3/28/09

FASB


The US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)


 changed the mark-to-market rules last week


 


First, they suspended the mark-to-market rules


for assets in distressed markets


 


Second, they widened the definition


 of "temporary" impairments of troubled assets


 


The board decided to make the new changes


effective immediately


 


This will allow banks to write up their paper


and it happens before Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner


starts putting taxpayer money at risk


 


…The information will still be there


but the way it will be recorded will not be reflected


in the profit and loss statement…


 


Expect to see a pop in valuations


 


…The International Accounting Standards Board


sent out a scathing press release


 


I guess from that we should assume


that European banks will not be so fortunate


as their US counterparts


 


John Mauldin


FrontLineThoughts.com


 


If some accounting methods inflate financial valuations


increasing stakeholder and insider worth


 


while some mainstream news organizations


report and/or promote what may be disingenuous information


to justify what could be inflated prices


 


why wouldn’t targeted political contributions


influence accounting legislation


and regulatory enforcement?


What some invent


the rest enlarge


 


Jonathan Swift

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