Definition of information

information

bits of knowledge or fact that have been carefully
chosen from a body of data and arranged in a meaningful way

Asymmetric information

information that is known to some people but not to other people.

Expected value of perfect information

The expected value if the future uncertain outcomes could be known
minus the expected value with no additional information.

Future-Oriented Financial Information

information about prospective results of operations, financial position and/or changes in financial position, based on assumptions about future economic conditions and courses of action. Future-oriented financial information is presented as either a forecast or a projection.

Information asymmetry

A situation involving information that is known to some, but not all, participants.

Information Coefficient (IC)

The correlation between predicted and actual stock returns, sometimes used to
measure the value of a financial analyst. An IC of 1.0 indicates a perfect linear relationship between predicted
and actual returns, while an IC of 0.0 indicates no linear relationship.

Information-content effect

The rise in the stock price following the dividend signal.

information content of dividends

Dividend increases send good news about cash flow and earnings. Dividend cuts send bad news.

Information costs

Transaction costs that include the assessment of the investment merits of a financial asset.
Related: search costs.

Information-motivated trades

Trades in which an investor believes he or she possesses pertinent
information not currently reflected in the stock's price.

Information services

Organizations that furnish investment and other types of information, such as
information that helps a firm monitor its cash position.

Informational efficiency

The speed and accuracy with which prices reflect new information.

Informationless trades

Trades that are the result of either a reallocation of wealth or an implementation of an
investment strategy that only utilizes existing information.

Insider information

Relevant information about a company that has not yet been made public. It is illegal for
holders of this information to make trades based on it, however received.

management information system (MIS)

a structure of interrelated elements that collects, organizes, and communicates
data to managers so they may plan, control, evaluate
performance, and make decisions; the emphasis of the
MIS is on internal demands for information rather than external
demands; some or all of the MIS may be computerized
for ease of access to information, reliability of input
and processing, and ability to simulate outcomes of
alternative situations

Medical Information Bureau

This organization was established in 1902. The Medical information Bureau (M.I.B.) is a non-profit association of life insurance companies. Its purpose is to detect and deter fraud by providing warnings called, alerts, to member companies. For example, if an insurance applicant advised one insurance company of a heart attack and then applied to another insurance company omitting this history, codes, reported by the first insurance company, indicating a heart attack would alert the second insurance company to the undisclosed history. It is a rarity, however, that the alert is the only notice of a specific medical impairement as most applicants completely disclose their history.

48-hour rule

The requirement that all pool information, as specified under the PSA Uniform Practices, in a
TBA transaction be communicated by the seller to the buyer before 3 p.m. EST on the business day 48-hours
prior to the agreed upon trade date.

accounting

A broad, all-inclusive term that refers to the methods and procedures
of financial record keeping by a business (or any entity); it also
refers to the main functions and purposes of record keeping, which are
to assist in the operations of the entity, to provide necessary information
to managers for making decisions and exercising control, to measure
profit, to comply with income and other tax laws, and to prepare financial
reports.

accounts receivable turnover ratio

A ratio computed by dividing annual
sales revenue by the year-end balance of accounts receivable. Technically
speaking, to calculate this ratio the amount of annual credit sales should
be divided by the average accounts receivable balance, but this information
is not readily available from external financial statements. For
reporting internally to managers, this ratio should be refined and finetuned
to be as accurate as possible.

Active portfolio strategy

A strategy that uses available information and forecasting techniques to seek a
better performance than a portfolio that is simply diversified broadly. Related: passive portfolio strategy

activity-based costing (ABC)

a process using multiple cost drivers to predict and allocate costs to products and services;
an accounting system collecting financial and operational
data on the basis of the underlying nature and extent
of business activities; an accounting information and
costing system that identifies the various activities performed
in an organization, collects costs on the basis of
the underlying nature and extent of those activities, and
assigns costs to products and services based on consumption
of those activities by the products and services

Actuary

One who uses statistical information to evaluate the probability of future events and prices insurance products.

Aggregate planning

A budgeting process using summary-level information to
derive various budget models, usually at the product family level.

