Using accounting data based indexing to create a portfolio of financial objects

• US RE44,362 E1
• Filed: 08/17/2012
• Issued: 07/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Research Affiliates LLC (Research Affiliates Global Holdings LLC)
• Original Assignee: Research Affiliates LLC (Research Affiliates Global Holdings LLC)
• Inventors: Arnott, Robert D., Wood, Paul C.
• Primary Examiner(s): JOHNSON, GREGORY L
• Application Number:
  US13/587,921
• Time in Patent Office: 326 Days
• Field of Search: 705/36.R, 705/35
• US Class Current: 705/36.R
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product creates an index based on accounting based data, as well as a portfolio of financial objects based on the index where the portfolio is weighted according to accounting based data. A passive investment system may be based on indices created from various metrics. The indexes may be built with metrics other than market capitalization weighting, price weighting or equal weighting. Non-financial metrics may also be used to build indexes to create passive investment systems. Additionally, a combination of financial non-market capitalization metrics may be used along with non-financial metrics to create passive investment systems. Once the index is built, it may be used as a basis to purchase securities for a portfolio. Specifically excluded are widely-used capitalization-weighted indexes and price-weighted indexes, in which the price of a security contributes in a substantial way to the calculation of the weight of that security in the index or the portfolio, and equal weighting weighted indexes. Valuation indifferent indexes avoid overexposure to overvalued securities and underexposure to undervalued securities, as compared with conventional capitalization-weighted and price-weighted.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for constructing data indicative of a financial object index, the method comprising:

constructing, by at least one computer processor, data indicative of the financial object index comprising;

selecting, by the at least one computer processor, data indicative of constituent financial objects of the financial object index based upon at least one accounting data rather than price of said financial objects, said at least one accounting data regarding at least one entity relating to each of said financial objects, the at least one entity comprising at least one of a region, a country, a company, or a sovereign associated with said each of said financial objects; and

weighting, by the at least one computer processor, data indicative of said constituent financial objects based upon at least one accounting data rather than price of said financial objects, said at least one accounting data regarding the at least one entity, to obtain data indicative of constituent weightings for each of said constituent financial objects, and

storing, by the at least one computer processor, said data indicative of said constituent financial objects and said constituent weightings on at least one computer storage device,

wherein each of said financial objects comprises at least one instrument,

wherein each of said financial objects comprises at least one of;

a bond;

a fixed income debt instrument;

a debt instrument;

an emerging market debt instrument;

a high yield debt instrument;

a corporate debt instrument;

an investment grade debt instrument;

a debenture;

a bank loan;

a convertible bond;

a senior debt;

a subordinated debt;

a term loan;

a government debt instrument;

a government bond;

a corporate bond;

a high yield bond;

an emerging market bond;

a municipal bond debt instrument;

a treasury bond debt instrument;

a treasury bill debt instrument;

a mortgage based debt instrument;

a securitized debt instrument;

a security;

a stock;

a commodity;

a futures contract;

a mutual fund;

a hedge fund;

a fund of funds;

an exchange traded fund (ETF);

a derivative;

a negative weighting on any asset;

an asset account;

a separate account;

a pooled trust;

or

a limited partnership; and

wherein said at least one accounting data comprises at least one of;

at least one financial metric of the at least one entity associated with each of said constituent financial objects;

or

at least one metric, level, rate, or expenditure amount from information disclosures of the at least one entity.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said weighting is not based on any of:

equal weighting, weighting in proportion to share price, weighting in proportion to market capitalization, or weighting in proportion to free float.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the accounting data comprises data found within a database of information pertaining to at least one of:

regions, sovereigns or countries.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

basing the constituent weightings of the financial objects, wherein the financial objects comprise emerging market financial objects, upon at least one of;

a ratio, a mathematical transformation, or a manipulation of the accounting data.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising constructing, by the at least one computer processor, data indicative of a financial object portfolio based on the financial object index, wherein the constituent weightings of the constituent financial objects within at least one of the financial object index or the financial object portfolio are altered as at least one of the at least one accounting data about the at least one entity in or outside the financial object index changes.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said weighting comprises:

calculating said constituent weightings based upon said at least one accounting data.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said at least one accounting data, comprises at least one of:

total assets, funds from operations (FFO), adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), sales, revenues, total dividend distributions, or ratios pertaining thereto.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one accounting data, comprises data found within a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) company annual report and accounts (GAAP reports).

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said weighting based on said at least one accounting data further comprises weighting based on at least one demographic data comprising at least one of:

country metrics including at least one of;

economic metrics, area, population, unemployment rate, reserves, resource consumption, democracy index, corruption index, government debt, private debt, government expenditures, nominal interest rate, commercial paper yield, consumer price index (CPI), purchasing power, relation of purchasing power to nominal exchange rate and any deviations from historical trend, or country current account flow;

wherein said economic metrics including at least one of;

a gross domestic product (GDP), a gross national product (GNP), a gross net income (GNI), or a gross national debt (GND);

or

industry metrics including at least one of;

industry growth rate, total capital expenditures, inventories total—

end of year, average industry dividends, supplemental labor costs, inventories finished products—

end of year, new orders for manufactured goods, fuel costs, inventories work in process—

end of year, shipments, electric energy used, inventories, materials, supplies, or fuels,—

end of year, unfilled orders, inventories by stage of fabrication, value of manufacturers inventories by stage of fabrication—

beginning of year, Inventories Number of production workers, inventories total—

beginning of year, inventories-to-shipments ratio, payroll of production workers, inventories finished products—

beginning of year, value of product shipments, hours of production workers, inventories work in process—

beginning of year, statistics from department of commerce, industry associations, for industry groups and industries, cost of purchased fuels and electric energy, inventories, materials, supplies, fuels, —

beginning of year, geographic area statistics, electric energy quantity purchased, value of shipments—

total, annual survey of manufacturers (ASM), electric energy cost, value of shipments—

products, employment, electric energy generated, value of shipments—

total miscellaneous receipts, all employees payroll, electric energy sold or transferred, total miscellaneous receipts—

value of resales, all employees hours, cost of purchased fuels, total miscellaneous receipts—

contract receipts, all employees total, compensation, capital expenditure for plant or equipment total, other total miscellaneous receipts, all employees total fringe benefit costs, capital expenditure for plant or equipment—

buildings or other structures, interplant transfers, total cost of materials, capital expenditure for plant and equipment—

machinery or equipment total, costs of materials—

total, payroll, capital expenditure for plant and equipment—

autos, or trucks, for highway use, costs of materials—

materials, parts, containers, packaging, value added by manufacture, capital expenditure for plant and equipment—

computers, peripheral data processing equipment, costs of materials—

resales, cost of materials consumed, capital expenditure for plant and equipment—

all other expenditures, costs of materials—

purchased fuels, value of shipments, value of manufacturers inventories by stage of fabrication—

end of year, costs of materials—

purchased electricity, costs of materials—

contract work, industry cost of capital, or average industry dividend.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said financial objects are selected from a universe comprising at least one of:

a sector;

a market;

a market sector;

an industry sector;

a geographic sector;

an international sector;

a sub-industry sector;

a government issue;

or

a tax exempt financial object;

