October 2010

October 2010

The Scranton Times-Tribune, 10/29/2010—Austin Jaffe, chair of the Department of Insurance and Real Estate, comments on the rise in foreclosures in Pennsylvania. "The seeds were planted for this a long time ago," Jaffe says. "A weak economy and high unemployment will bring about more default and foreclosure activity." (Mortgage Foreclosures Continue to Rise in Region).

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 10/26/2010—Terrence Guay, clinical associate professor of international business, comments on the ability of governors to create jobs. "They don't have much impact, not in the short run," Guay says. "I don't think, with a short-term political career, that anyone can claim to have created a substantial number of jobs." (Governors Receive Poor Marks for Job-Making Ability).

Centre Daily Times, 10/23/2010—News brief on the appointment of Smeal Executive MBA Program alumnus Paul Silvis to the Penn State Board of Trustees. (Silvis Appointed to PSU Board of Trustees).

Pennsylvania Business Central, 10/22/2010—Article on an award presented to Penn State Executive Programs. "Chief Learning Officer magazine, the leading publication in the workforce learning and development industry, has awarded Penn State Executive Programs with its highest provider partnership award for Penn State's executive education partnership with Auntie Anne's Inc." (Penn State Executive Programs Wins Top Award for Auntie Anne's Partnership).

Reuters, 10/21/2010—Ron Gebhardtsbauer, clinical associate professor of actuarial science, comments on the future of Social Security. "Social Security will be there, even after the exhaustion date," says Gebhardtsbauer. "Members of Congress will make sure of that, or they will be out of a job." (Will Social Security Be There for Today's Young Workers?).

PhysOrg.com, 10/21/2010—Anthony Kwasnica, associate professor of business economics, comments on the end of the recession. "A recession is measured from the peak of the latest non-recession growth period to the trough or very bottom of the decline, before an upswing," says Kwasnica. "People tend to think we've recovered only when we've returned to where we started from. Most would agree that the growth since June of 2009 has not been very robust." (Probing Question: How Do We Know a Recession Has Ended?).

Gant Daily, 10/21/2010—Article on work by John Liechty, professor of marketing and statistics. "For over a year, Liechty had better than a front-row seat in legislating as he worked with Congress to create a new federal agency, which he devised, with the ability to monitor the entire U.S. financial system for risk. He says he found the whole experience to be one of the highlights of his career." (Smeal Professor Leads Push for New Federal Financial Oversight Agency).

Gulf News (Dubai), 10/19/2010—J. Edward Ketz, associate professor of accounting, comments on goodwill impairment charges. "I find it funny that ... companies insist goodwill impairment charges are non-cash. While technically true, the claim misses a very important point. Resources were distributed ... and these resources were accounted for as an asset. When the utility of the asset is reduced or depleted, then the accountant transfers the amount from assets to expenses. What is done with goodwill is no different from prepaid rent." ($7.3b Third-Quarter Loss Jolts Bank of America).

Investor's Business Daily, 10/19/2010—John Jordan, senior lecturer in supply chain and information systems, comments on the business innovations of King Gillette. "He was one of the pioneers in branding consumer products," Jordan says. "Nobody knew what a mass market product was [before Gillette]." (Gillette, The King of Razors).

All About Alpha, 10/17/2010—Article on research by Smeal Ph.D. student Lubomir Petrasek. "The paper ... takes an empirical look at the effects of institutional ownership on liquidity risk in the cross-section of stocks. Specifically, Petrasek finds a positive relationship between hedge fund ownership and liquidity risk, and a negative relationship between bank ownership and liquidity risk." (Co-Investing Alongside Hedge Funds? Could Be Lucrative, but Read This First …). This article also appeared on QFinance.com.

CNNMoney.com, 10/15/2010—Ron Gebhardtsbauer, clinical associate professor of actuarial science, comments on Social Security. "We're much healthier in our 60s than when Social Security was created," says Gebhardtsbauer. "Now it's an entitlement that goes to you whether or not you have the capacity to work." (Social Security Debate: Take the Quiz).

