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Note 10 - Off Balance Sheet Risk and Concentration of Credit Risk
9 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2015
Risks and Uncertainties [Abstract]  
Concentration Risk Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE 10. OFF BALANCE SHEET RISK AND CONCENTRATION OF CREDIT RISK


The Company through its subsidiaries is engaged in trading and providing a broad range of securities brokerage and investment services to a diverse group of retail and institutional clientele, as well as corporate finance and investment banking services to corporations and businesses. Counterparties to the Company’s business activities include broker-dealers and clearing organizations, banks and other financial institutions. The Clearing brokers are used to process transactions and maintain customer accounts on a fee basis for the Company. Clearing firms extend credit to the Company's clientele secured by cash and securities in the client’s account. The Company’s exposure to credit risk associated with the non-performance by its customers and counterparties in fulfilling their contractual obligations can be directly impacted by volatile or illiquid trading markets, which may impair the ability of customers and counterparties to satisfy their obligations to the Company. The Company has agreed to indemnify the clearing brokers for losses they incur while extending credit to the Company’s clients. It is the Company’s policy to review, periodically and as necessary, the credit standing of its customers and counterparties. Amounts due from customers that are considered uncollectible by the clearing broker are charged back to the Company by the clearing broker when such amounts become determinable. Upon notification of a charge back, such amounts, in total or in part, are then either (i) collected from the customers, (ii) charged to the broker initiating the transaction, and/or (iii) charged to operations, based on the particular facts and circumstances.


The Company maintains cash in bank deposits, which, at times, may exceed federally insured limits. In the event of a financial institution’s insolvency, the recovery of cash may be limited. The Company has not experienced and does not expect to experience losses on such accounts. 


A short sale involves the sale of a security that is not owned in the expectation of purchasing the same security (or a security exchangeable into the same security) at a later date at a lower price. A short sale involves the risk of a theoretically unlimited increase in the market price of the security that would result in a theoretically unlimited loss.