2002

Sarbanes-Oxley Reshapes Corporate Finance

After the accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom wiped out billions of dollars and thousands of jobs, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 to overhaul how public companies report their finances. It made CEOs and CFOs personally certify their financial statements, tightened internal controls, and created a new regulator to oversee auditors. It remains one of the most significant changes to corporate finance and governance in decades.

What is the bid-ask spread?

The bid-ask spread is the difference between the highest price a buyer is currently willing to pay (the bid) and the lowest price a seller is currently willing to accept (the ask). It represents both the cost of trading immediately and a key source of a market maker's revenue.

The IB to PE Jump, Explained

Private equity firms recruit heavily from investment banking analyst classes, prizing the modeling and deal experience those first two years provide. Recruiting for many large PE funds now happens absurdly early, sometimes just months into a banking analyst's first year, through a fast, secretive process run by headhunters. The pitch is real: similar or better pay, sharper focus on a smaller number of deals, and, for many, a schedule that's demanding but somewhat more predictable than banking.