Stealing is bad" commercials...

Public domain - copyright and expired or never requested a copyright. How can you protect something by copyright. Working on something and you can technically put the s and your name and ate by it.

You can also file with the library of congress. If you work somewhere and develop something for them, they usually own the copyright.

Infringement - you reproduce something without permission. The exemption 18 USC exception for "fair use."

Cover band cannot play music. Does the writer or

Post grant review process.

Trademarks.

EXCEL KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

DATA SELECTION / NAVIGATION FORMATTING
Ctrl + Pg Up / Pg Down Move to Prior / Next Worksheet
Alt + E + S, then: Paste Special (copy first)
Shift / Ctrl + Spacebar Select Entire Row / Column F, T, V Formulas, Format, Value
Ctrl + * (Ctrl + Shift + 8) Select All Adjacent Cells E Transpose (Values only)
Ctrl + A Similar to Ctrl + *, Twice for All Cells S, D, M, I Add, Divide, Multiple, Divide
Shift + F8 Add to Selection
Ctrl + B / U / I Toggle Bold / Underline / Italic
Shift + Alt + => / <= Group / Ungroup Selection
Ctrl + 1 Format Cells
Ctrl + 0 / 9 Collapse (Hide Columns / Rows)
Ctrl + Shift + 7 Box Selection
Ctrl + Shift + 0 / 9 Expand (Unhide Columns / Rows) Ctrl + Shift + Underline No Border
Ctrl + Shift + F / P Format Font Face / Size
Ctrl + Arrow Keys Move by Blocks of Cells
Shift + Arrow Keys Select Cells Ctrl + (Shift) + Alt + Tab Increase / Decrease Indent
Ctrl + Home / End Move to Upper Left / Lower Right Alt + O, C, A AutoFit Column Width
Ctrl + . (within selection) Move Clockwise to next Corner Alt + O, H, R Change Worksheet Name
Ctrl + – / Ctrl + + Delete / Insert Selected Cells EDITING
Alt + ¯ Show Dropdown List Options F2 Toggle Edit / Navigation Mode
Alt + (Ctrl + Tab) Navigate Menu Items / Toolbar F4 (edit mode) Toggle Anchoring ($ in cell ref)
F4 (non-edit mode) Repeat Last Action (like Ctrl + Y)

DATA MANIPULATION
Ctrl + Enter Fill Selection with Formula / Text
Ctrl + C / Ctrl + Insert Copy Shift + F10 Show Context Menu (right click)
Ctrl + X / Shift + Delete Cut
Ctrl + V / Shift + Insert Paste Shift + F2 Insert Comment (Esc twice to exit)
Shift + F3 Display Formula Dialog Box
Ctrl + R / D Autofill (Copy Paste Right / Down) F9 / Shift + F9 Calc Entire File / Active Sheet Only
Ctrl + Z / Y Undo / Redo Last Action Alt + Enter Start New Line in Cell
Ctrl + F / H Find / Replace
Alt + 0150 / 0151 Insert "N" Dash "–" / "—"
Alt + = Summation (AutoSum) Ctrl + ; / : Insert Date / Time as Value
Ctrl + ' / " Copy Formula / Value Above Ctrl + ` (tilda) Toggle Cell Values / Formulas
Ctrl + Shift + Enter Enter Formula as an Array


More to come...

Section 301
US Trade Law


Article III: National Treatment on Internal Taxation and Regulation
Taxes cannot be imposed on imported goods strictly to protect domestic production


Article V: Traffic in Transit
Cannot hinder traffic by imposing extreme charges


Article VI: Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties
Products introduced in another country at lower than normal value


Article XI: General Elimination of Quantitative Restrictions

*Countervailing Measures - what a country is able to do when affected by protectionist policies. 


China produces > 90% of the world's supply of rare earth elements and other minerals
US produces none
China has admitted that they need to clean up the industry, because of incidents of cancer causing elements getting out of control.

