But certainly one big topic of conversation has been soft dollars--the monetary value of the research that investment banks provide to clients in return for trading order flow--which the SEC has been studying.
Finally, and anecdotally, managers say that the heroic cost-cutting that most businesses undertook during the recession and in the years since has largely run its course, leaving Corporate America with far less fat to trim in order to bolster cash-flow margins.
Eric and Jessica were far from ready to supply such a big order - mainly because of cash flow problems.
This is called payment for order flow, and trader-blogger Jeffrey Carter explains the problem.
The other half worked on the back end, crunching computer code to build systems for order-processing, distribution and inventory flow and to integrate a new Web site tracking system with the existing ones.
"While we focused on getting the finances in order and introducing a culture of cash-flow management, we let the Jains do what they knew best--make and sell their products, " says Jacob, now a partner at Richard Branson's renewables-focused Virgin Green Fund in San Francisco.
The NYSE promotes these in-house sites as the way to get order flow before firms located away from the exchange property itself.
The main difference being that the more traditional model, featuring pro-rata allocation and collection of payment for order flow, is more geared towards one facet of the investing community, comprised in large part by retail investors who are using options limit orders and other very simple strategies.
Floform's directors had blamed the difficulties on cuts to the firm's order book, which they said had resulted in "significant cash-flow difficulties".
Many believe capital deployment should follow a "pecking-order theory" that prescribes that managements should apply their cash flow, in order of priority, to fix their balance sheet if overleveraged, fund organic investments, pay dividends, fund acquisitive growth and, only when there is additional cash left over, to distribute it via share repurchases.
The company has also developed software to demonstrate its potential -- including an e-reader app that wraps text around any extended digit in order to preserve the flow of your text.
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In order to generate that ad revenue, they need to ensure a steady flow of traffic - so cutting back requires some careful consideration.
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As communications networks become more widespread, utilities will be able to balance flow by harnessing everything from solar panels to back-yard generators in order to supply electricity when and where it's needed.
He's even discussed reversing the flow of an 800, 000-barrel-per-day pipeline across Panama in order to make it easier to ship Venezuelan crude to Asia.
That flood, ironically, spurred the creation of the Corps of Engineers, empowering them to create systems to guard against further calamities -- and giving them the authority to let waters flow from some levees to wash away some areas in order to spare others.
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