Business & Finance
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Wirecard’s former CEO Markus Braun arrested over finance scandal

Edna J. May
Markus Braun, former CEO of Wirecard, stands accused of market manipulation. (Peter Kneffel/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Markus Braun, former CEO of Wirecard, stands accused of market manipulation. (Peter Kneffel/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Markus Braun, who resigned as chief executive of Wirecard (WDI.DE) last week, has been detained in Bavaria in connection with the balance-sheet scandal at the troubled German payments company.

The prosecutor’s office in Munich said Braun turned himself in on Monday evening and would appear before a judge today, who will decide on whether or not to keep him in custody.

Braun, an Austrian, is being accused of inflating Wirecard’s total assets and sales volume “through feigned income from business” in

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Business & Finance
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Should Value Investors Choose WhiteHorse Finance (WHF) Stock?

Edna J. May

Value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. After all, who wouldn’t want to find stocks that are either flying under the radar and are compelling buys, or offer up tantalizing discounts when compared to fair value?

One way to find these companies is by looking at several key metrics and financial ratios, many of which are crucial in the value stock selection process. Let’s put WhiteHorse Finance, Inc. WHF stock into this equation and find out if it is a good choice for value-oriented investors right now, or

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Business & Finance
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Germany to overhaul accounting regulation after Wirecard scandal

Edna J. May
Markus Braun, former chief executive of Wirecard - Michael Daider /Reuters
Markus Braun, former chief executive of Wirecard – Michael Daider /Reuters

Germany’s accounting watchdog is set to be stripped of its powers in the wake of the Wirecard scandal. 

The government will end its contract with the Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP) as soon as Monday, according to reports.

The job of overseeing company accounts will be taken on by Bafin, Germany’s financial regulator. 

“We have reached an agreement with the Finance Ministry to terminate the contract,” a Justice Ministry official told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper

Germany has been rocked by the collapse of payments company Wirecard, which filed

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Business & Finance
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Wirecard Exposes Big 4 Accounting Lapses Endure Post-Enron

Edna J. May

(Bloomberg) — Two decades of financial disasters from Enron Inc.’s collapse in 2001 to Wirecard AG’s meltdown have left the Big Four accounting firms facing a major cultural problem that regulators may struggle to resolve.

The 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) missing from Wirecard’s balance sheet brought the chief executive officer’s arrest, the German payments firm’s insolvency filing and a lot of finger-pointing. Some have blamed German regulator BaFin for its oversight failures. Wirecard’s auditor, Ernst & Young, called it an “elaborate” fraud that even a very rigorous probe may not have discovered.

But EY is also on the hot

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