Submitted by: PARTHA PATI

Class: BBA.LLB, Vth Year

Symbiosis Law School, Pune

DE_REGULATING INSIDER TRADING

Introduction:

Insider trading is a trading of corporation’s stock or other securities (e.g. bonds or stock options) by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company. In most countries trading by insiders such as officers, key employees, directors, and large shareholders may be legal, if this trading is done in a way that does not take advantage of non-public information. What is illegal is the trading by an insider on the basis of unpublished price-sensitive information. The prevention of insider trading is widely treated as an important function of securities regulation. In the United States, which has the most–studied financial markets of the world, regulators appear to devote significant resources to combat insider trading. This has led many observers in India to mechanically accept the notion that the prohibition of insider trading is an important function of SEBI. In most countries other than the US, government actions against insider trading are much more limited. Many countries pay lip service to the idea that insider trading must be prevented, while doing little by way of enforcement.

Objective:

The article intends to put forth the futility of regulating insider trading in the light of lack of enforceability and market efficiency. Insider trading is an extremely difficult crime to prove. The underlying act of buying and selling of securities is a perfectly legal activity  It is only the malafide intention of the trader which can make this act a crime. Moreover the primary function of the regulation and policy is to foster market efficiency. The article will also analyse the possible effect of de-regulation.

Main Text:

Who is an insider?

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 1992, say, “insider” is any person who, is or was connected with the company, and who is reasonably expected to have access to unpublished price-sensitive information about the stock of that particular company, or who has access to such unpublished price sensitive information.

In the United States, for mandatory reporting purposes, corporate insiders are defined as a company’s officers, directors and any beneficial owners of more than ten percent of a class of the company’s equity securities. Trades made by these types of insiders in the company’s own stock, based on material non-public information, are considered to be fraudulent since the insiders are violating the trust or the fiduciary duty that they owe to the shareholders. The corporate insider, simply by accepting employment, has made a contract with the shareholders to put the shareholders’ interests before their own, in matters related to the corporation. When the insider buys or sells based upon company owned information, he is violating his contract with the shareholders.

For example, illegal insider trading would occur if the Chief executive officer of Company A learned (prior to a public announcement) that Company A will be taken over, and bought shares in Company A knowing that the share price would likely rise.

Information that could be price sensitive includes periodical financial results of a company, intended declaration of dividend, issue or buyback of securities, any major expansion plans or execution of new projects, amalgamation, merger, takeovers, disposal of the whole or substantial part of the undertaking and any other significant changes in policies, plans or operations of the company.

How does insider trading work?

An insider buys the stock (he might also already own it). He then releases price-sensitive information to a small group of people close to him, who buy the stock based on it, and spread the information further. This results in an increase in volumes and prices of the stock. The inside information has now become known to a larger group of people which further pushes up volumes and prices of the stock.

After a certain price has been reached, which the insider knows about, he exits, as do the ones close to him, and the stock’s price falls. Those who had inside information are safe while the ordinary retail investor is stuck holding a white elephant as, in many cases, the ‘tip’ reaches him only when the stock is already on a boil.

The regular investor gets on the bandwagon rather late in the day as he is away from the buzz with no direct connection to the ‘real’ source. He buys the overvalued stock due to imbalance in the information flow.

In 2001, Sam Waksal,CEO of ImClone Systems,USA was sentenced to seven years and three months for breaking insider trading laws.He had learnt from his brother, the COO of ImClone that the FDA would reject an application for the company’s leading drug, and acted upon it.

In April this year, 2 Goldman Sachs employees made more than .7 million through insider trading by enlisting an analyst who provided information on Wall Street deals and a forklift driver who leaked copies of a market-moving magazine. SEC indicted 13 persons for insider trading.

SEC has brought about merely 200 charges for insider trading in the last five years.

In India only 14 cases have been taken up by SEBI for insider trading in 2003-04, which went down to only 7 in 2004-05, This clearly reflects our regulating authority’s dismal performance over the years.

Difficult to prove

While it’s common knowledge that insider trading takes place, it is very difficult to prove. Insiders may not trade on their own account. Flow of information is another important factor, but difficult to track. Regulations are in place to prevent this, but the stock price of a company invariably tends to move up or down at least a couple of weeks ahead of any price-sensitive announcement.

Take the case of IFCI. The stock has been on fire since early January 2007. It gained almost 53 per cent in eight trading sessions from Rs 13.45 before the announcement of its 7-per cent stake sale in NSE was made in January 2007.

The stock also gained 30 per cent in 12 sessions before the announcement to appoint Ernst & Young for advising the company on induction of a strategic investor in the company was made in March 2007. From this level, the run up in the stock has been over 210 per cent.

