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National Finance Center For Professionals

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John Garcia November - 9 - 2011

Understanding the fine print on a gift card is hard. Trust me, I’ve spent the better part of a month looking through more than 60 examples.

But after weeks of deciphering Web pages, calling toll-free customer service numbers or even calling or visiting individual stores while researching CreditCards.com’s 2011 gift card survey, I think I have a solution for the problem.

I call it the Schulz Box.

I was inspired by what’s known in industry circles as the Schumer Box — the federally mandated box in every credit card’s terms and conditions that includes many key details of your card’s fine print in one relatively easy-to-understand, standardized format. (It’s named after U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, who spearheaded the legislation.) There’s not anything similar for gift cards, but there should be. Read more…

Greg Fowler November - 9 - 2011

Europe is at the heart of the current credit crisis. Developments in Italy, Greece, and the rest of the PIIGS countries are driving the action in virtually every market around the world — from stocks to bonds to currencies.

So the four-day trip I just took to Germany couldn’t have been better timed!

I had the privilege of sharing my views on the global economy and global markets before a couple hundred people from the Munich area and around Germany last Friday. And over the weekend, I spent quite a bit of time talking about the latest European developments with colleagues and average citizens.

What did I learn? What kind of boots-on-the-ground intelligence can I share? Let’s get to it …

Bailouts Wildly Unpopular in the Country That Has to Finance Them!

Forget the empty promises of politicians, or the happy talk coming out of all these European meetings and pow-wows you hear about. The eve

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John Garcia November - 4 - 2011

MUMBAI: Indian consumers have started using their credit cards more often than before, driven by higher income. Soaring inflation has no doubt pushed up card spend, but even the number of transactions has increased, albeit a falling base. The latest official data puts the total number of transactions in March at 2.3 crore on a card base of 1.8 crore.

In April 2009, the total number of transactions was 1.5 crore on a card base of 2.4 crore. The rise in the total value of spend is also a reflection of soaring prices. “There is action again in the credit cards business. The focus this time is on higher value segment,” said Shamal Saxena, head of credit cards business at Standard Chartered Bank.

“Almost 20% of our new card customers are non-bank customers and we add 80,000-90,000 new cards per month,” said Parag Rao, head of credit cards, HDFC Bank.

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Gerald Conrad November - 2 - 2011

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Greg Fowler November - 1 - 2011

It’s been a rough for weeks for Herman Cain. Sure he is leading in the polls, but his life as of late seems more fit for the tabloids than the Times.

Thankfully the GOP hopeful offered up a soundbyte this afternoon in Washington to deter the press away from his amounting sex scandals and instead focus on his bizarre relationship with Charles and David Koch.

From a stage in Washington DC this afternoon, former pizzaman Herman Cain addressed the audience of the Defending the American Dream Summit with what he called a “breaking news announcement.”

The candidate didn’t acknowledge the sexual harassment charges which have ballooned like dough in an aged brick oven this month; Cain didn’t discuss his outburst in suburban Virginia from earlier in the week either, in which he erupted on the media with a scornful attack; nor did Cain touch on his recent quip where he said America should stop China from obtaining nuclear weapons–something they have had for half a century.

Th

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Greg Fowler October - 29 - 2011

PwC US today announced that Mark J. Mendola has been named as PwC’s U.S. Tax leader and a vice chairman of the firm. He will also serve as a member of the firm’s U.S. leadership team and the global Tax leadership team. Additionally, he will be responsible for the network of Tax practices across the Americas, including Canada, Mexico and South America. Mr. Mendola succeeds J. Richard Stamm, who has been named as vice-chairman, Tax, for the PwC network.

“Mark is uniquely qualified to assume this important role,” said Bob Moritz, chairman and senior partner of PwC US. “His significant leadership roles and years of service within PwC’s Tax practice and focus on delivering quality to our broader stakeholders will steer PwC’s clients through these uncertain economic times.”

Mr. Mendola most recently served on PwC’s Tax core leadership team as the Tax managing partner. In that capacity, he led the firm’s Tax market and client service strategy and was responsible for industry sectors and several Tax business units. Prior to serving in that role, he was the Tax leader for PwC’s Canadian firm, based in Toronto. In addition to these Tax-specific leadership roles, Mr. Mendola previously served as the Detroit office managing partner, the global Tax and U.S. automotive industry leader and as the lead partner on several large multinational clients.
A certified public accountant, Mr. Mendola is a graduate of Oakland University (Michigan), and received his MBA from the University of Notre Dame.  A frequent instructor and speaker, he has been active in the greater Detroit community and is on the board of several charitable organizations.
Mr. Mendola joined PwC in 1986, serving in the Detroit Tax practice. He became a partner in 1998.

About PwC’s U.S. Tax Practice
PwC’s U.S. tax practice provides business advice on tax strategy, global structuring, controversy, compliance and legislative and regulatory analysis to clients ranging from multinational corporations to prominent individuals. Our industry-based teams work with many of the world’s largest organizations, serving public and private companies in all industry sectors, including financial services, technology, industrial products, pharmaceuticals and life sciences, and entertainment, media and communications. Our national practices help clients across a broad spectrum of complex tax and business matters, including human resources, international assignments, international and national tax, mergers and acquisitions, state and local tax and transfer pricing. More than 7,000 professionals serve clients through PwC’s U.S. tax practice, while more than 30,000 tax professionals provide tax services through PwC member firms in 153 countries around the world.

John Garcia October - 26 - 2011

Profits of mainland industrial companies rose 27 percent to 3.68 trillion yuan (HK$4.49 trillion) in the first nine months from a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

Industries with 20 million yuan annual turnover are the focus of the monthly survey.

Out of 39 industries, only two recorded earnings dips, while in the oil refinery and related industries, profits slumped 83.9 percent year-on-year.

Some of the larger industrial enterprises also released their third quarter data yesterday.

Refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (0386), or Sinopec, said net profit rose 3 percent to 20.2 billion yuan from July-September.

The quarterly performance beat the average market estimate of 20.8 billion yuan.

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Gerald Conrad October - 26 - 2011

You don’t hear much good news these days, so I thought what the heck.  I’ll post some.  Here’s a good article I was reading about the economy actually showing some signs of growth in 2012:

The economy appears slightly healthier than many had feared it was a few weeks ago, raising hopes that it can end the year on an upward slope.

A raft of data Thursday show that layoffs are trending down to a six-month low, and factories in the Mid-Atlantic are growing again after contracting for two months. Nevertheless, home sales fell, and the housing market is expected weigh on the economy deep into 2012.

The outlook for the final six months of the year has improved from August, when many thought the economy was at growing risk of falling back into a recession. Other r

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