United Steel Workers v. China

• China has violated GATT in applying 5 prohibited subsidies: 
• "Ride the Wind" Special Fund for Wind Power
• Manufacturing Export Product
• Research and Development Fund
• Export Credits from China's Export-Import Bank
• Export Credit Guarantees from Sinosure

Local content requirements for wind and solar power plants
Bidding preferences fo domestic wind companies
Exclusion of foreign firms from access to carbon credits
requirements in agreements with state-owned enterprises

IFRS (pt.3)

Trying not to keep you in suspense. Here's our next segment on IFRS....

We need to realize that there are a few presentation differences with regard to the current status of IFRS/GAAP convergence.

Here are some key points: 

GAAP: 
-Firms can change reporting date
-Reporting period more than a year not permitted
-Financial statements are required separately for the transition period

IFRS:
-Reporting date change requires extraordinary circumstances
-Reporting period more than a year permitted for transition period
-Financial statements not required separately for the transition period


Jargon for IFRS includes the "true and fair" while GAAP requires "present fairly" to describe the quality of financial statements.

IFRS (pt.2)

Today we need to distinguish between economic substance and commercial substance. But wait, can we?

I'm not sure. Let's explore this issue. According to the IFRS, a transaction is deemed to have commercial substance for the firm if it changes: (1) the amount, (2) timing, or (3) riskiness of the firm’s future cash flows.

If the transaction impacts our definition of asset, liability, equity, revenue (including gain), expense (including loss), it has economic substance.

Per handout from Professor Harvey: 

Normally, when we talk about the economic substance of a transaction, we will mean the real or essential part or element in economic terms, effect on wealth of claimants. That comes close to the notion of commercial substance. Under chapter two of the 2010 Exposure Draft of the new conceptual framework document being worked on by IASB and FASB since 2005, the two fundamental qualitative characteristics determining usefulness of financial statement information in decision making are relevance and faithful representation. “Faithful representation implies that decision‐useful financial information represents faithfully the economic phenomenon (those affecting financial position and results of operations) that it purports to represent.” [Exposure Draft] This must mean the extent to which the phenomena give rise to assets, liabilities, equity, revenues (including gains) and expenses (including losses).

IFRS (pt.1)

The second chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is Hans Hoogervorst, who previously held office as co-chair of the Financial Crisis Advisory Group and chair of the IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board, a collection of financial market regulators that includes the SEC's Mary Schapiro. 

There are several noteworthy issues surrounding the proposed IFRS/GAAP convergence. We will address those, but first give a brief update of the current status of the convergence project. 

The 1933 and 1934 Securities acts were disclosure statutes, and the 1934 act gave rise to the SEC. This had to be created to regulate the markets. The SEC delegated authority to the Committee on Accounting Procedure. This committee was initially run by the American Institute of Accountants, which is now the AICPA. Later, in 1973, the FASB was created, which replaced the former CAP and APB. Thus the FASB is the U.S. standard-setter by mandate of the SEC. 

From the international angle, the IASC was formed in 1973, perhaps to preempt a European accounting standard-setting body. This commission published the IAS 1 - IAS 41, which were mainly affirmations or endorsement of common accounting practices.  Then, in 1987, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) stated a willingness to endorse the IASC’s standards, stipulating that this would require the IASC to eliminate many of alternative methods. This took place in 1993.

In 2001 we witnessed the formation of a new professional board, the IASB, which was funded by volunteers. Much of their early work was to amend former IAS statements. Then the "Norwalk Agreement" in 2002. This became a pivotal step in the convergence process. Signed in Norwalk by the IAS and FASB, the Memorandum of Understand initiated an active program toward convergence, with the following goals: 

• Eliminating minor differences in the short run.
• Aligning the IASB and FASB work plans to eliminate other differences.
• Agreement to continue working jointly on current projects.
• Encourage their interpretive bodies to coordinate their work.