Aggregate Supply Curve

Combinations of price level and income for which the labor market is in equilibrium. The short-run aggregate supply curve incorporates information and price/wage inflexibilities in the labor market, whereas the long-run aggregate supply curve does not.

American Depositary Receipts (ADRs)

Certificates issued by a U.S. depositary bank, representing foreign
shares held by the bank, usually by a branch or correspondent in the country of issue. One ADR may
represent a portion of a foreign share, one share or a bundle of shares of a foreign corporation. If the ADR's
are "sponsored," the corporation provides financial information and other assistance to the bank and may
subsidize the administration of the ADRs. "Unsponsored" ADRs do not receive such assistance. ADRs carry
the same currency, political and economic risks as the underlying foreign share; the prices of the two, adjusted for the SDR/ordinary ratio, are kept essentially identical by arbitrage. American depositary shares(ADSs) are
a similar form of certification.

Bar code

information encoded into a series of bar and spaces of varying widths,
which can be automatically read and converted to text by a scanning device.

bill of materials

a document that contains information about
the product materials components and their specifications
(including quality and quantities needed)

budget manual

a detailed set of documents that provides information
and guidelines about the budgetary process

business intelligence (BI) system

a formal process for gathering and analyzing information and producing intelligence to meet decision making needs; requires information about
internal processes as well as knowledge, technologies, and competitors

business process reengineering (BPR)

the process of combining information technology to create new and more effective
business processes to lower costs, eliminate unnecessary
work, upgrade customer service, and increase
speed to market

Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA)

An association of most of the life and health insurance companies in Canada that conducts research and compiles information about the life and health insurance industry in Canada.

capital investment analysis

Refers to various techniques and procedures
used to determine or to analyze future returns from an investment
of capital in order to evaluate the capital recovery pattern and the
periodic earnings from the investment. The two basic tools for capital
investment analysis are (1) spreadsheet models (which I strongly prefer)
and (2) mathematical equations for calculating the present value or
internal rate of return of an investment. Mathematical methods suffer
from a lack of information that the decision maker ought to consider. A
spreadsheet model supplies all the needed information and has other
advantages as well.

Capital market imperfections view

The view that issuing debt is generally valuable but that the firm's
optimal choice of capital structure is a dynamic process that involves the other views of capital structure (net
corporate/personal tax, agency cost, bankruptcy cost, and pecking order), which result from considerations of
asymmetric information, asymmetric taxes, and transaction costs.

capital recovery

Refers to recouping, or regaining, invested capital over
the life of an investment. The pattern of period-by-period capital recovery
is very important. In brief, capital recovery is the return of capital—
not the return on capital, which refers to the rate of earnings on the
amount of capital invested during the period. The returns from an
investment have to be sufficient to provide for both recovery of capital
and an adequate rate of earnings on unrecovered capital period by
period. Sorting out how much capital is recovered each period is relatively
easy if you use a spreadsheet model for capital investment analysis.
In contrast, using a mathematical method of analysis does not
provide this period-by-period capital recovery information, which is a
major disadvantage.

Change in Accounting Estimate

A change in accounting that occurs as the result of new information
or as additional experience is acquired—for example, a change in the residual values
or useful lives of fixed assets. A change in accounting estimate is accounted for prospectively,
over the current and future accounting periods affected by the change.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)

A not-for-profit corporation owned by its members. Its primary
functions are to provide a location for trading futures and options, collect and disseminate market information,
maintain a clearing mechanism and enforce trading rules.

Chinese wall

Communication barrier between financiers (investment bankers) and traders. This barrier is
erected to prevent the sharing of inside information that bankers are likely to have.

