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To educate on AML legal requirements and issues relative to foreign correspondent accounts, and give practical advice on relatively low-burdensome measures firms can take to help them achieve compliance in this challenging area.

Summarizes AML requirements relevant to foreign correspondent accounts, discusses two related FINRA settlements involving the alleged failure to obtain and verify beneficial ownership information, reviews ongoing regulatory and legislative initiatives (including a FinCEN initiative to require firms to identify beneficial owners and verify their identities), and suggests certain due diligence procedures firms can use to screen foreign correspondent accounts.

One of the fundamental risks that firms face when dealing with foreign correspondent accounts is not knowing their customers' customers. While the current regulatory framework does not, in most cases, explicitly require firms to obtain beneficial ownership information, the practical reality seems to be that obtaining and verifying such information, where possible, could pay substantial dividends in terms of risk assessment and avoidance.

In some cases, a variety of cost-effective screening measures can be sufficient for a firm to identify concrete risks so that it may take steps to reduce its own regulatory exposure. Firms should not discount the simple for the elaborate, and should take advantage of the several, cost-effective AML tools and resources that are readily available.

Practical guidance for AML officers and other compliance and legal professionals by an experienced financial institutions lawyer.

This paper aims to discuss the issues about the recovery of the proceeds of crime, with emphasis on the USA situation.

The paper first sets forth the rationale for Section 981(k) of the Patriot Act and the requirements the government must satisfy to use it successfully to recover criminal proceeds. It then discusses the facts of a case where the new statute was applied and the legal arguments that were made when a foreign bank challenged the application of the statute in federal court. Finally, it discusses how the court resolved those issues in granting the government's suit for the recovery of the money.

Finds that Section 981(k), while controversial, has proven effective in allowing the Government of the USA to recover property from wrongdoers in the types of cases where it was intended to be applied.

Shows that Section 981(k) is an innovative and controversial addition to the arsenal of weapons that federal law enforcement authorities in the USA can use to recover the proceeds of crime.

To describe and to discuss the implications of the US Department of the Treasury's PATRIOT Act regulations requiring “covered financial institutions” (including broker‐dealers, banks, and mutual funds) to maintain risk‐based procedures to ensure that: correspondent accounts held on behalf of specified non‐US financial institutions; and private banking accounts, are subject to due diligence procedures to ensure that those accounts, and the financial institutions holding those accounts, are not being used for money laundering purposes.

Summarizes and analyzes the adopted rules.

Since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, regulation relating to anti‐money laundering has been among the highest profile – and highest priority – activity of securities and financial institution regulation. Consequently, anti‐money laundering rules and regulations have become a major aspect of compliance programs at financial institutions such as banks and broker‐dealers. The rules that are the subject of this article are noteworthy in part because they continue the trend of widening the universe of “financial institutions” that are now subject to substantial anti‐money laundering regulation. The rules described in this article add substantially to the complexity of anti‐money laundering regulation at financial institutions for a number of reasons, including: firstly, placing new, broad‐based requirements on financial institutions; secondly, requiring those financial institutions to make judgments regarding both the level of risk posed by certain accounts and the appropriate diligence that may be necessary for each such account; and thirdly, interpretive and implementation challenges.

A summary and analysis of new anti‐money laundering regulation, which comes at a time when US regulators are placing substantial emphasis on anti‐money laundering.

An exhaustive analysis of the current state of play of both the old and new law and the regulations promulgated thereunder. A one‐stop analysis of the state of the requirements under the USA Patriot Act and particularly how it affects broker‐dealers.

