Apr, 12 2009
Last year, as banks saw many of the assets on their books spiral down in value, many people in the industry, and in Congress, began to wonder if marking…more
Apr, 02 2009
Increased opacity for bank balance sheets? The FASB last week voted, as expected, to allow financial institutions to use “significant” judgement in valuing their assets under FAS 157. While the…more
Apr, 02 2009
Proposed revisions to the 'fair value' accounting standard, FAS 157, would weaken the standard and create inconsistencies in valuations, according to Espen Robak, president of Pluris Valuation Advisors. In…more
Apr, 01 2009
Under the new ‘mark-to-market’ rule, banks can consider the value of assets as if they are being sold in an orderly fashion, not in a distress sale. For months,…more
Apr, 01 2009
Mutual fund industry players said the mark-to-market initiative passed today by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, could have detrimental effects on the mutual fund industry in the form of…more
Apr, 01 2009
Fair-value rules soften, and investors cheer. A needed change now, but let's not forget the Enron era. Mark-to-market rules on valuing assets have been softened. Expect banks, hard-pressed to right…more
Mar, 31 2009
Proposed revisions by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to the fair value accounting standard would ”gut” the current intent of the rule and allow banks and other financial firms…more
Mar, 30 2009
FASB set to vote April 2 to help banks improve illiquid asset valuations WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- As bankers prepare to release their first-quarter results, they are looking to accounting…more
Mar, 24 2009
Fixed-income firms and pension plans could be big buyers of bad bank assets under the latest Treasury program. And the worst stuff could be the first to go. NEW…more
Feb, 28 2009
"PEIGG is not a standard setting body and the FASB does tell us what fair value is and those are the rules we follow. Guidelines are fine, and it's…more
Feb, 16 2009
A knighted Texas billionaire tricked clients into pouring money into three of his companies with false promises of outsized returns, according to fraud charges filed Tuesday by the Securities and…more
Jan, 19 2009
A nightmare for most other institutional portfolio managers has been a boon for BNY Mellon Beta Management. Mark Keleher, the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. unit's chief executive,…more
Jan, 08 2009
Companies Struggle to Come to Terms With Writing Down Troubled Holdings "What's the price of a house?" asks Howard Marks, chairman of Oaktree Capital Management LP. The simple question, he…more
Jan, 01 2009
Emerging-Markets Funds Tumble; 'Short' Managers Pull Off a 32% Gain Hedge funds are supposed to thrive in rough markets. Not in 2008. An historic decline in stocks, and troubles…more
Dec, 22 2008
Hedge funds are bracing for the effects the current financial crisis will have on investor demands for further transparency. The brutal “one-two punch” in 4Q-08 of nearly 100 hedge…more
Sep, 07 2008
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission missed a chance to protect investors from the collapse of the $330 billion auction-rate market by failing to police how banks sold the…more
Sep, 01 2008
Popular Inc.'s deal to sell about $1.17 billion of subprime mortgage assets and servicing rights to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. would essentially complete the disposal of its U.S. consumer…more
Aug, 31 2008
Historical cost accounting is fading as Corporate America marches into a new era. What is a company really worth? That is the central question that accounting attempts to answer,…more
Aug, 27 2008
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Recent U.S. accounting regulations have pushed for consistency in corporate reporting but some accounting firms are more aggressively interpreting the rules than others, likely leading to…more
Aug, 20 2008
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's auction-rate securities settlements with Wall Street banks show that the man who bills himself as the "people's lawyer'' favors savers over shareholders. The almost…more