Common-base-year analysis

The representing of accounting information over multiple years as percentages
of amounts in an initial year.
Common-size analysis The representing of balance sheet items as percentages of assets and of income
statement items as percentages of sales.

computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)

the integration of two or more flexible manufacturing systems through the use of a host computer and an information networking system

Confidentiality Agreement

A legal document whereby the one party, usually the prospective investor, pledges to keep strictly confidential, and return on request, any and all information provided by the entrepreneur seeking funding.

cost-benefit analysis the analytical process of comparing the

relative costs and benefits that result from a specific course
of action (such as providing information or investing in a
project)

cost of production report

a process costing document that
details all operating and cost information, shows the computation
of cost per equivalent unit, and indicates cost assignment
to goods produced during the period

cost table

a database providing information about the impact
on product costs of using different input resources,
manufacturing processes, and design specifications

Credible signal

A signal that provides accurate information; a signal that can be distinguish among senders.

Credit analysis

The process of analyzing information on companies and bond issues in order to estimate the
ability of the issuer to live up to its future contractual obligations. Related: default risk

credit bureau

An organization that provides financial institutions with credit information concerning existing or potential customers who are looking to obtain credit services.

Deductive reasoning

The use of general fact to provide accurate information about a specific situation.

Differential disclosure

The practice of reporting conflicting or markedly different information in official
corporate statements including annual and quarterly reports and the 10-Ks and 10-Qs.

Disclosure

Additional information attached to a company’s financial statements, usually
as explanation for activities whose related transactions have influenced the
financial statements.

Due Diligence

The process of systematically evaluating information, to identify risks and issues relating to a proposed transaction.(i.e. verify that information is what it is proposed to be).

Efficient capital market

A market in which new information is very quickly reflected accurately in share
prices.

efficient capital markets

Financial markets in which security prices rapidly reflect all relevant information about asset values.

Efficient Market Hypothesis

In general the hypothesis states that all relevant information is fully and
immediately reflected in a security's market price thereby assuming that an investor will obtain an equilibrium
rate of return. In other words, an investor should not expect to earn an abnormal return (above the market
return) through either technical analysis or fundamental analysis. Three forms of efficient market hypothesis
exist: weak form (stock prices reflect all information of past prices), semi-strong form (stock prices reflect all
publicly available information) and strong form (stock prices reflect all relevant information including insider
information).

Efficient Markets Hypothesis

The hypothesis that securities are typically in equilibrium--that they are fairly priced in the sense that the price reflects all publicly available information on the security.

Electronic data interchange (EDI)

The exchange of information electronically, directly from one firm's
computer to another firm's computer, in a structured format.

electronic data interchange (EDI)

the computer-to-computer transfer of information in virtual real time using standardized formats developed by the American National Standards Institute

enterprise resource planning (ERP) system

a packaged software program that allows a company to
(1) automate and integrate the majority of its business processes,
(2) share common data and practices across the entire enterprise, and
(3) produce and access information in a realtime environment

Event study

A statistical study that examines how the release of information affects prices at a particular time.

Expense ratio

The percentage of the assets that were spent to run a mutual fund (as of the last annual
statement). This includes expenses such as management and advisory fees, overhead costs and 12b-1
(distribution and advertising ) fees. The expense ratio does not include brokerage costs for trading the
portfolio, although these are reported as a percentage of assets to the SEC by the funds in a Statement of
Additional information (SAI). the SAI is available to shareholders on request. Neither the expense ratio or the
SAI includes the transaction costs of spreads, normally incurred in unlisted securities and foreign stocks.
These two costs can add significantly to the reported expenses of a fund. The expense ratio is often termed an
Operating Expense Ratio (OER).

financial reports and statements

Financial means having to do with
money and economic wealth. Statement means a formal presentation.
Financial reports are printed and a copy is sent to each owner and each
major lender of the business. Most public corporations make their financial
reports available on a web site, so all or part of the financial report
can be downloaded by anyone. Businesses prepare three primary financial
statements: the statement of financial condition, or balance sheet;
the statement of cash flows; and the income statement. These three key
financial statements constitute the core of the periodic financial reports
that are distributed outside a business to its shareowners and lenders.
Financial reports also include footnotes to the financial statements and
much other information. Financial statements are prepared according to
generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), which are the authoritative
rules that govern the measurement of net income and the reporting
of profit-making activities, financial condition, and cash flows.
Internal financial statements, although based on the same profit
accounting methods, report more information to managers for decision
making and control. Sometimes, financial statements are called simply
financials.