While it is not possible to say that insider trading took place in this case, little else explains the share price movement.

The expected strategic sale was called off in December 2007, and the stock shed almost 23 per cent in one session. Investors who got on the bandwagon at around Rs 70-74 in early September 2007 and did not sell by this time, would have lost all their gains.

Innocent till proven guilty. Considering the sensitivity of the subject and the evidence required to allege and prove it, the instances of insider trading that get reported are far and few. Says Bhavesh Shah, vice-president (research), Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediates: “Majority of the cases that have been reported and acted upon by the exchange and the Sebi have been too few and the action too late. A study of the reported cases on insider trading in Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) very clearly reflects a complex web of transactions of unusual nature put through for extraordinary gains by few interested parties. However, in almost all cases the Sebi has not managed to bring the culprit to book for one or the other reason.”

Samir Arora, the erstwhile fund manager of Alliance Capital Mutual Fund, was probed for professional misconduct, fraudulent and unfair trade practices and insider trading. SAT dismissed the charges against Arora on the premise that there was no violation and for want of evidence. Recently, the Sebi has initiated an investigation into sale of 4.01 per cent in Reliance Petroleum by Reliance Industries.

Arguments in favour of legalizing insider trading:

In order to make sense of insider trading, we must go back to a basic understanding of markets, prices and the role of markets in the economy. The ideal securities market is one which does a good job of allocating capital in the economy. This function is enabled by “market efficiency”, the situation where the market price of each security accurately reflects the risk and return in its future. The primary function of regulation and policy is to foster market efficiency, hence we must evaluate the impact of insider trading upon market efficiency.

It is not hard to see that when company insiders trade on the secondary market, they speed up the flow of information and forecasts into prices. Company insiders are in a unique position to make forecasts about the future risk and return of the shares and bonds of their company, hence they might often correctly perceive market prices to be “too low” or “too high”. When they trade on the secondary market, they serve to feed their knowledge into prices, thus making markets more efficient.

Insider trading is often equated with market manipulation, yet the two phenomena are completely different. Manipulation is intrinsically about making market prices move away from their fair values; manipulators reduce market efficiency. Insider trading brings prices closer to their fair values; insiders enhance market efficiency.

Some economists and legal scholars (e.g. Henry Manne, Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, Daniel Fischel, Frank H. Easterbook) argue that laws making insider trading illegal should be revoked. They claim that insider trading based on material nonpublic information benefits investors, in general, by more quickly introducing new information into the market.

Milton Friedman, laureate of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, said: “You want more insider trading, not less. You want to give the people most likely to have knowledge about deficiencies of the company an incentive to make the public aware of that.” Friedman did not believe that the trader should be required to make his trade known to the public, because the buying or selling pressure itself is information for the market.

Other critics argue that insider trading is a victimless act: A willing buyer and a willing seller agree to trade property which the seller rightfully owns, with no prior contract (according to this view) having been made between the parties to refrain from trading if there is aymmetric information.

Legalization advocates also question why activity that is similar to insider trading is legal in other markets, such as real estate, but not in the stock market. For example, if a geologist knows there is a high likelihood of the discovery of petroleum under Farmer Smith’s land, he may be entitled to make Smith an offer for the land, and buy it, without first telling Farmer Smith of the geological data. Nevertheless, circumstances can occur when the geologist would be committing fraud if he did not disclose the information, e.g. when he had been hired by Farmer Smith to assess the geology of the farm.

Advocates of legalization make free speech arguments. Punishment for communicating about a development pertinent to the next day’s stock price might seem to be an act of censorship. If the information being conveyed is proprietary information and the corporate insider has contracted to not expose it, he has no more right to communicate it than he would to tell others about the company’s confidential new product designs, formulas, or bank account passwords,

This is one of the situations where the insights of modern economics contradict common intuition. The fact that securities regulation in the US is primarily the creation of lawyers is not unrelated of the fact that the US is unique in emphasising restrictions on insider trading.

Insider trading appears unfair, especially to speculators outside a company who face difficult competition in the form of inside traders. Individual speculators and fund managers alike face inferior returns when markets are more efficient owing to the actions of inside traders. This does not, in itself, imply that insider trading is harmful. Insider trading clearly hurts individual and institutional speculators, but the interests of the economy and the interests of these professional traders are not congruent. Indeed, inside traders competing with professional traders is not unlike foreign goods competing on the domestic market — the economy at large benefits even though one class of economic agents suffers.