agriculture, forestry, fishing or hunting industry sector;

mining industry sector;

utilities industry sector;

construction industry sector;

manufacturing industry sector;

wholesale trade industry sector;

retail trade industry sector;

transportation or warehousing industry sector;

information industry sector;

finance or insurance industry sector;

real estate and/or rental or leasing industry sector;

professional, scientific, or technical services industry sector;

management of companies and/or enterprises industry sector;

administrative or support or waste management or remediation services industry sector;

education services industry sector;

health care or social assistance industry sector;

arts, entertainment, or recreation industry sector;

accommodation or food services industry sector;

other services (except public administration) industry sector;

or

public administration industry sector.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said at least one accounting data rather than price comprises at least one of:

dividends, if any;

sales;

revenue;

cash flow;

book value;

collateral;

assets;

distributions;

funds from operations;

adjusted funds from operations;

earnings;

income;

liquidity;

employees;

margin;

profit margin;

term structure;

interest rate;

seasonal factor;

a financial ratio of a company;

a ratio of accounting based data;

a ratio of accounting based data per share;

a ratio of a first accounting based data to a second accounting based data;

a liquidity ratio;

a working capital ratio;

a current ratio;

a quick ratio;

a cash ratio;

an asset turnover ratio;

a receivables turnover ratio;

an average collection period ratio;

an average collection period ratio;

an inventory turnover ratio;

an inventory period ratio;

a leverage ratio;

a debt ratio;

a debt-to-equity ratio;

an interest coverage ratio;

a profitability ratio;

a return on common equity (ROCE) ratio;

profit margin ratio;

an earnings per share (EPS) ratio;

a gross profit margin ratio;

a return on assets ratio;

a return on equity ratio;

a dividend policy ratio;

or

a dividend yield ratio;

a payout ratio;

a capital market analysis ratio;

a price to earnings (PE) ratio;

or

a market to book ratio.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising performing negative weighting for purposes of at least one of establishing or measuring performance for at least one of:

any security;

a portfolio of assets;

a hedge fund;

or

a long/short position.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said at least one accounting data comprises a measure of size of the at least one entity.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said at least one accounting data is not market capitalization.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein each of said financial objects comprises a financial object type.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein said financial object type comprises at least one of:

a municipal bond;

a corporate bond;

a sovereign bond;

a government bond;

a fixed income instrument;

a real estate fixed income instrument;

an investment grade bond;

a high yield bond;

an emerging market bond

a debt instrument;

or

a bond from a geographic region; and

the at least one entity comprises at least one of;

a company;

a country;

a government;

a geographic region;

a market;

a municipality;

a municipality issuing bonds;

a sovereign;

a sovereign issuing bonds;

or

a commodity provider.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said at least one accounting data, comprises at least one of:

revenue;

profitability;

sales;

total sales;

foreign sales,

domestic sales;

net sales;

gross sales;

profit margin;

operating margin;

earnings;

retained earnings;

earnings per share;

book value;

book value adjusted for inflation;

book value adjusted for replacement cost;

book value adjusted for liquidation value;

dividends;

assets;

tangible assets;

intangible assets;

fixed assets;

property;

plant;

equipment;

goodwill;

replacement value of assets;

liquidation value of assets;

liabilities;

long term liabilities;

short term liabilities;

net worth;

research and development expense;

accounts receivable;

earnings before interest and tax (EBIT);

earnings before interest, taxes, dividends, and amortization (EBITDA);

accounts payable;

cost of goods sold (CGS);

debt ratio;

budget;

capital budget;

cash budget;

direct labor budget;

factory overhead budget;

operating budget;

sales budget;

inventory system;

type of stock offered;

liquidity;

book income;

tax income;

capitalization of earnings;

capitalization of goodwill;

capitalization of interest;

capitalization of revenue;

capital spending;

cash;

compensation;

employee turnover;

overhead costs;

credit rating;

growth rate;

tax rate;

liquidation value of entity;

capitalization of cash;

capitalization of earnings;

capitalization of revenue;

cash flow;

or

future value of expected cash flow.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said at least one accounting data comprises a ratio of any combination of two or more non-market capitalization objective measure of scale metrics.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein said ratio of any combination of said objective measure of scale metrics comprise at least one of:

current ratio;

debt ratio;

overhead expense as a percent of sales;

or

debt service burden ratio.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said weighting comprises weighting based on at least one demographic data, comprising at least one of:

a measure relating to employees;

a financial metric;

a non-financial metric;

a non-market related metric;

a number of employees;

floor space;

office space;

a geographic metric;

an area;

a geographic area;

a measure of inhabitants;

a population;

location;

or

other demographics of a financial object.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said at least one accounting data comprises a metric relating to a geographic area.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein said metric relating to said geographic area comprises a geographic metric comprising at least one of:

an economic metric;

a gross domestic product;

or an other than gross domestic product (GDP) metric.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

rebalancing a pre-selected group of said financial objects based on said financial object index.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein said rebalancing is performed on a periodic basis.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein said rebalancing is based upon a predetermined threshold.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, further comprising:

applying one or more rules associated with said index.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said selecting or said weighting are used for at least one of:

investment management, or

investment portfolio benchmarking.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising performing enhanced index investing, comprising:

constructing, by the at least one computer processor, data indicative of a financial object portfolio of financial objects based on said financial object index, comprising at least one of purchasing or selling financial objects in said financial object portfolio based on said financial object index, wherein said enhanced index investing is performed in a fashion wherein at least one of;

holdings;

performance;

or characteristics, are substantially similar to an external index.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein said selecting based on said at least one accounting data comprises;

selecting based on at least one demographic data regarding the at least one entity.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises:

wherein said at least one demographic data comprises at least one of;

a demographic measure,

a population level,

an area,

a geographic area,

an economic factor,

a gross domestic product (GDP),

GDP growth,

a natural resource characteristic,

an energy metric,

a petroleum characteristic,

a resource consumption metric,

a petroleum consumption amount,

a liquid natural gas (LNG) characteristic,

a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) characteristic,

an expenditures characteristic,

gross national income (GNI),

a debt characteristic,

a rate of inflation,

a rate of unemployment,

a reserves level,

a population characteristic,

a corruption characteristic,

a democracy characteristic,

a social metric,

a political metric,

a per capita ratio of any of the foregoing;

a derivative of any foregoing;

or

a ratio of any two or more of the foregoing.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein said weighting based on said at least one accounting data comprises;

weighting based on at least one demographic data regarding the at least one entity.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 31, further comprising:

wherein said at least one demographic data comprises at least one of;

a demographic measure,

a population level,

an area,

a geographic area,

an economic factor,

a gross domestic product (GDP),

GDP growth,

a natural resource characteristic,

an energy metric,

a petroleum characteristic,

a resource consumption metric,

a petroleum consumption amount,

a liquid natural gas (LNG) characteristic,

a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) characteristic,

an expenditures characteristic,

gross national income (GNI),

a debt characteristic,

a rate of inflation,

a rate of unemployment,

a reserves level,

a population characteristic,

a corruption characteristic,

a democracy characteristic,

a social metric,

a political metric,

a per capita ratio of any of the foregoing;

a derivative of any foregoing;

or

a ratio of any two or more of the foregoing.

33. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the method is executed on a data processing system, the method further comprising:

wherein said constructing comprises;

creating an accounting data based index (ADBI) based on accounting data comprising wherein said selecting further comprises;

selecting a universe of financial objects,

selecting a subset of said financial objects of said universe based on at least one accounting data, and

weighting said subset of said universe according to at least one accounting data to obtain the ADBI; and

creating a portfolio of financial objects using the ADBI, including said subset of selected and weighted financial objects.

34. The computer-implemented method according to claim 33, wherein said universe comprises at least one of:

a sector;

a market;

a market sector;

an industry sector;

a geographic sector;

an international sector;

a sub-industry sector;

a government issue;

or

a tax exempt financial object;

agriculture, forestry, fishing or hunting industry sector;

mining industry sector;

utilities industry sector;

construction industry sector;

manufacturing industry sector;

wholesale trade industry sector;

retail trade industry sector;

transportation or warehousing industry sector;

information industry sector;

finance or insurance industry sector;

real estate or rental or leasing industry sector;

professional, scientific, or technical services industry sector;

management of companies or enterprises industry sector;

administrative or support or waste management or remediation services industry sector;

education services industry sector;

health care or social assistance industry sector;

arts, entertainment, or recreation industry sector;

accommodation or food services industry sector;

other services (except public administration) industry sector;

or

public administration industry sector.

35. The computer-implemented method according to claim 33, wherein said accounting based data rather than price used in weighting as a measure of value of the at least one entity associated with each of the financial objects, comprises at least one of:

dividends, if any;

revenue;

cash flow;

book value;

collateral;

assets;

distributions;

funds from operations;

adjusted funds from operations;

earnings;

income;

liquidity;

country metrics including at least one of;

economic metrics, area, population, unemployment rate, reserves, resource consumption, democracy index, corruption index, government debt, private debt, government expenditures, nominal interest rate, commercial paper yield, consumer price index (CPI), purchasing power, relation of purchasing power to nominal exchange rate and any deviations from historical trend, or country current account flow;

said economic metrics including at least one of;

a gross domestic product (GDP), a gross national product (GNP), a gross net income (GNI), or a gross national debt (GND);

industry metrics including at least one of;

industry growth rate, total capital expenditures, inventories total—

end of year, average industry dividends, supplemental labor costs, inventories finished products—

end of year, new orders for manufactured goods, fuel costs, inventories work in process—

end of year, shipments, electric energy used, inventories, materials, supplies, or fuels,—

end of year, unfilled orders, inventories by stage of fabrication, value of manufacturers inventories by stage of fabrication—

beginning of year, Inventories Number of production workers, inventories total—

beginning of year, inventories-to-shipments ratio, payroll of production workers, inventories finished products—

beginning of year, value of product shipments, hours of production workers, inventories work in process—

beginning of year, statistics from department of commerce, industry associations, for industry groups and industries, cost of purchased fuels and electric energy, inventories, materials, supplies, fuels, —

beginning of year, geographic area statistics, electric energy quantity purchased, value of shipments—

total, annual survey of manufacturers (ASM), electric energy cost, value of shipments—

products, employment, electric energy generated, value of shipments—

total miscellaneous receipts, all employees payroll, electric energy sold or transferred, total miscellaneous receipts—

value of resales, all employees hours, cost of purchased fuels, total miscellaneous receipts—

contract receipts, all employees total, compensation, capital expenditure for plant or equipment total, other total miscellaneous receipts, all employees total fringe benefit costs, capital expenditure for plant or equipment—

buildings or other structures, interplant transfers, total cost of materials, capital expenditure for plant and equipment—

machinery or equipment total, costs of materials—

total, payroll, capital expenditure for plant and equipment—

autos, or trucks, for highway use, costs of materials—

materials, parts, containers, packaging, value added by manufacture, capital expenditure for plant and equipment—

computers, peripheral data processing equipment, costs of materials—

resales, cost of materials consumed, capital expenditure for plant and equipment—

all other expenditures, costs of materials—

purchased fuels, value of shipments, value of manufacturers inventories by stage of fabrication—

end of year, costs of materials—

purchased electricity, costs of materials—

contract work, industry cost of capital, or average industry dividend;

employees;

margin;

profit margin;

term structure;

interest rate;

seasonal factor;

a financial ratio of a company;

a ratio of accounting based data;

a ratio of accounting based data per share;

a ratio of a first accounting based data to a second accounting based data;

a liquidity ratio;

a working capital ratio;

a current ratio;

a quick ratio;

a cash ratio;

an asset turnover ratio;

a receivables turnover ratio;

an average collection period ratio;

an average collection period ratio;

an inventory turnover ratio;

an inventory period ratio;

a leverage ratio;

a debt ratio;

a debt-to-equity ratio;

an interest coverage ratio;

a profitability ratio;

a return on common equity (ROCE) ratio;

profit margin ratio;

an earnings per share (EPS) ratio;

a gross profit margin ratio;

a return on assets ratio;

a return on equity ratio;

a dividend policy ratio;

or

a dividend yield ratio;

a payout ratio;

a capital market analysis ratio;

a price to earnings (PE) ratio;

or

a market to book ratio.

36. The computer-implemented method according to claim 35, wherein said accounting based data are weighted relatively dependent on the geography of the at least one entity associated with each of the financial objects.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 33, wherein each of said financial objects comprises:

at least one unit of interest in at least one of;

an asset;

a liability;

a tracking portfolio;

a financial instrument or a security, wherein said financial instrument or said security denotes a debt, an equity interest, or a hybrid;

a derivatives contract, including at least one of;

a future, a forward, a put, a call, an option, a swap, or any other transaction relating to a fluctuation of an underlying asset, notwithstanding the prevailing value of the contract, and notwithstanding whether such contract, for purposes of accounting, is considered an asset or liability;

a commodity;

a financial position;

a currency position;

a trust, a real estate investment trust (REIT), a real estate operating company (REOC), or a portfolio of trusts;

a debt instrument comprising at least one of;

a bond, a debenture, a subordinated debenture, a mortgage bond, a collateral trust bond, a convertible bond, an income bond, a guaranteed bond, a serial bond, a deep discount bond, a zero coupon bond, a variable rate bond, a deferred interest bond, a commercial paper, a government security, a certificate of deposit, a Eurobond, a corporate bond, a government bond, a municipal bond, a treasury-bill, a treasury bond, a foreign bond, an emerging market bond, a high yield bond, a developed market bond, a junk bond, a collateralized instrument, an exchange traded note (ETN), or other agreements between a borrower and a lender;

a fund;

or

an investment entity or account of any kind, including an interest in, or rights relating to;

a hedge fund, an exchange traded fund (ETF), a fund of funds, a mutual fund, a closed end fund, an investment vehicle, or any other pooled or separately managed investments.

38. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said financial objects comprise at least one of:

a high-yield debt instruments index;

or

a portfolio of high-yield debt instruments based on the high yield debt instruments index, the method further comprising;

selecting constituent high-yield debt instruments of said high-yield debt instruments index based upon at least one metric regarding the entities associated with said high-yield debt instruments,

wherein said at least one metric comprises at least one of sales, book value, cash flow, dividends if any, collateral, a composite of the other metrics, or ratios pertaining thereto; and

weighting said constituent high-yield debt instruments based upon at least one metric regarding the size of the entities associated with said high-yield debt instruments to obtain constituent weightings for each respective constituent high-yield debt instrument,

wherein said at least one metric comprises at least one of sales, book value, cash flow, dividends if any, collateral, a composite of the other metrics, or ratios pertaining thereto.

39. The computer-implemented method of claim 38, wherein said at least one metric comprises data found within a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) company annual report and accounts (GAAP reports).

40. The computer-implemented method of claim 38, further comprising basing the constituent weightings of the high-yield debt instruments upon at least one of a ratio or a manipulation of the accounting data.

41. The computer-implemented method of claim 40, wherein the basing the constituent weightings upon at least one of a ratio or a manipulation of the accounting data comprises basing the constituent weightings on at least one of:

a relative size of the return on assets of said selected companies, the return on investment thereof, or the return on capital thereof compared to the cost of capital thereof, wherein said return is determined based on cash flow.

42. The computer-implemented method of claim 38, wherein the constituent weightings of the high-yield debt instruments within the high-yield debt instruments index or high yield debt instruments fund are altered as at least one of:

the accounting data concerning the entities in or outside the index changes;

or the constituents change.

43. The computer-implemented method of claim 42, wherein the constituent weightings of the high-yield debt instruments within the fund are altered when at least one of:

one or more of said entities report their at least one of;

monthly, quarterly, biannually, or annual accounting information;

or at a pre-determined time after which the majority of said entities in the index have reported their at least one of;

monthly, quarterly, biannually, or annual accounting data.

44. The computer-implemented method of claim 38, wherein said weighting comprises calculating said constituent weightings based upon said at least one accounting data.

45. The computer-implemented method of claim 44, wherein said calculating is performed by an index construction manager device.

46. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said weighting comprises:

determining, by the at least one computer processor, a proportional fundamental index weight for each of said index constituent financial objects based on at least one objective measure of scale associated with said entities or said financial objects;

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises a financial metric associated with one of said entities or said financial objects other than the market capitalization of said entities or the price of said financial objects;

wherein said financial metric comprises at least one of;

book value;

sales;

cash flow;

or any dividends; and

managing, by the at least one computer processor, a portfolio of financial objects based on said index of financial objects, wherein said managing comprises at least one of;

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to the at least one objective measure of scale used to weight the plurality of financial objects used to construct the index of financial objects;

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to the at least one objective measure of scale used to weight the plurality of financial objects used to construct the index of financial objects;

rebalancing, by the at least one computer processor, the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio when the weighting of one or more of said financial objects at least one of;

exceeds a threshold value, or deviates from a target weight;

or

rebalancing the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio to minimize turnover of said financial objects.

47. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said weighting comprises:

determining, by the at least one computer processor, a proportional fundamental index weight for each of said index constituent financial objects based on at least one objective measure of scale associated with said entities or said financial objects;

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises a financial metric associated with one of said entities or said financial objects other than the market capitalization of said entities or the price of said financial objects;

wherein said financial metric comprises at least one of;

book value;

sales;

cash flow;

or any dividends;

wherein said weighting comprises;

weighting, by the at least one computer processor, by a mathematical combination of a plurality of financial metric data for a given financial object of a given entity, said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity, comprising at least one;

a plurality of time periods;

a plurality of years;

a plurality of quarters;

a plurality of months;

or

a plurality of accounting periods; and

wherein said mathematical combination of said plurality of financial metric data for said given financial object of said given entity, comprises at least one of;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a mathematical average of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a mathematical weighted average of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a statistical mean of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a statistical median of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity;

or

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a midpoint of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity.

48. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of historical data of a plurality of financial metrics of a plurality of financial objects, said plurality of financial objects comprising publicly traded entities; and

wherein said weighting comprises;

weighting, by the at least one computer processor, a plurality of index constituent financial objects, each of said plurality of index constituent financial objects associated with at least one entity, and

wherein said weighting comprises;

determining, by the at least one computer processor, a proportional fundamental index weight for each of said index constituent financial objects based on at least one objective measure of scale associated with said entities or said financial objects;

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises at least one of;

at least one financial metric associated with one of said entities or said financial objects;

at least one demographic measure of one of said entities or said financial objects;

or

at least one metric from information disclosures of a publicly traded entity; and

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises a metric other than the market capitalization of said entities or the price of said financial objects; and

weighting, by the at least one computer processor, by a mathematical combination of a plurality of data for said at least one objective measure of scale of a given financial object of a given entity, said plurality of data for said at least one objective measure of scale of said given financial object of said given entity, comprising at least one;

a plurality of time periods;

a plurality of years;

a plurality of quarters;

a plurality of months;

or

a plurality of accounting periods; and

wherein said mathematical combination of said plurality data for said given financial object of said given entity, comprises at least one of;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a mathematical average of said plurality of data for said given financial object of said given entity;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a mathematical weighted average of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a statistical mean of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a statistical median of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity;

or

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a midpoint of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity.

49. The computer-implemented method of claim 48, further comprising:

normalizing, by the at least one computer processor, data over a plurality of time periods.

50. The computer-implemented method of claim 48, further comprising:

rebalancing, by the at least one computer processor, said index on a periodic basis.

51. The computer-implemented method of claim 50, wherein said rebalancing said index on a periodic basis comprises at least one of:

rebalancing, by the at least one computer processor, on a yearly basis;

rebalancing, by the at least one computer processor, on a quarterly basis;

rebalancing, by the at least one computer processor, on a half year basis;

or

rebalancing, by the at least one computer processor, on a multiple year basis.

52. The computer-implemented method of claim 48, further comprising:

recalculating, by the at least one computer processor, said index on a periodic basis.

53. The computer-implemented method of claim 52, wherein said recalculating said index on said periodic basis comprises at least one of:

recalculating, by the at least one computer processor, on a yearly basis;

recalculating, by the at least one computer processor, on a quarterly basis;

recalculating, by the at least one computer processor, on a half year basis;

or

recalculating, by the at least one computer processor, on a multiple year basis.

54. The computer-implemented method of claim 48, further comprising:

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, said index based on changes over time.

55. The computer-implemented method of claim 54, wherein said adjusting said index based on said changes comprises at least one of:

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, said index upon a change in financial market status of an index constituent;

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, said index upon an index constituent going bankrupt;

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, said index upon an index constituent stock split;

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, said index upon an index constituent modifying at least one class of stock;

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, said index upon a price shift of an index constituent;

or adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, said index upon a delisting of an index constituent.

56. The computer-implemented method of claim 48, further comprising:

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, said index based on missing data.

57. The computer-implemented method of claim 56, wherein said adjusting said index based on missing data comprises:

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, said index if a plurality of metrics are being used, and for a given entity or financial object one of said plurality of metrics is missing.

58. The computer-implemented method of claim 57, wherein said adjusting said index based on missing data comprises:

averaging said remaining plurality of metrics, leaving out said missing metric.

59. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of historical data of a plurality of financial metrics of a plurality of financial objects, said plurality of financial objects each relating to an entity; and

wherein said weighting comprises;

weighting, by the at least one computer processor, a plurality of index constituent financial objects, each of said plurality of index constituent financial objects associated with an entity, and

wherein said weighting comprises;

determining, by the at least one computer processor, a proportional fundamental index weight for each of said index constituent financial objects based on at least one objective measure of scale associated with said entities or said financial objects;

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises at least one of;

at least one financial metric associated with at least one of said entities or said financial objects;

at least one demographic measure of at least one of said entities or said financial objects;

or

at least one metric from information disclosures of a publicly traded entity; and

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises a metric other than the market capitalization of said entities or the price of said financial objects; and

weighting, by the at least one computer processor, by a mathematical combination of a plurality of data for said at least one objective measure of scale of a given financial object of a given entity, said plurality of data for said at least one objective measure of scale of said given financial object of said given entity, comprising at least one of;

a plurality of time periods;

a plurality of years;

a plurality of quarters;

a plurality of months;

or

a plurality of accounting periods; and

wherein said mathematical combination of said plurality data for said given financial object of said given entity, comprises at least one of;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a mathematical average of said plurality of data for said given financial object of said given entity;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a mathematical weighted average of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a statistical mean of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity;

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a statistical median of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity;

or

calculating, by the at least one computer processor, a midpoint of said plurality of financial metric data of said given financial object of said given entity.

60. The computer-implemented method of claim 59, wherein said calculating said mathematical combination comprises reducing risk.

61. The computer-implemented method of claim 59, wherein said objective measure of scale comprises at least one of:

book value;

sales;

revenue;

profit;

earnings;

cash flow;

cash earnings;

or

a fundamental accounting variable.

62. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving fundamental accounting data about a plurality of entities, over a plurality of time periods, each of said entities associated with one of said financial objects;

receiving a plurality of index constituents;

wherein said weighting comprises;

weighting said plurality of said index constituents according to at least one financial metric of said fundamental accounting data, each of said at least one financial metrics having data for said plurality of time periods from said fundamental accounting data to obtain relative weightings, and wherein said weighting comprises;

averaging said fundamental accounting data over said plurality of said time periods for said each of said at least one financial metrics; and

weighting said index constituents using at least one economic-centric metric about said entities rather than a market-centric metric to obtain an economic-centric index,

wherein said at least one economic-centric metric comprises a metric comprising at least one of;

at least one economic size metric;

at least one economic impact metric;

or

at least one economic footprint metric;

providing said economic-centric index to a third party, wherein said third party manages, by at least one computer processor, a portfolio of financial objects based on said index of financial objects, wherein said third party manages, comprising at least one of;

adjusts, by the at least one computer processor, the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to said one or more financial metrics used to weight the plurality of financial objects used to construct the economy-centric index of financial objects;

adjusts, by the at least one computer processor, the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to the at least one objective measure of scale used to weight the plurality of financial objects used to construct the economy-centric index of financial objects;

rebalances, by the at least one computer processor, the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio when the weighting of one or more of said financial objects at least one of;

exceeds a threshold value, or deviates from a target weight;

or rebalances, by the at least one computer processor, the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio to minimize turnover of said financial objects.

63. The computer-implemented method according to claim 62, wherein said weighting comprises:

weighting based on a plurality of said economic-centric metrics.

64. The computer-implemented method according to claim 63, wherein said weighting based on said plurality of economic-centric metrics comprises:

weighting based on at least one of;

book value;

book value of operating assets;

sales;

revenue;

profit;

earnings;

cash flow;

cash earnings;

cash flow from operations;

or

a fundamental accounting variable.

65. The computer-implemented method according to claim 63, wherein said weighting based on said plurality of economic-centric metrics comprises:

weighting based on metrics comprising;

book value;

sales; and

cash flow.

66. The computer-implemented method according to claim 62, wherein said third party further manages comprising:

rebalances on a periodic time basis;

or

rebalances on a periodic accounting period basis.

67. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving fundamental accounting data about a plurality of entities, over a plurality of accounting periods, each of said entities associated with one of said financial objects;

receiving a plurality of index constituents;

wherein said weighting comprises;

weighting said plurality of said index constituents according to one or more financial metrics of said fundamental accounting data, each of said one or more financial metrics having data for said plurality of accounting periods from said fundamental accounting data to obtain relative weightings, and wherein said weighting comprises;

averaging said fundamental accounting data over said plurality of said accounting periods for said each of said one or more financial metrics; and

weighting said index constituents using at least one economic-centric metric about said entities rather than market-centric metric to obtain an economic-centric index,

wherein said at least one economic-centric metric comprises a metric comprising at least one of;

at least one economic size metric;

at least one economic impact metric;

or

at least one economic footprint metric;

providing said economic-centric index to a third party, wherein said third party manages, by at least one computer processor, a portfolio of financial objects based on said index of financial objects, wherein said third party manages, comprising at least one of;

adjusts, by the at least one computer processor, the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to said one or more financial metrics used to weight the plurality of financial objects used to construct the economy-centric index of financial objects;

adjusts, by the at least one computer processor, the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to the at least one objective measure of scale used to weight the plurality of financial objects used to construct the economy-centric index of financial objects;

rebalances, by the at least one computer processor, the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio when the weighting of one or more of said financial objects at least one of;

exceeds a threshold value, or deviates from a target weight;

or

rebalances, by the at least one computer processor, the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio to minimize turnover of said financial objects.

68. The computer-implemented method according to claim 67, wherein said weighting comprises:

weighting based on a plurality of said economic-centric metrics.

69. The computer-implemented method according to claim 68, wherein said weighting based on said plurality of economic-centric metrics comprises:

weighting based on at least one of;

book value;

book value of operating assets;

sales;

revenue;

profit;

earnings;

cash flow;

cash earnings;

cash flow from operations;

or

a fundamental accounting variable.

70. The computer-implemented method according to claim 68, wherein said weighting based on said plurality of economic-centric metrics comprises:

weighting based on metrics comprising;

book value;

sales; and

cash flow.

71. The computer-implemented method according to claim 67, wherein said third party further manages comprising:

rebalances on a periodic time basis;

or

rebalances on a periodic accounting period basis.

72. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the at least one computer processor, data about a plurality of entities and a plurality of corresponding financial objects associated with the plurality of entities from at least one database storing and permitting retrieval of such data;

receiving, by the at least one computer processor, data indicative of a set of financial objects comprising a plurality of constituent financial objects;

wherein said weighting comprises;

weighting, by the at least one computer processor, said constituent financial objects, wherein said weighting comprises;

determining, by the at least one computer processor, a proportional fundamental weight for each said constituent financial object based on at least one objective measure of scale associated with said entities or said financial objects;

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises at least one financial metric associated with one of said entities or said financial objects other than the market capitalization of said entities or the price of said financial objects;

wherein said at least one financial metric comprises at least one of;

book value;

sales;

cash flow;

or any dividends; and

managing, by the at least one computer processor, a portfolio of financial objects based on said set of financial objects, wherein said managing comprises at least one of;

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to the at least one objective measure of scale used to weight the plurality of financial objects used to construct the set of financial objects;

adjusting, by the at least one computer processor, the proportional fundamental weight of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to the at least one objective measure of scale used to weight the plurality of financial objects used to construct the set of financial objects;

rebalancing, by the at least one computer processor, the proportional fundamental weight of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio when the weighting of one or more of said financial objects at least one of;

exceeds a threshold value, or deviates from a target weight;

or

rebalancing the proportional fundamental weight of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio to minimize turnover of said financial objects.

