accounts receivable

Earnings season is near, and investors, as always are worried. Don't fret too much, though: Odds are that your company will come out on top on the bottom line -- because most do. But what will separate the winners from the whiners for the coming quarter? Here are the three key factors.

Rhode Island may be the smallest U.S. state, but it's in big economic trouble. At 10.3 percent, its unemployment rate is the second-highest in the country, trailing only embattled Michigan. It is at the epicenter of a nationwide surge in mortgage fraud. And, new research shows, its companies are...