Once again, a mechanical adoption of regulation from the US is inappropriate. Given the higher degree of automation of the Indian markets, it is not difficult to imagine a situation where trades by insiders are disclosed to the market within five minutes of the trade being matched by the computer. Such a reporting requirement would harness the informational potential of insider trading, and enhance market efficiency by speeding up the full impact of the trade upon market prices

Conclusion:

Even if restrictions on insider trading were considered desirable, their sound implementation is extremely expensive. A wide variety of individuals can be classed as insiders by virtue of possessing information material to securities prices — top management, upstream and downstream producers, regulatory and enforcement authorities, professional advisors, etc. Further, the universe of associates through whom insiders could route their trades is very large — family, friends, business associates who are “paid” in information, etc. Enforcement of restrictions upon insider trading runs the risk of either being ineffective or being a witch hunt. Even if there are pockets of high quality enforcement, they would not appear fair in an environment where insider trading is otherwise rampant. Even in the US, where significant resources have been expended on deterring insider trading, there is anecdotal evidence that a great deal of successful speculation continues based on insider trading.

Hence, if we view securities regulation in terms of maximising the impact upon market efficiency given a scarce supply of regulation and supervision, then insider trading would be a low priority.

Insider Trading

Introduction – Insider trading is a term subject to many definitions and connotations and it encompasses both legal and prohibited activity. Insider trading takes place legally every day, when corporate insiders – officers, directors or employees – buy or sell stock in their own companies within the confines of company policy and the regulations governing this trading. In simple terms ‘insider trading’ buying or selling a security, in breach of a fiduciary duty or other relationship of trust, and confidence, while in possession of material, non-public information about the security

Thus , in nutshell , insider trading is the buying , selling or dealing in securities of a listed company by a director , member of management , employee of the company , or by any other person such as internal auditor , advisor , consultant , analyst etc, who has knowledge of material inside information which is not available to general public

Examples of insider trading -

Employees of law, banking, brokerage and printing firms who were given such information to provide services to the corporation whose securities they traded;

Government employees who learned of such information because of their employment by the government; and

Other persons who misappropriated, and took advantage of, confidential information from their employers.

Other persons who misappropriated, and took advantage of, confidential information from their employers.

Therefore, preventing such transactions is an important obligation for any capital market regulatory system, because insider trading undermines investor confidence in the fairness and integrity of the securities markets.

For instance, prior knowledge of a bonus issue would result in the insider acquiring a significant exposure in particular scrip, knowing that his holding would increase significantly after the bonus is announced.

The first country to tackle insider trading effectively however was the United States. In the USA, the Securities and Exchange Commission is empowered under the Insider Trading Sanctions Act, 1984 to impose civil penalties in addition to criminal proceedings. Most countries have in place suitable legislation to curb the menace of insider trading.

In India, SEBI (Insider Trading) Regulations 1992, framed under Section 11 of the SEBI Act, 1992, are intended to prevent and curb the menace of insider trading in Securities. Now SEBI has with effect from 20th February 2002 amended these Regulations and rechristened them as SEBI 9 Prohibition of Insider Trading Regulation, 1992. These Regulation have been further amended in November 2002

Rational Behind Prohibition of Insider Trading

The smooth operation of the securities market and its healthy growth and development depends on a large extend on the quality and integrity of the market .Such a market can alone inspire confidence in investors

Insider trading leads to loose of confidence of investors in securities market as they feel that market is rigged and only the few, who have inside information get benefit and make profits from their investments. Thus, process of insider trading corrupts the ‘level playing field’

Hence the practice of insider trading is intended to be prohibited in order to sustain the investor’s confidence in the integrity of the security market.

In Samir C Arora Vs. SEBI

It was observed that activities like insider trading fraudulent trade practices and professional misconduct are absolutely detrimental to the interests of ordinary investors and are strongly deprecated under the SEBI Act, 1992 and the Regulations made there under. No punishment is too severe for those indulging such activities.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 1992, does not directly define the term “insider trading”. But it defines the terms-

. insider” or who is an “insider;
. who is a “connected person
. What are “price sensitive information”.

Insider -According to the Regulations “insider” means any person who, is or was connected with the company or is deemed to have been connected with the company, and who is reasonably expected to have access, connection, to unpublished price sensitive information in respect of securities of a company, or who has received or has had access to such unpublished price sensitive information;

Connected person – The Regulation defines that a “connected person” means any person who- (i) is a director, as defined in clause (13) of section 2 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) of a company, or is deemed to be a director of that company by virtue of sub-clause (10) of section 307 of that Act or (ii) occupies the position as an officer or an employee of the company or holds a position involving a professional or business relationship between himself and the company whether temporary or permanent and who may reasonably be expected to have an access to unpublished price sensitive information in relation to that company;

Price Sensitive Information means any information, which relates directly or indirectly to a company and which if published, is likely to materially affect the price of securities of company.