73. A nontransitory computer processor readable storage medium having computer processor readable program code such that when executed by a computer processor in a data processing apparatus, performs a computer processor-implemented method for constructing data indicative of a financial object index, the method comprising:

constructing, by at least one computer processor, data indicative of the financial object index comprising;

selecting, by the at least one computer, data indicative of constituent financial objects of said financial object index based upon at least one accounting data rather than price of said financial objects, said at least one accounting data regarding at least one entity relating to each of said financial objects, the at least one entity comprising at least one of a region, a country, a company, or a sovereign associated with said financial objects; and

weighting, by the at least one computer processor, data indicative of said constituent financial objects based upon at least one accounting data rather than price of said financial objects, said at least one accounting data regarding the at least one entity, to obtain data indicative of constituent weightings for each of said constituent financial objects, and

storing, by the at least one computer processor, said data indicative of said constituent financial objects and said constituent weightings on at least one computer storage device,

wherein each of said financial objects comprises at least one instrument,

wherein each of said financial objects comprises at least one of;

a bond;

a fixed income debt instrument;

a debt instrument;

an emerging market debt instrument;

a high yield debt instrument;

a corporate debt instrument;

an investment grade debt instrument;

a debenture;

a bank loan;

a convertible bond;

a senior debt;

a subordinated debt;

a term loan;

a government debt instrument;

a government bond;

a corporate bond;

a high yield bond;

an emerging market bond;

a municipal bond debt instrument;

a treasury bond debt instrument;

a treasury bill debt instrument;

a mortgage based debt instrument;

a securitized debt instrument;

a security;

a stock;

a commodity;

a futures contract;

a mutual fund;

a hedge fund;

a fund of funds;

an exchange traded fund (ETF);

a derivative;

a negative weighting on any asset;

an asset account;

a separate account;

a pooled trust;

or

a limited partnership; and

wherein said at least one accounting data comprises at least one of;

at least one financial metric of the at least one entity associated with each of said constituent financial objects;

or

at least one metric, level, rate, or expenditure amount from information disclosures of the at least one entity.

74. The nontransitory computer processor readable storage medium of claim 73, wherein the method further comprises:

wherein said selecting based on said at least one accounting data comprises;

selecting based on at least one demographic data regarding the at least one entity.

75. The nontransitory computer processor readable storage medium of claim 74, wherein the method further comprises:

wherein said at least one demographic data comprises at least one of;

a demographic measure,

a population level,

an area,

a geographic area,

an economic factor,

a gross domestic product (GDP),

GDP growth,

a natural resource characteristic,

an energy metric,

a petroleum characteristic,

a resource consumption metric,

a petroleum consumption amount,

a liquid natural gas (LNG) characteristic,

a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) characteristic,

an expenditures characteristic,

gross national income (GNI),

a debt characteristic,

a rate of inflation,

a rate of unemployment,

a reserves level,

a population characteristic,

a corruption characteristic,

a democracy characteristic,

a social metric,

a political metric,

a per capita ratio of any of the foregoing;

a derivative of any foregoing;

or

a ratio of any two or more of the foregoing.

76. The nontransitory computer processor readable storage medium of claim 73, wherein the method further comprises:

wherein said weighting based on said at least one accounting data comprises;

weighting based on at least one demographic data regarding the at least one entity.

77. The nontransitory computer processor readable storage medium of claim 76, wherein the method further comprises:

wherein said at least one demographic data comprises at least one of;

a demographic measure,

a population level,

an area,

a geographic area,

an economic factor,

a gross domestic product (GDP),

GDP growth,

a natural resource characteristic,

an energy metric,

a petroleum characteristic,

a resource consumption metric,

a petroleum consumption amount,

a liquid natural gas (LNG) characteristic,

a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) characteristic,

an expenditures characteristic,

gross national income (GNI),

a debt characteristic,

a rate of inflation,

a rate of unemployment,

a reserves level,

a population characteristic,

a corruption characteristic,

a democracy characteristic,

a social metric,

a political metric,

a per capita ratio of any of the foregoing;

a derivative of any foregoing;

or

a ratio of any two or more of the foregoing.

78. A system for constructing data indicative of an investable index of financial objects, comprising:

an analysis host computer processing apparatus coupled to an entity database, wherein the entity database is operative to store aggregated accounting based data about a plurality of entities obtained from an external data source, said analysis host computer processing apparatus comprising;

a data retrieval and storage subsystem operative to at least one of access, or retrieve said aggregated accounting based data from the entity database and to at least one of access from, provide, or store said aggregated accounting based data to the entity database;

an index generation subsystem comprising;

a selection subsystem operative to select a group of said entities based on at least one accounting data;

a weighting function generation subsystem operative to generate a weighting function based on at least one accounting data;

an index creation subsystem operative to create an investable accounting data based index based on said group of selected entities and said weighting function; and

a storing subsystem operative to at least one of provide, or store said investable accounting data based index,

wherein said investable index generation subsystem is operative to construct data indicative of said investable accounting data based index, wherein said investable accounting data based index comprises a financial object index, said index generation subsystem comprising at least one computer processor, and at least one memory coupled to said at least one computer processor, said at least one computer processor operative to construct data indicative of said financial object index;

wherein said selection subsystem comprises at least one computer processor, and at least one memory coupled to said at least one computer processor, said at least one computer processor operative to select data indicative of constituent financial objects of said financial object index based upon at least one accounting data rather than price of said financial objects, said at least one accounting data regarding at least one entity relating to each of said financial objects, the at least one entity comprising at least one of a region, a country, a company, or a sovereign associated with said each of said financial objects; and

wherein said weighting function generation subsystem comprises at least one computer processor, and at least one memory coupled to said at least one computer processor, said at least one computer processor operative to weight data indicative of said constituent financial objects based upon at least one accounting data rather than price of said financial objects, said at least one accounting data regarding the at least one entity, to obtain data indicative of constituent weightings for each of said constituent financial objects, and

wherein said storing subsystem comprises at least one computer processor, and at least one memory coupled to said at least one computer processor, said at least one computer processor operative to at least one of access from, provide, or store said data indicative of said constituent financial objects and said constituent weightings on at least one computer storage device,

wherein each of said financial objects comprises at least one instrument,

wherein each of said financial objects comprises at least one of;

a bond;

a fixed income debt instrument;

a debt instrument;

an emerging market debt instrument;

a high yield debt instrument;

a corporate debt instrument;

an investment grade debt instrument;

a debenture;

a bank loan;

a convertible bond;

a senior debt;

a subordinated debt;

a term loan;

a government debt instrument;

a government bond;

a corporate bond;

a high yield bond;

an emerging market bond;

a municipal bond debt instrument;

a treasury bond debt instrument;

a treasury bill debt instrument;

a mortgage based debt instrument;

a securitized debt instrument;

a security;

a stock;

a commodity;

a futures contract;

a mutual fund;

a hedge fund;

a fund of funds;

an exchange traded fund (ETF);

a derivative;

a negative weighting on any asset;

an asset account;

a separate account;

a pooled trust;

or

a limited partnership; and

wherein said at least one accounting data comprises at least one of;

at least one financial metric of the at least one entity associated with each of said constituent financial objects;

or

at least one metric, level, rate or expenditure amount from information disclosures of the at least one entity.