The MOU was updated in 2008, based on an SEC roadmap. Currently the FASB and IFRS are addressing the following three topics:

• financial instruments
• leases
• revenue recognition

Financial statement presentation and liability and equity distinctions are also on the docket, but are not currently being addressed. All for now. 

Interpolated Terminal Reserve

(1) Rev. Rul. 59-195 — Interpolated Terminal Reserve. Rev. Rul. 59-195, 1959-1 C.B. 18, addressed the determination of the fair market value of a policy in a situation in which an employer sold to an employee a life insurance contract on which premiums were still due. The revenue ruling held that, for purposes of computing the employee’s taxable gain in the year of the purchase, the value of the contract should be determined using the approach of § 25.2512-6 of the Gift Tax Regulations. Under that regulation, the value of a life insurance contract that has been in force for some time and on which further premium payments are to be made is not its cash surrender value, but, rather, the interpolated terminal reserve as of the date of sale plus the proportionate part of any employer-paid unearned premiums. Section 25.2512-6 also provides that if “because of the unusual nature of the contract such approximation is not reasonably close to the full value, this method may not be used.” Thus, this method is appropriate only where the reserve reflects the value of all of the relevant features of the policy.

Estate & Tax: Code Topics

§2501(a) transfer of property by gift
§2511(a) elaborates on what is a "gift"
§2503(e) qualified statutory exemptions: payment of medical expenses or tuition; property settlements in conjunction with divorce; qualified disclaimers.
§2513 gift-splitting provision (13k, 26k for 2011)
§2516 divorce litigation exemption
§2518 disclaimers

The Unified Transfer Tax System

It was mandated by the Tax Reform Act of 1976, and combined the separate estate and gift tax systems into one unified transfer tax system; also includes the generation-skipping transfer tax. Any post-1976 taxable gifts are called adjusted taxable gifts, and are included in the donor's death tax base.

§102 excludes gifts from income purpose to prevent tax on transfers. 

Estate & Gift

Estate & gift taxes are addressed in title 26, subtitle B of the US IRC. Specifically, chapter 12 covers the gift tax. Here's an overview:

                Subchapter A Determination of Tax Liability §§2501-2505

§2501 Imposition of tax.
                §2502 Rate of tax.
                §2503 Taxable gifts.
                §2504 Taxable gifts for preceding calendar periods.
                §2505 Unified credit against gift tax.                                       

Subchapter B Transfers §§2511-2519

§2511 Transfers in general.
§2512 Valuation of gifts.
§2513 Gift by husband or wife to third party.
§2514 Powers of appointment.
§2515 Treatment of generation-skipping transfer tax.
§2515 Tenancies by the entirety in real property. [Repealed]
§2515A Tenancies by the entirety in personal property. [Repealed]
§2516 Certain property settlements.
§2517 Certain annuities under qualified plans. [Repealed]
§2518 Disclaimers.
§2519 Dispositions of certain life estates.

                Subchapter C Deductions §§2522-2524
                        §2521 Specific exemption. [Repealed]

                        §2522 Charitable and similar gifts.
                        §2523 Gift to spouse.
                        §2524 Extent of deductions.

   

§351 Tax Consequences to Transferree Corporation

Corporations recognize no gain or loss when they issue their own stock in exchange for property or services.. They do not recognize G/L when they exchange their own debt instruments for property or services. However, they do recognize gain when transferring appreciated property as part of a §351 exchange.


A corp that acquires property in exchange for its stock in a transaction that is taxable to the transferor takes a current cost (FMV) basis in the property. But if the exchange meets the requirements for nonrecognition treatment under §351 the basis in property is computed thus: start with the transferors' adjust basis, add the gain recognized by the transferor, and subtract the reduction for loss property. This yields the transferee corp's basis in property acquired.


Section 362(e)(2) prevents "double losses" from being generated by shareholders who transfer loss property to a corporation. So we cannot aggregate built-in losses.