American insider trading law

The United States has been the leading country in prohibiting insider trading and the first country to tackle insider trading effectively. Thus it is important to discuss insider trading in American perspective. While Congress gave us the mandate to protect investors and keep our markets free from fraud, it has been our jurists, albeit at the urging of the Commission and the United States Department of Justice, who have played the largest role in defining the law of insider trading.

The market crash in 1929 due to prolonged lack of investors confidence in the securities market followed by Great Depression of US Economy , led to the enactment of Securities Act of 1933 in which Section 17 of the contained prohibitions of fraud in the sale of securities which were greatly strengthened by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934The 1934 Act addressed insider trading directly through Section 16(b) and indirectly through Section 10(b).Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 prohibits short-swing profits (from any purchases and sales within any six month period) made by corporate directors, officers, or stockholders owning more than 10% of a firm’s shares. Under Section 10(b) of the 1934 Act, SEC Rule 10b-5 prohibits fraud related to securities trading. Further the Insider Trading Sanctions Act of 1984 and the Insider Trading and Securities Fraud Enforcement Act of 1988 provide for penalties for illegal insider trading to be as high as three times the profit gained or the loss avoided from the illegal trading. Much of the development of insider trading law has resulted from court decisions. In SEC v. Texas Gulf Sulphur Co, a federal circuit court stated that anyone in possession of inside information must either disclose the information or refrain from trading. (1966)

In 1984, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in the case of Dirks v. SEC that tippees (receivers of second-hand information) are liable if they had reason to believe that the tipper had breached a fiduciary duty in disclosing confidential information and the tipper received any personal benefit from the disclosure. (Since Dirks disclosed the information in order to expose a fraud, rather than for personal gain, nobody was liable for insider trading violations in his case.)

The Dirks case also defined the concept of “constructive insiders,” who are lawyers, investment bankers and others who receive confidential information from a corporation while providing services to the corporation. Constructive insiders are also liable for insider trading violations if the corporation expects the information to remain confidential, since they acquire the fiduciary duties of the true insider.

In United States v. Carpenter (1986) the U.S. Supreme Court cited an earlier ruling while unanimously upholding mail and wire fraud convictions for a defendant who received his information from a journalist rather than from the company itself. The journalist R. Foster Winans was also convicted.

“It is well established, as a general proposition that a person who acquires special knowledge or information by virtue of a confidential or fiduciary relationship with another is not free to exploit that knowledge or information for his own personal benefit but must account to his principle for any profits derived there from.” However, in upholding the securities fraud (insider trading) convictions, the justices were evenly split.

In 1997 the U.S. Supreme Court adopted the misappropriation theory of insider trading in United States v. O’Hagan, 521 U.S. 642, 655 (1997),. O’Hagan was a partner in a law firm representing Grand Met, while it was considering a tender offer for Pillsbury Co. O’Hagan used this inside information by buying call options on Pillsbury stock, resulting in profits of over million. O’Hagan claimed that neither he nor his firm owed a fiduciary duty to Pillsbury, so that he did not commit fraud by purchasing Pillsbury options.

The Court rejected O’Hagan’s arguments and upheld his conviction. The “misappropriation theory” holds that a person commits fraud “in connection with” a securities transaction, and thereby violates 10(b) and Rule 10b-5, when he misappropriates confidential information for securities trading purposes, in breach of a duty owed to the source of the information. Under this theory, a fiduciary’s undisclosed, self-serving use of a principal’s information to purchase or sell securities, in breach of a duty of loyalty and confidentiality, defrauds the principal of the exclusive use of the information. In lieu of premising liability on a fiduciary relationship between company insider and purchaser or seller of the company’s stock, the misappropriation theory premises liability on a fiduciary-turned-trader’s deception of those who entrusted him with access to confidential information.

The Court specifically recognized that a corporation’s information is its property: “A company’s confidential information…qualifies as property to which the company has a right of exclusive use. The undisclosed misappropriation of such information in violation of a fiduciary duty…constitutes fraud akin to embezzlement – the fraudulent appropriation to one’s own use of the money or goods entrusted to one’s care by another.”

In 2000, the SEC enacted Rule 10b5-1, which defined trading “on the basis of” inside information as any time a person trades while aware of material nonpublic information — so that it is no defense for one to say that she would have made the trade anyway. This rule also created an affirmative defense for pre-planned trades.

In May of 2007, representatives Brian Baird and Louise Slaughter introduced a bill entitled the “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act.” that would hold congressional and federal employees liable for stock trades they made using information they gained through their jobs. The bill would also seek to regulate so called “Political Intelligence” firms that research government activities and sell the information to financial managers.

