RE: Authoritative Sources on Financial Calculations

["Dennis E. Hamilton" <dennis.hamilton@acm.org>]

Sheldon,

I have found a goldmine of the kind of "authoritative" sources I was looking
for.  I am embarrassed to report that my best resource was Wikipedia (where
I suppose I should have checked first) with regard to "financial
mathematics," "day count conventions" and "compound interest."  There are a
number of useful sources in the descriptions and references in those
articles.

I have also had considerable success with a search for "Standard Securities
Calculation Methods," some  of which refer to standards in various industry
groups and also a couple of authorities whose specifications have been
broadly adopted.  There is also some reference software that can be used for
test cases and comparison of other methods.

This is going to keep me very busy.  Some of the source materials are
irregular in their treatment and a few are quite comprehensive.  Those are
the ones I seek.

I suspect David Wheeler is aware of these, and I probably should have
consulted him first in any case.

The short document that you posted is also useful as an overview of
financial analysis for which good authoritative sources will also be
valuable. 

 - Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Sheldon Britton [mailto:sab_orion@verizon.net] 
Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2008 14:35
To: dennis.hamilton@acm.org
Cc: 'ODF Users List'; David A. Wheeler
Subject: Re: Authoritative Sources on Financial Calculations

Hello Dennis;

Re: "I am unable to find where on the IDB site where they provide any
specifications or sources 
       concerning financial analysis functions,computations with regard to
financial instrument, etc."
 
With your kind permission I am forwarding this email request for
"Authoritative Sources on Financial Calculations" to the Country
Representative/s of the Inter-American Development Bank in Guyana, South
America for any assistance in this regard.

Also, while I am not quite certain what pertains to present day employment
by the IDB with regards to that of the Economic Rate of Return (ERR) and any
other Functionalities... the attached procedures were known to have been
previously "manually" employed during project evaluation and execution
exercises in Guyana.

I am please to let you know that on behalf of my company we are very much
interested in this review of financial functions by the various committees
and have a keen interest in knowing the current list of functionalities
which have been adapted by authoritative sources on these financial
functions and how they are understood and applied by domain experts.

It is the belief that we can confidently look forward to a positive and
timely response from the IDB Country Representative/s in Guyana concerning
the above mentioned; and, this is to say thanks beforehand. 

Kindest regards,

Sheldon A. Britton
Chairman/CEO
Orion Enterprises and
Orion Resources International - Business Partner - IBM PartnerWorld for
Developers   

Dennis E. Hamilton wrote: 

	Thanks for the links.
	
	I am unable to find where on the IDB site where they provide any
	specifications or sources concerning financial analysis functions,
	computations with regard to financial instrument, etc.
	
	The UNIDO COMFAR III software must certainly involve use of the
functions
	akin to those we have been discussing for OpenFormula.  It is
difficult to
	tell if the software documentation specifies the principles and
authority
	for the COMFAR computations (or if UNIDO is considered such a
source).  Do
	you have any further information on that?
	
	I'm very interested in authoritative sources on those financial
functions as
	they are understood and applied by domain experts.  I know the
association
	of securities analysts in the US has published rules related to the
YEARFRAC
	360-day year basis, for example.  
	
	If you have more-specific citations in addition to those you just
provided,
	that would be very useful.
	
	Thank you,
	
	 - Dennis
	
	PS: The opendocument-users list at OASIS is fully open to the
public, but
	you must subscribe to it.  There is information at 
	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office
	under the "Mailing Lists and Comments" topic.  I'm discussing this
there
	because (1) we are not commenting on the specifications and (2) as
an ODF TC
	member, it is inappropriate for me to comment "inward" using the
	office-comment list (and even though I don't completely understand
why
	that's necessary, that is the rule).
	
	-----Original Message-----
	From: Sheldon Britton [mailto:sab_orion@verizon.net] 
	
	Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2008 10:20
	To: David King
	Cc: office-comment@lists.oasis-open.org; ODF Users List;
	robert_weir@us.ibm.com; David A. Wheeler; Dennis E. Hamilton
	Subject: Re: [office-comment] ODFF: XIRR
	
	Hello David,
	
	Re: "Dennis E. Hamilton's question to you.."
	
	If I may, I would be please to refer to the following sources which
may 
	be in a position of authority with regards to the "/*financial
analysis 
	functionality et al*/" that were mentioned by Dennis E. Hamilton in
his 
	email to you. These sources are as follows:-
	
	   1. *The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)*.
	
	       http://www.iadb.org
	
	   2. *The United Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO)*.
	
	       http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=o3470
	
	I sincerely trust that these sources are most welcome and may be in
a 
	position to provide the information sought by the respective
committees 
	concerned with the approval of "ODF definitions of operations,
including 
	OpenFormula functions".
	
	Have a very pleasant day.
	
	Kindest regards,
	
	Sheldon A. Britton
	 
	  

		David,
		
		Allow me to echo Rob's sentiment.  I find your questions and
comments very
		useful and something to think about.
		
		I do have a question for you, although I appreciate that
your attention
		    

	has
	  

		moved to other matters.
		
		Here's my question: Can you recommend authoritative sources
that establish
		the principles that are behind certain functions, especially
in financial
		analysis, treatment of securities and accounts, and so on,
that should be
		referenced for guidance of those who want to implement
appropriate
		    

	functions
	  

		in electronic spreadsheets and their formulas?  I'm
particularly
		    

	interested
	  

		in rules that are used in accounting and financial practice,
and the
		authoritative sources of those rules.  I'm concerned that we
have
		authoritative subject-matter expertise for citation and also
comparison
		    

	with
	  

		what various programs do.  
		
		Any advice that you have would be very welcome.  I invite
you to discuss
		this further on the office-user list, saving the -comment
list for
		    

	comments
	  

		that are specific to the ODF definitions of operations,
including
		OpenFormula functions.
		
		Regards,
		
		 - Dennis
		
		    

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