Forecast

Future-oriented financial information prepared using assumptions all of which reflect the entity's planned courses of action for the period covered given management's judgment as to the most probable set of economic conditions.

Friction costs

Costs, both implied and direct, associated with a transaction. Such costs include time, effort,
money, and associated tax effects of gathering information and making a transaction.

Frictions

The "stickiness" in making transactions; the total hassle including time, effort, money, and tax
effects of gathering information and making a transaction such as buying a stock or borrowing money.

fundamental analysts

Analysts who attempt to find under- or overvalued securities by analyzing fundamental information, such as earnings, asset values, and business prospects.

global economy

an economy characterized by the international
trade of goods and services, the international movement
of labor, and the international flows of capital and information

INCOME STATEMENT

An accounting statement that summarizes information about a company in the following format:
Net Sales
– Cost of goods sold
--------------------
Gross profit
– Operating expenses
--------------------
Earnings before income tax
– Income tax
--------------------
= Net income or (Net loss)
Formally called a “consolidated earnings statement,” it covers a period of time such as a quarter or a year.

income statement

Financial statement that summarizes sales revenue
and expenses for a period and reports one or more profit lines for the
period. It’s one of the three primary financial statements of a business.
The bottom-line profit figure is labeled net income or net earnings by
most businesses. Externally reported income statements disclose less
information than do internal management profit reports—but both are
based on the same profit accounting principles and methods. Keep in
mind that profit is not known until accountants complete the recording
of sales revenue and expenses for the period (as well as determining any
extraordinary gains and losses that should be recorded in the period).
Profit measurement depends on the reliability of a business’s accounting
system and the choices of accounting methods by the business. Caution:
A business may engage in certain manipulations of its accounting methods,
and managers may intervene in the normal course of operations for
the purpose of improving the amount of profit recorded in the period,
which is called earnings management, income smoothing, cooking the
books, and other pejorative terms.

Incontestable Clause

This clause in regular life insurance policy provides for voiding the contract of insurance for up to two years from the date of issue of the coverage if the life insured has failed to disclose important information or if there has been a misrepresentation of a material fact which would have prevented the coverage from being issued in the first place. After the end of two years from issue, a misrepresentation of smoking habits or age can still void or change the policy.

Inductive reasoning

The attempt to use information about a specific situation to draw a conclusion.

Insider trading

Trading by officers, directors, major stockholders, or others who hold private inside
information allowing them to benefit from buying or selling stock.

Insiders

These are directors and senior officers of a corporation -- in effect those who have access to inside
information about a company. An insider also is someone who owns more than 10% of the voting shares of a
company.

Inspection Report

This is a telephone interview of the person applying for life insurance conducted by someone from the underwriting department of the insurance company. Some insurance companies only sporadically contact applicants and some contact every applicant. On average the interview lasts between 15 to 30 minutes. The questions asked relate to personal habits (like smoking and alcohol consumption) and finances, including income and net worth, confirmation of employment, duties and the nature of the applicant's business. In addition, there are questions about driving, sports, aviation and currently held insurance. All information obtained is strictly confidential and is submitted solely to the underwriter for review.

intellectual capital

the intangible assets of skill, knowledge,
and information that exist in an organization; it encompasses
human, structural, and relationship capital

intranet

a mechanism for sharing information and delivering data from corporate databases to the local-area network (LAN) desktops

Item master file

A file containing all item-specific information about a component,
such as its weight, cubic volume, and unit of measure.

job order cost sheet

a source document that provides virtually
all the financial information about a particular job;
the set of all job order cost sheets for uncompleted jobs
composes the Work in Process Inventory subsidiary ledger

Leakage

Release of information to some persons before official public announcement.

Living Benefit

Some insurance companies include this benefit option at no cost to their policy holders. The insurer considers on a case to case basis, the need for insurance funds before death. If the insured can demonstrate a shortened life of less than two years and with some insurers one year, the insurer will consider releasing up to 50% or a maximum of $100,000 of the life insurance coverage held by the insured. Not all insurers offer this benefit for free. The need has resulted in specific stand alone living benefit/critical illness policies coming into existence. Look under "Different types of Life Insurance" for further information. You might have heard of "Viatical Settlements", the practice of seriously ill people selling the rights to their life insurance policies to third parties. This practice is common in the United States but has not caught on in Canada.