Insider trading in India

In India Regulation 3 of the SEBI Regulations seeks to prohibit dealing, communication and counseling on matters relating to, insider trading. Regulation 3 provides that no insider shall either on his own behalf of any other person deal in securities of a company when in possession of any unpublished price sensitive information on communicate, counsel or procure, directly or indirectly any unpublished price sensitive information to any person, who while in possession of such unpublished price sensitive information shall not deal in securities. However, these restrictions are not applicable to any communication required ordinary, course of business or profession or employment or any law.

Further 3 A prohibits any company from dealing in the securities of another company or associate of that other company while in possession of any unpublished price sensitive information.

Insider Trading Regulations have been tightened by SEBI during February 2002. New rules cover ‘temporary insiders’ like lawyers, accountants, investment bankers etc.

Directors and substantial shareholders have to disclose their holding to the company periodically. The New Regulations have added relatives of connected persons, as well as, the companies, firms, trust, etc. in which relatives of connected persons, bankers of the company and of persons deemed to be connected persons hold more than 10% .The definition of relative, under the New regulations is in line with that of the Companies Act, 1956, which ranges from parents and siblings to spouses of siblings and grandchildren. The term “connected person” is defined to mean either i) a director or deemed to be a director, ii) occupies the position as an officer or an employee or having professional or business relationship whether temporary or permanent, with the company. Thus, there are two categories of insiders:

Primary insiders, who are directly connected with the company and secondary insiders who are deemed to be connected with the company since they are expected to have access to unpublished price sensitive information. The jurisprudential basis for the ‘person-connected’ approach seems to be founded in the equitable notions of fiduciary duty.

The secondary insider, who would have traded with an unfair informational advantage, may escape from being caught simply because there can be no trace of how he derived this information in the first place. Insider by reason of his connection with the company. In reality, much of the flow of the price-sensitive information often does not operate by way of such established networks of relational links between individuals. Very often, such price-sensitive information is communicated and spread out through very loosely connected and informal networks of brokers, clients and even between friends and through electronic networks etc. or an elaborate nexus of company official, brokers, traders. These individuals are very often privy to strategic policy decisions or developments that may influence the valuation of a company’s scrip on the bourses

Duties/ Obligations Of the listed company under the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 1992

To appoint a senior level employee generally the Company Secretary , as the Compliance Officers;

To set up an appropriate mechanism and to frame and enforce a code of conduct for internal procedures,

To abide by the Code of Corporate Disclosure practices as specified in Schedule ii to the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading)Regulations , 1992

To initiate the information received under the initial and continual disclosures to the Stock Exchange within 5 days of their receipts;

To specify the close period;

To identify the Price Sensitive Information

To ensure adequate data security of confidential information stored on the computer;

To prescribe the procedure for the pre- clearance of trade and entrusted the Compliance Officers with the responsibility of strict adherence of the same

The penalties /punishments can be imposed in case of violation of SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 1992

1. SEBI may impose a penalty of not more than Rs 25 Crores or three times the amount of profit made out of insider trading; whichever is higher; or

2. SEBI may initiate criminal prosecution; or

3. SEBI may issue orders declaring transactions in securities based on unpublished price sensitive information; or

4. SEBI may issue orders prohibiting an insider or refraining an insider from dealing in the securities of the company

Conclusion -The new 2002 regulations in India have further fortified the 1992 regulations and have increased the list of persons that are deemed to be connected to Insiders. Listed companies and other entities are now required to frame internal policies and guidelines to preclude insider trading by directors, employees, partners, etc. In the past, it has been observed that insider trading legislation is ineffective and difficult to enforce and has little impact on securities markets. Low enforcement rates and few convictions against insiders have been cited as evidence of this ineffectiveness. Irrespective of whether or not the SEBI was bestowed with wide ranging powers, it has been a clear failure when it came to the task of administering the law.

The importance of policing insider trading has also assumed international significance as overseas regulators attempt to boost the confidence of domestic investors and attract the international investment community. So, SEBI now should take the role of a regulator only. Special Courts could be set up for faster and efficacious disposal of cases.

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Roof replacement is the primary job of Milwaukee roofing companies. They spend most of their time replacing roof material on mainly residential roofing. They have many roof material options including a variety of shingles, tiles such as slate or ceramic, and even metal roofing. Because a roof is basically the umbrella that protects a home it is one of the most important parts of a house. Due to natural occurrences, such as hail, wind, and snow, and the debris that can pile up as a result of any of those, roof replacement is a common occurrence. Roofing companies also do roof replacement due to aging and wear and tear on average residential roofs. Roof damage from nature and age can cause leaks, and leaks can cause extensive interior damage and roof replacement is key to preventing them. Having a good and reliable roofing company evaluate your roof by doing a visual examination can help you decide if roof replacement is necessary in your situation.

