Changes in the property and casualty (Pamp;C) insurance industry, and changes in executive compensation in general, have lead to a situation where Pamp;C managers have increased opportunities and motivation to influence earnings. A significant opportunity to influence earnings arises out of...

Purpose: Risk management has grown increasingly popular in recent years due to the recognition that risk should be as actively managed as performance. A key objective of risk management is to evaluate performance in the context of the relative volatility in which business operations are...

Insurance claims can take years to resolve, which makes insurance performance measurement - and incentive compensation based on such measurement - challenging. The insurance industry utilizes a method of analysis called accident year analysis to manage the temporal challenge inherent in...

As I write this, markets across the globe are in turmoil and economies are slowing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Throughout the early phases of the turmoil, we heard explanatory narratives beginning to form such as, “This came out of nowhere! No-one saw this coming.” The irony is that...

No one in United States financial and business history is as misunderstood, and under-appreciated, as the late Jay Gould (1836-1892). There are a number of reasons for this, primary amongst them is that Gould earned a reputation as the most hated man in America. Two early episodes, the Erie...

The property and casualty insurance industry has historically focused on the underwriting or combined ratio as the measure of performance. Many dramatic changes have occurred in the industry and its operating environment over the past 30 years, however. These changes may have altered some of the...

When a firm suffers an extreme property and casualty (Pamp;C) loss it frequently finds it difficult to transfer similar Pamp;C risk in the future. This circumstance adds stress to the firm just as it is trying to recover from the effects of the super catastrophic (Super Cat) loss. For example,...

The property and casualty insurance industry has historically focused on the underwriting or combined ratio as the primary measure of operating performance. Many dramatic changes have occurred in this industry and its operating environment over the past thirty years, which have moderated the...

As I write this, markets across the globe are in turmoil and economies are slowing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Throughout the early phases of the turmoil, we heard explanatory narratives beginning to form such as, “This came out of nowhere! No-one saw this coming.” The irony is that...

This is the first paper that profiles the financial strategy of the late Jay Gould, the legendary 19th Century financial and business titan, and applies it to modern executive management. It proposes a financial strategy framework based on Mr. Gould’s various financial and business activities,...