| DISD audit to be basis of overhaul of business practices
Dallas school officials are preparing for a deep and difficult audit report next month that administrators say will serve as a framework to overhaul the district's business operations. Additionally, a certified fraud examiner has told administrators that employees may have misspent as much as $8 million in federal grants with district credit cards between 2002 and 2006. Some portion of that money will have to be returned to the federal government. Both audits will be incorporated into a single report, district officials said this week. However, that report may not be finished in time to meet a state deadline. The Texas Education Agency requires districts to complete an independent audit within 180 days of closing their fiscal years. For Dallas, that deadline is Dec. 27. Because of the detailed record inspections auditors are undertaking, their work may not be done by the end of next month, Eric Anderson, the district's chief operating officer for business services, told trustees Thursday.
Executive Search industry revenues continue to rise despite the drop in financial markets
20/11/2007
BRUSSELS � Despite the recent credit crisis in the U.S. and the knock on affect on European financial markets, the latest State of the Executive Search Industry Report by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) revealed that executive search industry revenues continue to grow. Net revenues experienced an annual rise of 20% in Q3 2007, with no quarterly change from Q2 2007. Interestingly, despite a quarterly drop in financial services of 10.6% in Q3 2007, the year-on-year trend saw financial services experience a minor increase from Q3 2006 to Q3 2007.
AESC President, Peter Felix, remarked, �This is encouraging news, particularly in light of the recent credit crisis. Although the shake up in financial markets will inevitably impact hiring in certain parts of the financial services industry, we have not yet seen any major impact in other sectors and our members around the world remain cautiously optimistic.
New system lets parents track school meal purchases online
On the first day of school this fall, Steamboat Springs School District students were assigned a four-digit code that could be used as a debit or credit system to pay for lunch. The goal of the system, according to the district's director of food services, Max Huppert, was to move students through the lunch line as fast as possible by eliminating cash transactions. On Friday, parents gained access to another aspect of the point-of-sale system — the ability to track their children's purchases online. “Parents will have the ability to print out a copy of their child's eating history report," Huppert said. “This history report will show you all dates and times that your child has purchased a breakfast, and or lunch, within the past 30 days." School Board member Denise Connelly plans to use the system with her 15-year-old son, Conner Garrecht-Connelly, a freshman at Steamboat Springs High School.
Turnpike Authority is told that credit rating may be lowered
The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority was warned yesterday that its credit rating may be lowered because toll hikes it imposed last month will not generate enough revenue to cover increasing costs. Moody's Investors Services left intact its current ratings on the transportation agency's bonds, but downgraded its outlook from stable to negative. "There's a 50 percent chance or more that during the next 12 to 24 months, the rating will move down," said Joshua Schaff, a Moody's analyst. "We have some concerns about their ability to comfortably service their upcoming debt-service payments, given their current revenue structure." Last year, traffic and revenues dipped after the ceiling collapse in the Interstate 90 tunnel, which killed 38-year-old Milena Del Valle, the Moody's report says.
Business Objects Q3 results in line; no Q4 outlook due to SAP - UPDATE
(Update to add SAP estimates on synergy effects, credit line) PARIS (Thomson Financial) - Business Objects SA reported third-quarter results in line with preliminary figures released earlier this month, and said it was not providing any guidance for the rest of the year in view of an agreed takeover offer from SAP AG. The business software group said third-quarter revenue was 369 mln usd, up 19 pct year-on-year, while licence revenue was 6 pct higher at 139 mln usd. Services revenues, including product maintenance, consulting and training, were 230 mln usd, up 29 pct year-over-year. Diluted earnings per share under US GAAP were 0.07 usd, down from 0.21 a year earlier. Non-GAAP EPS came to 0.39 usd versus 0.41 a year earlier. On Oct 7, Business Objects had warned it was expecting third-quarter total revenue of around 366-370 mln usd and licence revenue of 137-139 mln usd, below its own expectations.
Outlook bleak for US financial firms: Report
NEW YORK - GOLDMAN Sachs has issued a gloomy report on the United States financial services sector, saying housing prices are likely to fall a lot further, write-downs will mount, and some mortgage insurers and guarantors will be forced to raise capital just to survive. Falling house prices and a worsening economy will drive down securities based on residential mortgages, especially those given to borrowers with the riskiest credit, Goldman financial analysts Lori Appelbaum, Thomas Cholnoky, James Fotheringham and William Tanonawrote in a lengthy report released on Monday. Meanwhile, the value of collateralised debt obligations bonds based on pools of mortgages related to those sub-prime mortgages, could fall another US$150 billion (S$217 billion) across the industry, the bank said.
BPM, Credit Mutuel to take at least month on alliance studies - report
MILAN (Thomson Financial) - Banca Popolare di Milano and France's Credit Mutuel have set up working groups that will take at least a month to examine a possible alliance, said Radiocor news agency in an unsourced report. Earlier this month, BPM decided to give priority to deeper studies on a tie with Credit Mutuel, over other link-up options, and earlier this week said it will complete this task as soon as possible. Today, Radiocor said the work programme between BPM and the French institution was decided yesterday by their chiefs at a meeting in Paris. The two banks are setting up teams for a series of technical roundtables, which will start work at the start of next week, it said. nigel.tutt@thomson.com nt/rw COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007.
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