Roofing Companies Can Install Solar Panels

Something relatively new to roofing companies is solar panel installation. Due to the recent concern for the environmental impact of conventional heating and energy sources, many people are turning to solar power for their homes. Roofing companies can install solar roof panels to residential roofing projects that can help generate enough energy to power an entire home. Though this type of project used to be done primarily by specialists, many roofing companies are now able to include solar panel installation into a residential roofing project plan.

Roofing contractors should be able to provide you with many different quality roofing services, weather it be a roof repair, a roof replacement, a re-roof, or green roofing.

Music video by Mariah Carey performing The Roof. (C) 1997 Sony BMG Music Entertainment
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Article by Navneet Singh

The roof is one of the most important parts of any house or building. It not only protects the people living inside the house or building from the adverse weather conditions, but is also a way of adding beauty to the house or building. This article will discuss about roofing services available in Atlanta.

If one is having a house in Atlanta which needs a new roof or the old roof needs repairing, then it is most advisable to hire a roofing company based in Atlanta itself. The reason why it is important to hire an Atlanta roofing company is because such a company will be knowledgeable of all the methods of roofing which are suitable for Atlanta. As they are based in Atlanta, they are likely to research about the specific roofing needs of Atlanta.

There are several methods of finding a roofing company based in Atlanta. You can look-up a yellow pages book in order to find a local roofing company. This traditional method is almost always time consuming. An efficient alternative will be to search online for Atlanta based roofing companies. Bear in mind not to search for companies which provide roofing in Atlanta, but for companies which are based in Atlanta. The reason for this is that there are several companies which provide roofing services for Atlanta, but aren’t based in Atlanta. You can search the Atlanta Real Yellow Pages to check whether the company is based in Atlanta. You may also call the Better Business Bureau of Atlanta.

When you conduct an online (or manual) search for Atlanta based roofing companies, you will find a large number of companies. The next step will be to decide which company is the best. There are three factors to be considered, namely the quality of the service provided, the warranty given and the price of the service (budget). Choose a company which has been in the roofing business (not another business such as construction) for several years. Such a company is experienced and will provide a quality service. The reason why they have remained in business is most likely to be because they provide a quality service.

The next factor to be considered is the warranty period provided for the roof. A lifetime warranty would be ideal, but if such a warranty cannot be found out, and then settle for at least more than 15 years warranty. The third factor to be considered is the budget. You may not be able to get a roof of the highest quality if you have a strict budget, but always choose the best roof Atlanta Company which fits your budget. You can only make a well-informed decision when you have analyzed these three factors.

About the Author

I-roof Company is number one company in Atlanta Roofing, Georgia roofing, roof Atlanta and Atlanta gutters.

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Article by Wayne Allen

All around the world there are people who are constantly searching for different ways in which they can work at home. If you are one of these people and you are looking to get out of your dead end job then here are a couple of tips that you should consider.

The first thing that you need to do is to decide what type of opportunity you would like to become involved in. All sorts of legitimate opportunities are available, from off-line work such as network marketing, to online Internet marketing exploits. Try to consider where your strengths lie and what your interests are and then consider an appropriate opportunity based on these.

Whatever you choose to do it is very important that you are able to identify and avoid scams and illegitimate opportunities. These are pretty prevalent around the Internet and therefore many people, particularly those who are just starting up working from home, and will get caught into them. In order to avoid this it is important for you to do plenty of research before you progress with any opportunity.

Set yourself up to work from home. You need to set up a specific working space that you can identify as a working environment within your own home environment. One of the biggest problems that people suffer from when trying to work from home will be a lack of motivation.

Along with a specific working area and you also need to develop a specific schedule. While one of the main benefits of working from home is that you will be your own boss, it can be difficult to be disciplined to work a full working day. By developing a schedule to stick to you will give yourself a better chance of doing this.

One final point is to set goals. Make sure that you have specific goals that you are aiming to achieve to keep you motivated and productive.

About the Author

When you are involved in a work at home project it’s very important to stay focused. There will be no boss cracking the whip to make sure the work gets finished. This can be a good thing but it can also be a bad thing if you lose focus. Click here for more tips on a work at home project.