Long-term

In accounting information, one year or greater.

Management accounting

The production of financial and non-financial information used in planning for the future; making decisions about products, services, prices and what costs to incur; and ensuring that plans are implemented and achieved.

management accounting

a discipline that includes almost
all manipulations of financial information for use by managers
in performing their organizational functions and in
assuring the proper use and handling of an entity’s resources;
it includes the discipline of cost accounting

management control

This is difficult to define in a few words—indeed, an
entire chapter is devoted to the topic (Chapter 17). The essence of management
control is “keeping a close watch on everything.” Anything can
go wrong and get out of control. Management control can be thought of
as the follow-through on decisions to ensure that the actual outcomes
happen according to purposes and goals of the management decisions
that set things in motion. Managers depend on feedback control reports
that contain very detailed information. The level of detail and range of
information in these control reports is very different from the summarylevel
information reported in external income statements.

management control system (MCS)

an information system that helps managers gather information about actual organizational occurrences, make comparisons against plans,
effect changes when they are necessary, and communicate
among appropriate parties; it should serve to guide organizations
in designing and implementing strategies so that
organizational goals and objectives are achieved

Marketplace price efficiency

The degree to which the prices of assets reflect the available marketplace
information. Marketplace price efficiency is sometimes estimated as the difficulty faced by active
management of earning a greater return than passive management would, after adjusting for the risk
associated with a strategy and the transactions costs associated with implementing a strategy.

materials requirements planning (MRP)

a computerbased information system that simulates the ordering and
scheduling of demand-dependent inventories; a simulation
of the parts fabrication and subassembly activities that are
required, in an appropriate time sequence, to meet a production
master schedule

Monitor

To seek information about an agent's behavior; a device that provides such information.

Nonsignificant part number

An identifying number assigned to a part that conveys
no other information.

Notes to the financial statements

A detailed set of notes immediately following the financial statements in
an annual report that explain and expand on the information in the financial statements.

open-book management

a philosophy about increasing a firm’s performance by involving all workers and by ensuring
that all workers have access to operational and financial
information necessary to achieve performance improvements

Open-outcry

The method of trading used at futures exchanges, typically involving calling out the specific
details of a buy or sell order, so that the information is available to all traders.

Passive portfolio strategy

A strategy that involves minimal expectational input, and instead relies on
diversification to match the performance of some market index. A passive strategy assumes that the
marketplace will reflect all available information in the price paid for securities, and therefore, does not
attempt to find mispriced securities. Related: active portfolio strategy

Payroll Register

A report on which is summarized the wage and deduction information
for employees for a specific payroll.

Perfectly competitive financial markets

Markets in which no trader has the power to change the price of
goods or services. Perfect capital markets are characterized by the following conditions: 1) trading is costless,
and access to the financial markets is free, 2) information about borrowing and lending opportunities is freely
available, 3) there are many traders, and no single trader can have a significant impact on market prices.

Policy

A written document that serves as evidence of insurance coverage and contains pertinent information about the benefits, coverage and owner, as well as its associated directives and obligations.

postinvestment audit

the process of gathering information
on the actual results of a capital project and comparing
them to the expected results

Priced out

The market has already incorporated information, such as a low dividend, into the price of a stock.

Pricing efficiency

Also called external efficiency, a market characteristic where prices at all times fully
reflect all available information that is relevant to the valuation of securities.

Projection

Future-oriented financial information prepared using assumptions that reflect the entity's planned courses of action for the period.

Prospectus

Formal written document to sell securities that describes the plan for a proposed business
enterprise, or the facts concerning an existing one, that an investor needs to make an informed decision.
Prospectuses are used by mutual funds to describe the fund objectives, risks and other essential information.

prospectus

Formal summary that provides information on an issue of securities.

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