- •Рецензенты:
- •Unit 1. Accounting and financial statements
- •1. Match the terms with the definitions.
- •2. T 1 Listen to Sarah Brandston, an accountant in New York, talking about bookkeeping and tax accounting. Then answer the following questions.
- •4. Insert the words in the box in 3 in the gaps in the text. Accounting and financial statements
- •Vocabulary
- •5. Complete the following sentences.
- •6. Answer the following questions.
- •1. Match these terms with the definitions below.
- •2. Discuss the questions.
- •Types of Bank
- •8. Speak on accounting and financial statements. Unit 2. Banking
- •Vocabulary
- •3. Find the words or expressions in the text which mean the following.
- •4. Match the verbs and nouns below to make common collocations from the text.
- •6. Speak on types of bank. Unit 3. Stocks and shares
- •1. Discussion.
- •2. Read the following text and answer the questions.
- •Companies
- •Vocabulary
- •3. Write questions that could produce the following answers.
- •4. Find the words in the text which mean the following.
- •6. Match the following words and definitions.
- •7. There is a logical connection among three of the four words in each of the following groups. Which is the odd one out, and why?
- •8. Speak on companies. Unit 4. Bonds
- •1. In Tom Wolfe's novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Sherman McCoy is a bond dealer in New York. One weekend his six-year-old daughter comes up with a question.
- •2. Can you explain what bonds are - to an adult rather than a six-year-old? If not, listen to Richard Mahoney, a Vice-President with j.P. Morgan and Co. In New York.
- •3. Match the words and phrases.
- •4. Discuss the following questions.
- •5. Read the text below and answer the following questions.
- •Vocabulary
- •6. In each case, which of the three statements is true?
- •7. Match the expressions with the definitions.
- •8. T 3 Listen to Richard Mahoney again, defining three different types of bonds. After listening to the definitions, try to work out:
- •9. Speak on bonds. Unit 5. Futures and derivatives
- •1. Match the words with the definitions.
- •2. Select ten or eleven of the following words that you would expect to find in a text about futures and options.
- •3. Read the text, and see if you find the words you selected. Futures, options and swaps
- •Vocabulary
- •4. Complete the following sentences.
- •5. Find words in the text that are in an obvious sense the opposite of the terms below.
- •7. T 5 Read the following extract from the talk while listening to the second part, and then match up the expressions in italics with the definitions or synonyms below.
- •8. T 6 Listen to the third part of the talk and answer these questions.
- •9. Discuss the questions.
- •Unit 6. Market structure and competition
- •Market leaders, challengers and followers
- •Vocabulary
- •3. Find words in the text which mean the following.
- •4. Match up these words with the definitions below.
- •5. Classify the following markets according to whether you think they are example of the following.
- •6. Speak on market leaders, challengers and followers. Unit 7. Takeovers, mergers and buyouts
- •1. Match up these words with the definitions below.
- •2. You will hear Max Pocock, a director of the international corporation Leica, talking about how it was formed.
- •3. T 8 Listen to the second part of the interview and answer the following questions.
- •4. Read the following text and underline the arguments in favour of leveraged buyouts. Leveraged buyouts
- •Vocabulary
- •7. Speak on leveraged buyouts. Contents
- •Коваль Оксана Ивановна
9. Discuss the questions.
1. What particular skills do you think financial managers, investment advisers, securities traders, and professional speculators need?
2. Do you think you possess them? Would you be successful in any of these careers?
3. Do you like taking risks or working under stress?
4. Would you be prepared to try to sell financial instruments which contained potential risks that customers may misunderstand or underestimate?
10. Read the following extract from Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis's book about his time as a bond salesman in a large American investment bank, which explains the attraction of options and futures to speculators. What is Lewis's view of European investors?
Several dozen phone lights flashed continually on our telephone boards. European investors (I shall refer to them as 'investors' or 'customers' even though most of them were pure speculators and the rest not-so-pure speculators) wanted to place their bets on the American bond market from eight in the morning until eight at night.
There was good reason for their eagerness. The American bond market was shooting through the roof. Imagine how crowds would overwhelm a casino in which everyone who plays wins big, and you'll have some idea of what our unit was like in those days. The attraction of options and futures, our speciality item, was that they offered both liquidity and fantastic leverage. They were a mechanism for gambling in the bond markets, like superchips in a casino that represent a thousand dollars but cost only three. In fact, there are no superchips in casinos; options and futures have no equivalent in the world of professional gambling because real casinos would consider the leverage they offer imprudent. For a tiny down-payment, a buyer of a futures contract takes the same risk as in owning a large number of bonds; in a heartbeat he can double or lose his money.
When it came to speculation, European investors didn't require a great deal of encouragement or instruction. They'd been doing crazy things with money for centuries. The French and English, in particular, shared a weakness for get-rich-quick schemes.
(Michael Lewis: Liar's Poker)
11. Answer the questions.
1. What do you think Lewis means when he says of his customers that 'most of them were pure speculators and the rest not-so-pure speculators'?
2. In transactions such as these, what is leverage?
3. Why is there no equivalent of futures or options in the gambling industry?
12. Speak on futures, options and swaps.
Unit 6. Market structure and competition
1. Think of some durable consumer goods that your family possesses - perhaps a car, a television, a stereo, a camera, a personal computer, a cooker, a fridge, a hair dryer, and so on. Think of your casual clothes, especially jeans and sports shoes. Think of toys you had as a child. Think of the brands of food and drink you habitually consume, including breakfast cereals, chocolate, tea and instant coffee. Think of the products you use to wash yourself and your clothes.
In each case, do you know whether the company that makes them is one of the following?
the market leader (with the biggest market share)
the market challenger (the second-biggest company in the industry)
one of many smaller market followers
If you buy or have bought products that are net produced by the market leader or a well-known market challenger, what is the reason?
chance
price
because the product has a 'unique selling proposition' that appeals to you
because you need something special, and are part of a particular niche or market segment
Give examples.
2. Read the following text and write short headings for each paragraph.