San Diego Union-Tribune, 10/13/2010—Wayne DeSarbo, executive director of the Center for Sports Business & Research, comments on the tax-exempt status of college bowl games. "Wayne DeSarbo of the Center for Sports Business & Research at Penn State University expects more lawmakers to demand closer scrutiny of the money surrounding college sporting events. 'These (nonprofits) are going to have to be marketed better. They have to be palatable to the taxpayers, palatable to the politicians and palatable to the public at large.'" (Bowl Game Nonprofits Face Financial Scrutiny).

Scranton Times-Tribune, 10/12/2010—Austin Jaffe, chair of the Department of Insurance and Real Estate, comments on the home foreclosure moratorium. "For lenders, the remedy for default is foreclosure," Jaffe says. "If that is taken away, it gives a disincentive for banks to be in the business of making loans. It also can give an incentive for the person trying to make those monthly payments to not try hard enough." (Foreclosure Freeze Could Help Some for a Time, but Hurt Housing Market).

CityTownInfo.com, 10/12/2010—Article on Smeal MBA Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps internships. "Ryan Mallett, a second-year MBA student at Penn State Smeal College of Business, for example, identified projects at Verizon that could save the company $9.16 million and avoid more than 8,700 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, reported Penn State Live. Another MBA student, Rama Murugan, worked on sustainability initiatives that should save CA Technologies $1.24 million annually." (EDF Internship Program Helps Companies Become Energy Efficient).

Arizona Republic, 10/09/2010—Wayne DeSarbo, executive director of the Center for Sports Business & Research, comments on sports franchise ownership. "It's not as easy as it once was to convince rich businessmen who love sports to risk owning a team. Many of today's owners are concerned about revenue, said Wayne DeSarbo, executive director of Pennsylvania State University's Center for Sports Business and Research." (Glendale Issued Deadline to Find Phoenix Coyotes Buyer).

Reuters, 10/08/2010—John Liechty, professor of marketing and statistics, comments on prospective heads of the new federal Office of Financial Research. "It would be attractive for people who have a research orientation ... because they will be able to focus more on solving these hard scientific problems with resources dedicated to this, resources nobody's been able to have before," Liechty says. (Fed Wary of Overlap with New Research Office: Source).

The Herald (Zimbabwe), 10/05/2010—Linda Treviño, Distinguished Professor of Organizational Behavior and Ethics, comments on business ethics. "Linda Treviño suggests that business ethics is not a 'patch and repair,' or still less an 'identify and blame' matrix. Instead she acknowledges that ethics is about a robust, moral fostering program that dovetails with the future of the company with a view to sustaining a financially profitable as well as ethically praiseworthy organization." (Recognizing Right from Wrong in Business). This article was also distributed in Africa by All Africa and Comtex.

The Wall Street Journal, 10/04/2010—John Liechty, professor of marketing and statistics, comments on federal rules regulating bank trading desks. "Banks could seek to circumvent caps on proprietary trading. They could spin off their trading units into separate companies that rent desks and computers from banks, and borrow funds from them to trade, says John Liechty, a Pennsylvania State University professor who helped design a new U.S. Treasury office that will try to monitor risk." (Banks Pile Into Safer Bets). This article also appeared in The Wall Street Journal Asia, The Wall Street Journal Europe, Switzerland's Handelszeitung and the U.K.'s Financial News.

The Wall Street Journal, 10/04/2010—J. Edward Ketz, associate professor of accounting, comments on government accounting. "Accounting standards also differ from those used for public companies. For example, governments don't include pension deficits on the balance sheet. 'So all the numbers in terms of the liabilities are understated,' says Ed Ketz." (Jumping Into Munis Requires a Leap of Faith).

Bloomberg Businessweek, 10/04/2010—J. Edward Ketz, associate professor of accounting, comments on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. "They need to be more forceful in setting the audit standards, and even more importantly, they need to be more forceful in enforcement," Ketz says. "It just doesn't seem they are doing enough." (The Accounting Board Is a Sinecure Qua Non).

SmartPros.com, October 2010—J. Edward Ketz, associate professor of accounting, writes in his column FASB accounting for debt issuance costs. "Consider the example of debt issuance costs," Ketz writes. "While it might not be one of the burning issues of the day, its simplicity compensates completely.  After all, if the FASB and the GASB cannot or will not solve the straightforward accounting topics, we have no hope that they have the technical skill and the moral courage to tackle the more complex problems." (Debt Issuance Costs).