Article by Adam Terebeckij

Many people struggle with the decision of whether or not to take the plunge and work from home. They rationalize and agree to give up this, that, or something else when that may or may not be necessary in order to make ends meet. The truth of the matter is that you can afford to make a lot less money working from home than you would need to make in order to maintain a certain lifestyle working outside the home.There are many expenses that could be drastically reduced if not completely eliminated in order for one parent to work from home but there are other expenses that are involved in working outside the home that are often not even considered when mapping out strategies and listing pros and cons.

The following is a list of expenses that you will either find greatly reduced or non-existent when working from home rather than working outside the home.

1) Child care. For many families, especially families with more than one pre-school child, these expenses can be prohibitive to say the least. Even with only one child in daycare the average fee for one year is somewhere between ,000 and ,000 if you multiply this for multiple children you can see that this is a significant monthly expense.

2) Taxes. Here’s the kicker and where working from home really pays off. Not only will you (more than likely) find yourself in a lower tax bracket by working at home, but you will also find some nice new deductions for your accountant to play with come tax time. Lowering your tax bracket means that not only will you personally pay less in taxes, but your family as a whole will pay less taxes for the year.

3) Professional Wardrobe. Those professional clothes can pack a pretty big punch on the household budget. While working from home may not completely negate the need for professional clothes it can seriously limit the need.

4) Lunches out. This happens to be a big expense for most workers over the course of a year. While it is always great to bring your own, we will all admit that there are times when we find the effort too much to comprehend first thing in the morning and opt for dining out. The other problem is that we often find ourselves working late and grabbing take-out on the way home. While there will still be times when we need to get out and about or simply do not feel like cooking, there will be less of these moments when you work from home than when you work outside the home.

5) Coffee breaks. These add up over time, particularly if your coffee break involves strolling over to Starbucks. Even if it’s just the office snack room where you’re spending your quarters you will find that it is much cheaper to keep your own supply of coffee (even flavored coffee) and snacks on hand for your home office.

6) Commuting expenses. This one is a little more difficult to define as it isn’t simply related to gas. Insurance costs less if you put less miles on your car, you will need routine maintenance less often if you are putting fewer miles on your car, and you will go through things such as tires and oil changes less often. These little things can have a huge impact on your yearly budget.

7) Dry cleaning. Many of those items required for a professional wardrobe also require dry cleaning. Eliminating this expense can be a real eye opener.

Parking. If you work in many cities, you either have to pay parking or your company includes that as a ‘perk’. Regardless of whether it’s coming out of your check before you see it or after, you can bet you are paying (somewhere along the line) for parking. Over the course of a year this can really add up.

While this list is by no means comprehensive and the actual fees will be different for everyone involved, when you compare your current income and subtract these expenses, you might be surprised to find out exactly where you stand. There are some expenses that will increase as you work from home but overall you will see some dramatic financial improvements on an even smaller salary working from home than you may realize. Carefully plan and consider whether or not this is right for you. Put pen and paper to it, crunch the numbers and let them lead your decision of whether or not working from home is something you can envision in your future.

About the Author

Adam Terebeckij is a seasoned Internet Marketing Entrepreneur and Private Real Estate Investor. His insight and information has helped countless individuals around the world. For more information on the TOP Work From Home jobs and Work At Home Business Opportunities visit: http://www.LegitimateBusinessOpportunities.com

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Article by Yossi Callomiti

Why I want to work from home.

why people started working from home and how it change their lives, or will Change! If you’re not already working from home, why do you want to? Everyone has their reasons for working from home, what are yours?

Big Family Giant Bills Because They are desperately Moms that need to do something now!! They have a total of 5 children. Even though the husband has a good paying job but without mom working, it’s getting harder to pay the bills. Those moms had to stop working when They found out They were pregnant. And with another salary, They can afford Paying The Piling up bills that doesn’t stop coming Because of such a big family, expenses are huge . they will be working to Help the unbelievable burden of Life and all together will be home When the kids Are there after School to be the mom who take care of them and hug them when needed, that is so Important to be there for them mom is not replaceable!

Be Your Own Boss Another reason You would like to work from home, is first of all… to be Your own boss, worry free of being laid-off, and to alleviate the commute time. You want to be assured that Your bills and children will be taken care of. Overall, just have a stable income and be able to take Your children on vacation. Being unemployed can really take a toll on yourself and your children causing deep stress of not being able to pay your mortgage, pay bills, purchase food, clothing, as well as not having medical insurance. It really frightens us to think of our children becoming ill and have no insurance. So being our own boss and working from home has a huge advantage over working for someone else.

