AUDIT COMMITTEE Definition

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AUDIT COMMITTEE, in a larger or more sophisticated corporation, the board may find it useful to appoint an audit committee whose oversight extends not only to external audits, but also to internal audits, internal controls, and external reporting. Ideally, an audit committee is composed of three to five non-management directors and, as needed, outsiders with accounting and financial expertise. In a smaller corporation the audit committee may be a single director with financial expertise and audit experience who takes the lead in exercising the boards audit oversight responsibility.

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INVERSE FLOATING RATE is a security that has a fixed maturity with a coupon rate that is reset at a pre-specified amount, minus a given short-term rate or index, such as 18% minus the six-month LIBOR rate, or 30% minus three times the 30-day commercial paper composite rate. These instruments provide a way to hedge against lower short-term rates and/or a steeper yield curoe without extending the maturity. As short­term rates decline, the coupon rate increases.

PROFITABILITY RATIOS are measures of performance showing how much the firm is earning compared to its sales, assets or equity.

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