Financial reporting standards on foreign currency translation in many countries such as New Zealand, US, Australia, and Canada and the international standard issued by the International Accounting Standards Committee require the classification of foreign operations for translation purposes into two mutually exclusive types: integrated or independent. This classification determines the translation method. In judging whether a foreign operation is either integrated or independent, the accounting standard requires the evaluation of five qualitative factors. The standard neither describes the judgement process nor identifies the relative importance of the determining factors. It has been asserted that this lack of clarity may yield dissimilar results for firms whose circumstances are similar and consequently may reduce the comparability of financial statements across firms. Using a repeated measures design, this paper examines the judgement of preparers of financial statements (financial controllers) in determining the designation of foreign operations for translation purposes. The results indicate that the relative importance of the determining factors is about equal. No support is found for the assertion that the use of qualitative factors in accounting standards results in dissimilar judgements (lack of consensus) across respondents. Further, the results show that the subjects demonstrated consistency and self‐insight in their judgements. The results also indicate that the judgements of respondents are not biased toward either classification of foreign operation. This suggests that the observed bias may be motivated by economic factors rather than the outcome of using the qualitative cues in the accounting standard. When the respondents were debriefed, several of them identified ‘managerial independence’ as another determining factor that has not been included in the standard.

Problems in accounting for the translation of foreign currencies are as old as money itself, as far back as the ancient Greeks. In the USA these problems have been of primary concern in the twentieth century. Interest in accounting for foreign currency translation seems to have varied directly with the instability of exchange. Of particular note is the interest created by the unsettling economic effects of the First World War, Second World War and the Vietnam War. The standard setting bodies of the accounting profession, including the Committee on Accounting Procedures of the 1930s, the Accounting Principles Board which followed, and particularly the current Financial Accounting Standards Board, have devoted significant efforts to the development of accounting principles in this area, culminating in the present FASB Statement No. 52.

The controversy between the “accounting” (“translation” or “balance‐sheet”) and the “economic” (“cash‐flow”) approaches to exchange‐risk is examined. The latter approach is advocated and a conceptual frame‐work for the cash‐flow analysis is suggested. Finally it is argued that, in the long run, the cash‐flow effects of exchange rate fluctuations are offset by countervailing movements in inflation and interest rates. Exchange‐risk is therefore a short run phenomenon, stemming from unexpected changes in exchange rates.

This study aims to investigate two issues inherent in accounting judgements: the directional influence of uncertainty expressions and how they might positively or negatively affect accounting judgements and the foreign-language effect (FLE), which refers to the reduction of judgement bias that occurs when an accounting judgement is made in one’s foreign language. This study examines both issues in the context of accounting judgements made in Chinese and English languages.

This study conducted two experiments. The first experiment applied a 2 × 2 between-subject research design, and the second experiment adopted a 2 × 2 within-subject approach.

The overall results revealed that directionality biases existed in the exercise of accounting judgement in subjects’ native and foreign languages. However, when the language was switched from the subjects’ native tongue to a foreign language, overall directionality biases are reduced.

This study suggests that the use of native and non-native languages can have unintended consequences on accounting judgements. However, because of the limitations of using students as proxies for professionals and applying self-assessed language scales, the literature would benefit from future research that extends the subject profile to professional accountants and that assesses language skills more objectively.

This study contributes to the literature on cross-lingual accounting, both theoretically and methodologically. It also extends the FLE theory to an accounting context, providing insights on how language is involved in judgements concerning uncertainty expressions.

A topical examination of the risks undertaken by United States financial institutions who undertake to carry accounts for foreign officials; with some helpful direction on detecting red flags when carrying these accounts.

This paper explores the relationship between foreign direct investments and financial reporting changes via financial development in 12 Latin American countries during the period from 1997 to 2010.

In order to control the possible endogeneity problem, the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation technique has been conducted using country-level panel data obtained from the World Development Indicators website.

The empirical analyses provide evidence that international accounting standards have a significant effect on foreign direct investments. However, financial development associated with such standards reduces this positive effect. This is an important finding, suggesting that investors are likely to prefer portfolio to direct investments in Latin American financial markets that require or permit the use of international accounting standards.

The conclusions that have been drawn from this study are important for investors, creditors, and regulators. Although international accounting standards appear to affect foreign investments, there could be a lack of adaptation of these standards to specific economic environments due to cultural, educational, and economic factors. Therefore, firms, regulators, professional organizations, and accounting firms should make necessary arrangements so that the benefits of using these standards increase their costs.

The study contributes to the international accounting literature by examining the effects of international accounting standards and financial development on foreign direct investments in Latin America.