There is More to You More, because you Think and know there is more to you then going to a job where you get paid what they determine you worth. With this economy it’s about pay cuts, not raises. If we fill we want to make a difference and help people let’s say your into losing weight and diet sector, so for example you want to Help People lose weight nutritionally, get the results they want from work outs and overall be healthier. There is nothing like watching someone come out from weighing themselves and they’re crying because they have lost weight since last weigh in. You watch their confidence grow. Their energy increase. What a true honor to be part of touching someone’s life like that. What greater business then one you can help people with what they need Health, Weight Loss, Performance and let them fill Great about themselves.

You Were denied unemployment. Maybe your from those who have recently become unemployed and was denied unemployment. You live in a small town and there are no jobs and you Need an income BAD!

Because Your Handicapped Person There are also those folks that are a handicapped person. handicapped people also have dreams and choice of living. it is almost impossible to find jobs for the people like those, specially for example in countries like India and other countries on that side of the globe. so they off-course will like or want to work from home. They’ll be very happy and thankful if they could help themselves that way, and fill good that they can manage without other people Charity Kindness and Favors when they have a suitable job.

To Earn Some Extra Income Maybe you Want to Earn extra income from Home online part time. To have that extra money that counts when it comes to pay a sudden Unexpected bills that Rise up from the curve of surprises in life. Or work from Home with No Politics! you want a legitimate job working from home because let’s say your 56 yrs old and want out of the office politics and back stabbing. Now that you are sure you got the right conclusions after so many years on the jobs and employment market out there, that you need a good environment. Home would be that environment, probably the safest place to be working from!

Work from Home in Improved Environment There are reasons like that you want to work from home because of the every day hassle of being short staffed and dealing with LAZY co-workers and the Boss playing favoritism. a lot of folks think It’s just a bunch of crap in the work force … it’s all about WHO you know instead of WHAT you know. And if your not a yes person and have a very strong work ethics and do not play politics, so the alternatives are to work at home for yourself, you are going to succeed with the Character values you have to offer, especially if you have a Very Strong Work Ethics and do not PLAY.

Best Regards and Good Luck! Yossi Callomiti

About the Author

Hello! My name is Yossi and i am From Israel. I am a Poet and Write Online From Time to Time as a Hobby! Have a Great Reading Online! <strong>Mobile Phone Spy Software</strong><strong>Flight Simulator Games</strong>

Work from home like 45 Million Americans are doing right now. Use sites to help you like Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com and even Craigslist.com to search for job listings. Beware of Phishing scams that steal your money and personal identity. You could work for Staples or Citibank as a work at home phone rep. You could work in Virtual sales and Tech support for Dell, Hewlett Packard and Sun Microsystems. So, get online and begin your search. John Tesh – Intelligence for Your Life. www.tesh.com
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Article by Andrew Bicknell

Often referred to as a second mortgage a manufactured home home equity loan gives the homeowner the option of borrowing money against the equity they have built up into their home. These types of loans allow the homeowner to borrow up to 0,000 and deduct the interest paid on their yearly tax returns.

When considering a second mortgage there are two types to choose from; a fixed rate loan or a line of credit. Both of these loans will have terms that range from five to fifteen years and they must be paid in full if and when the house is sold.

Let’s take a look at how these two types of loans work. First the fixed rate home equity loan allows the borrower to receive a lump sum payment for the amount loaned that can be used anyway the homeowner wishes. The monthly payments and interest rate remains the same during the life of the loan making this type of loan easier to budget for.

A manufactured home equity line of credit works differently then a fixed rate loan. It normally comes with an adjustable or variable interest rate meaning that the rate is tied to daily fluctuations of the rates banks charge. The borrower is approved for a certain amount that can be accessed with either a bank provided credit card or special checks tied to the loan account.

The monthly payment is a little different with a line of credit equity loan. It is dependent on how much of the loan amount has been used and the current interest rate. This means the monthly payment can vary and needs to be accounted for in the monthly budget. It is also important to understand that when the term of the loan is up all outstanding balances must be paid in full.

One of the big advantages of a manufactured home home equity loan is the homeowner’s ability to get a large amount of cash fairly quickly. This money can be used to pay down debt, tuition, home improvement or remodel projects, a once in a lifetime vacation, or other unexpected expenses.

Another advantage of this type of loan is the interest rate. It is normally lower then other types of loans and the interest that credit cards charge. By paying off outstanding balances on credit cards using a home equity loan the borrower can consolidate their debt into one monthly payment with tax deductible interest.

A manufactured home home equity loan can be a good financial tool for homeowners who need a large infusion of money at low interest rates. It is important to weight the advantages and disadvantages before signing the closing papers to make sure this is the best choice to make.

About the Author

To learn more about manufactured home loans please visit the website Manufactured Home Loans & Refinance by Clicking Here.

Home! Let me go home! Home is wherever I’m with you!

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