Yeah, yeah, blame the accountants for telling it like it is.

[markw]

Amid the ongoing financial regulation overhaul, the banking industry is hoping to pull off a quiet power grab that has eluded its grasp since the Great Depression, by stripping the independence of the board that sets financial accounting standards.

The move could effectively let banks set their own accounting standards in rough economic times.

The move is so radical that it has split corporate America. The bankers and members of Congress who support it have earned themselves an unlikely enemy: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce."

Sometimes I wonder who these guys are working for. It sure ain't us.

 

[fredk]

Quite right. They are, and always have been working for themselves, which is why you need a regulated financial sector like we have here in Canada.

We don't have smarter or more honest bankers. They lobbied for the same deregulation as happened in the US. We just got lucky that the Government of the day didn't get sucked in.

 

[highfigh]

'Creative accounting' exists for a reason and it's not only corporations that use it. Individuals, companies large & small and governments all use it to their advantage and it doesn't matter if it's regulated, or not. If someone writes the rules, there will be a way around them.

 

[markw]

Quite right. They are, and always have been working for themselves, which is why you need a regulated financial sector like we have here in Canada.

I don't know if you read the article or not, but did you notice that congress is behind this?

The FASB has been pretty good at regulating accounting practices and generating fair reporting so far and now our Congress want to castrate it.

 

[markw]

I don't quite get the point of your post.

'Creative accounting' exists for a reason and it's not only corporations that use it. Individuals, companies large & small and governments all use it to their advantage and it doesn't matter if it's regulated, or not. If someone writes the rules, there will be a way around them.

As it now stands, banks have to follow these practices and they don't like it since it points out problems with their business model. They cannot apply "creative accounting" on these issues. They want to be able to "fudge" the numbers to make them appear in a better position than they really are.

Are you for this move to loosen reporting integrity or not?

 

[Rickster71]

I think Highfigh was responding to Fredk's post.

 

[markw]

Oops...

I think Highfigh was responding to Fredk's post.

In my best Emily Litella voice: "Never Mind"

 

[highfigh]

As it now stands, banks have to follow these practices and they don't like it since it points out problems with their business model. They cannot apply "creative accounting" on these issues. They want to be able to "fudge" the numbers to make them appear in a better position than they really are.

Are you for this move to loosen reporting integrity or not?

I was replying to fredk's post but I was saying that regardless of how many rules and regulations they come up with, someone will come up with a way to skirt them and they can be in the private sector or government. In government, we see this when they tell us how things "are", when closer scrutiny reveals that their version isn't accurate.

"What's all this I hear about "violins on television?" "Oh. Never mind!"