Protecting the investor

Credit in association with Nomura talks to leading corporate bond market participants about the issues investors face in safeguarding their investments, including covenants and disclosure

How much faith should we place in audited accounts?

Louis Gargour: None at all. Every set of accounts varies from company to company and from country to country. That, I think, is the biggest problem in analysing and understanding a company.

Martin Gallagher: The lack of consistency across accounting regimes is probably the most difficult concept for investors to get their heads around. And that makes it difficult to discern cross-border relative value opportunities in fixed-income