79. The system according to claim 78, wherein said analysis host computer processing apparatus further comprises:

a normalization calculation sub-system operative to normalize said data for said at least one accounting data across said plurality of entities.

80. The system according to claim 78, wherein said at least one accounting data used by said selection subsystem at least one of differs from, or is the same as, said at least one accounting data used by said weighting function generating sub-system.

81. The system according to claim 78, wherein said at least one accounting data comprises at least one of:

revenue;

profitability;

sales;

total sales;

foreign sales,

domestic sales;

net sales;

gross sales;

profit margin;

operating margin;

retained earnings;

earnings per share;

book value;

book value adjusted for inflation;

book value adjusted for replacement cost;

book value adjusted for liquidation value;

dividends;

assets;

tangible assets;

intangible assets;

fixed assets;

property;

plant;

equipment;

goodwill;

replacement value of assets;

liquidation value of assets;

liabilities;

long term liabilities;

short term liabilities;

net worth;

research and development expense;

accounts receivable;

earnings before interest and tax (EBIT);

earnings before interest, taxes, dividends, and amortization (EBITDA);

accounts payable;

cost of goods sold (CGS);

debt ratio;

budget;

capital budget;

cash budget;

direct labor budget;

factory overhead budget;

operating budget;

sales budget;

inventory system;

type of stock offered;

liquidity;

book income;

tax income;

capitalization of earnings;

capitalization of goodwill;

capitalization of interest;

capitalization of revenue;

capital spending;

cash;

compensation;

employee turnover;

overhead costs;

credit rating;

growth rate;

tax rate;

liquidation value of entity;

capitalization of cash;

capitalization of earnings;

capitalization of revenue;

cash flow;

or

future value of expected cash flow.

82. The system according to claim 78, wherein at least one accounting data comprises a ratio of any combination of two or more accounting data.

83. The system according to claim 82, wherein said ratio of any combination of said accounting data comprise at least one of:

current ratio;

debt ratio;

overhead expense as a percent of sales;

or

debt service burden ratio.

84. The system according to claim 78, wherein said at least one accounting data further comprises at least one demographic measure.

85. The system according to claim 78, wherein said at least one demographic measure comprises at least one of:

a financial metric;

a nonfinancial metric;

a market metric;

a nonmarket related metric;

a measure relating to employees;

floor space;

office space;

location;

other demographics of an asset;

a demographic measure,

a population level,

an area,

a geographic area,

an economic factor,

a gross domestic product (GDP),

GDP growth,

a natural resource characteristic,

an energy metric,

a petroleum characteristic,

a resource consumption metric,

a petroleum consumption amount,

a liquid natural gas (LNG) characteristic,

a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) characteristic,

an expenditures characteristic,

gross national income (GNI),

a debt characteristic,

a rate of inflation,

a rate of unemployment,

a reserves level,

a population characteristic,

a corruption characteristic,

a democracy characteristic,

a social metric,

a political metric,

a per capita ratio of any of the foregoing;

a derivative of any foregoing;

or

a ratio of any two or more of the foregoing.

86. The system of claim 78, further comprising:

a trading host computer processing apparatus, coupled to said analysis host computer processing apparatus, and operative to construct a portfolio of assets comprising one or more trading assets based on said investable accounting data based index, said trading host computer processing apparatus comprising at least one of;

an index retrieval subsystem operative to retrieve said investable accounting data based index;

a trading accounts management subsystem operative to receive one or more data indicative of investment amounts from one or more investors;

or

a purchasing subsystem operative to permit purchasing of one or more of said trading assets using said investment amounts based on said investable accounting data based index.

87. The system of claim 86, further comprising:

a trading accounts database coupled to said trading accounts management subsystem, said trading accounts database operative to at least one of provide access to, or store said one or more data indicative of said investment amounts.

88. The system of claim 86, further comprising:

an exchange host computer processing apparatus coupled to said purchasing subsystem, said exchange host computer processing apparatus operative to perform one or more functions of said purchasing subsystem.

89. The system of claim 86, wherein said asset type comprises at least one of:

a fund;

a mutual fund;

a fund of funds;

an asset account;

an exchange traded fund (ETF);

a separate account, a pooled trust;

or

a limited partnership.

90. The system according to claim 86, further comprising:

a subsystem operative to rebalance a pre-selected group of trading assets based on said accounting data based index.

91. The system according to claim 90, wherein said rebalancing is performed on at least one of:

a periodic basis, or an aperiodic basis.

92. The system according to claim 90, wherein said rebalancing is based on at least one of the group of assets crossing a predetermined threshold, or an occurrence of an event.

93. The system according to claim 86, further comprising:

applying one or more rules associated with said accounting data based index.

94. The system according to claim 78, wherein the system may be used for at least one of:

investment management, or

investment portfolio benchmarking.

95. The system of claim 78, wherein the selection sub-system is operative to perform enhanced index investing, comprising:

computing said portfolio of assets in a fashion wherein at least one of;

holdings;

performance;

or characteristics, are substantially similar to an external index.

96. A computer-implemented method of constructing data indicative of an investable index of financial objects by at least one computer processor, the method comprising:

receiving by the at least one computer processor data about a plurality of entities and a plurality of corresponding financial objects associated with the plurality of entities from one or more databases storing and permitting retrieval of such data;

selecting by the at least one computer processor a plurality of said financial objects to construct an investable index of financial objects,

wherein said selecting comprises;

selecting a plurality of financial objects to construct an investable index of financial objects based on at least one objective measure of scale associated with said entities or said financial objects,

each of said entities comprising at least one of a region, a country, a company, or a sovereign associated with said each of said financial objects,

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises at least one financial metric associated with one of said entities or said financial objects other than the market capitalization of said entities or the price of said financial objects;

weighting by the at least one computer processor the plurality of financial objects selected to construct the investable index of financial objects, wherein said weighting comprises;

determining a proportional weight for each financial object based on at least one objective measure of scale associated with said entities or said financial objects;

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises at least one financial metric associated with one of said entities or said financial objects other than the market capitalization of said entities or the price of said financial objects;

storing or providing by the at least one computer processor the plurality of financial objects selected to construct the index and the proportional weight for each of said financial objects;

wherein each of said financial objects comprises at least one of;

a bond;

a fixed income debt instrument;

a debt instrument;

an emerging market debt instrument;

a high yield debt instrument;

a corporate debt instrument;

an investment grade debt instrument;

a debenture;

a bank loan;

a convertible bond;

a senior debt;

a subordinated debt;

a term loan;

a government debt instrument;

a government bond;

a corporate bond;

a high yield bond;

an emerging market bond;

a municipal bond debt instrument;

a treasury bond debt instrument;

a treasury bill debt instrument;

a mortgage based debt instrument;

a securitized debt instrument;

a security;

a stock;

a commodity;

a futures contract;

a mutual fund;

a hedge fund;

a fund of funds;

an exchange traded fund (ETF);

a derivative;

a negative weighting on any asset;

an asset account;

a separate account;

a pooled trust;

or

a limited partnership; and

managing by the at least one computer processor a portfolio of financial objects based on said index of financial objects, wherein said managing comprises at least one of;

adjusting the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to the at least one objective measure of scale used to select the plurality of financial objects used to construct the investable index of financial objects;

adjusting the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to the at least one objective measure of scale used to weight the plurality of financial objects used to construct the investable index of financial objects;

rebalancing the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio when the weighting of one or more of said financial objects at least one of;

exceeds a threshold value, or deviates from a target weight;

or

rebalancing the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio to minimize turnover of said financial objects.

