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo – these were headlines that were splashed across newspapers for days together at their time. Many companies…
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Cash Flow Statement is the least manipulated Financial Statement. Or is it?
“The cash flow statement is one of the least manipulated financial statements”. The other two financial statements viz. the Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet, are often subjected to many manipulations. However, while the cash flow statement does render more transparency, it…
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How Companies Manipulate Liabilities in Financial Statements
As investors, we often pay more attention to the sales, net profit numbers on the profit and loss statement, while neglecting the balance sheet. After all balance sheet numbers are not as dynamic and interesting as the sales and net profit figures!…
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Balance Sheet Manipulation: How Companies Overvalue Receivables and Inventory
The balance sheet, also known as the statement of financial condition, offers a snapshot of the company’s health. It tells us how much a company owns (Assets), and how much it owes (Liabilities). Many analysts and investors look at the assets to…
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Depreciation Manipulation in Accounting: How Companies Inflate Profits
Depreciation manipulation in accounting is one of the most overlooked ways companies can artificially improve reported profits.
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Expense Manipulation in Financial Statements: Common Techniques Companies Use
Every now and then when the profits of a company suffer, we hear management talk about the various “cost-cutting measures” that it is implementing. Infact during a downturn, when customer orders are hard to come by and revenue growth slows down, companies…
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Revenue Manipulation in Financial Statements: How Companies Inflate Sales and How Investors Can Spot Red Flags
2010 was a year of scams for India – the CWG scam, 2 G scam, Adarsh scam. While government officials and departments are infamous for corruption and scams worth millions, history has also provided us many examples of corporates treading the same…
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Stock investing, with all its risks, is only for the young? Is it?
Investing in the stock markets is risky. And conventional wisdom says that the elderly among us should take as little risk as possible, keep their hard earned money safe and handy, etc. Thus, most of us are faced with this dilemma at…
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Are Low-priced stocks a better bet than High-priced stocks?
We are constantly on the lookout for various strategies to profit from the stock market. Out of the numerous “lucrative strategies”, one that is frequently practiced is that of investing in stocks which appear to be cheap i.e. quoting at Rs. 10,20…
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Are ‘Good Companies’ always Good Investments?
Investors have a tendency to label some companies as ‘Good Companies’. This is usually based on the perception that its products are good and liked by everyone or it has reputed management. Predictably then, the investment advice that we often get is:…