97. The method of claim 96, wherein:

said selecting based on said at least one objective measure of scale comprises selecting wherein said at least one financial metric comprises any dividends.

98. The method of claim 97, wherein:

said selecting wherein said financial metric comprises any dividends comprises selecting based on a calculation based on said dividends exceeding a minimum value.

99. The method of claim 98, wherein:

said selecting based on a calculation based on said dividends comprises selecting based on a calculation based on said dividends comprising a sum of total dividends paid over a period of time.

100. The method of claim 96, wherein:

said selecting based on said at least one objective measure of scale comprises selecting wherein said at least one financial metric comprises earnings.

101. The method of claim 100, wherein:

said selecting based on said at least one financial metric comprising earnings comprises selecting based on said earnings being positive over a period of time.

102. The method of claim 96, wherein:

said selecting comprises sorting said plurality of financial objects into one or more sets of financial objects based on said at least one objective measure of scale.

103. The method of claim 96, wherein:

said selecting comprises sorting said plurality of financial objects into one or more sets of financial objects based on a derivative of said at least one objective measure of scale.

104. The method of claim 96, wherein:

said weighting based on said at least one objective measure of scale comprises weighting based on any dividends.

105. The method of claim 96, wherein:

said weighting based on said at least one objective measure of scale comprises weighting based on earnings.

106. The method of claim 96, wherein:

said selecting comprises selecting a plurality of said financial objects to construct an index of financial objects from a universe of said entities or said financial objects.

107. The method of claim 106, wherein:

said universe comprises at least one of;

a sector, a market, a market sector, an industry sector, a geographic sector, an international sector, a sub-industry sector, a government issue sector or a tax-exempt sector.

108. A system for constructing data indicative of an investable index of financial objects by at least one computer processor comprising:

the at least one computer processor being coupled to at least one data network;

wherein the at least one data network comprises a connection or a coupling to at least one database adapted to store and adapted to permit at least one of access or retrieval of data;

wherein said data comprises data about a plurality of entities and a plurality of corresponding financial objects associated with the plurality of entities;

the at least one computer processor being configured to;

receive from the at least one data network data about a plurality of entities and a plurality of corresponding financial objects associated with the plurality of entities from said one or more databases;

select a plurality of said financial objects to construct an index of financial objects based on said data received from the at least one data network, wherein said select comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to;

select a plurality of financial objects to construct an index of financial objects based on at least one objective measure of scale associated with said entities or said financial objects,

said entity comprising at least one of a region, a country, a company, or a sovereign associated with said financial object,

 

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises at least one financial metric associated with one of said entities or said financial objects other than the market capitalization of said entities or the price of said financial objects;

weight by the plurality of financial objects selected to construct the index of financial objects, wherein said weight comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to;

determine a proportional weight for each financial object based on at least one objective measure of scale associated with said entities or said financial objects;

 

wherein said at least one objective measure of scale comprises at least one financial metric associated with one of said entities or said financial objects other than the market capitalization of said entities or the price of said financial objects;

store or provide wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to store or provide the plurality of financial objects selected to construct the index and the proportional weight for each of said financial objects;

wherein each of said financial objects comprises at least one of;

a bond;

a fixed income debt instrument;

a debt instrument;

an emerging market debt instrument;

a high yield debt instrument;

a corporate debt instrument;

an investment grade debt instrument;

a debenture;

a bank loan;

a convertible bond;

a senior debt;

a subordinated debt;

a term loan;

a government debt instrument;

a government bond;

a corporate bond;

a high yield bond;

an emerging market bond;

a municipal bond debt instrument;

a treasury bond debt instrument;

a treasury bill debt instrument;

a mortgage based debt instrument;

a securitized debt instrument;

a security;

a stock;

a commodity;

a futures contract;

a mutual fund;

a hedge fund;

a fund of funds;

an exchange traded fund (ETF);

a derivative;

a negative weighting on any asset;

an asset account;

a separate account;

a pooled trust;

or

a limited partnership; and

manage a portfolio of financial objects based on said index of financial objects,

wherein said manage comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to at least one of;

adjust the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to the at least one objective measure of scale used to select the plurality of financial objects used to construct the index of financial objects;

adjust the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio based on changes to the at least one objective measure of scale used to weight the plurality of financial objects used to construct the index of financial objects;

rebalance the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio when the weight of one or more of said financial objects at least one of;

exceeds a threshold value;

or deviates from a target weight;

or rebalance the relative weightings of the financial objects that comprise said portfolio to minimize turnover of said financial objects.

109. The system of claim 108, wherein:

said select based on said at least one objective measure of scale comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to select wherein said at least one financial metric comprises any dividends.

110. The system of claim 109, wherein:

said select wherein said financial metric comprises any dividends and comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to select based on a calculation based on said dividends exceeding a minimum value.

111. The system of claim 110, wherein:

said select based on a calculation based on said dividends comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to select based on a calculation based on said dividends comprising a sum of total dividends paid over a period of time.

112. The system of claim 108, wherein:

said select based on said at least one objective measure of scale comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to select wherein said at least one financial metric comprises earnings.

113. The system of claim 112, wherein:

said select based on said at least one financial metric comprising earnings and comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to select based on said earnings being positive over a period of time.

114. The system of claim 108, wherein:

said select comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to sort said plurality of financial objects into one or more sets of financial objects based on said at least one objective measure of scale.

115. The system of claim 108, wherein:

said select comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to sort said plurality of financial objects into one or more sets of financial objects based on a derivative of said at least one objective measure of scale.

116. The system of claim 108, wherein:

said weight based on said at least one objective measure of scale comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to weight based on any dividends.

117. The system of claim 108, wherein:

said weight based on said at least one objective measure of scale comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to weight based on earnings.

118. The system of claim 108, wherein:

said select comprises wherein the at least one computer processor being configured to select a plurality of said financial objects to construct an index of financial objects from a universe of said entities or said financial objects.

119. The system of claim 118, wherein:

said universe comprises at least one of;

a sector, a market, a market sector, an industry sector, a geographic sector, an international sector, a sub-industry sector, a government issue sector or a tax-exempt sector.