Earlier this month, I did a blog entry looking at how accounting regulators were bending over backwards to protect banks. By throwing them a lifeline, they have completely ignored the interests of shareholders who are screaming out for transparency.
Now CFO.com reports that Moody's has attacked the International Accounting Standards Board bringing in IAS 39 which allows banks to ignore fair value, or what the market thinks the asset is worth, and reclassify it as carrying a related gain or loss at amortized cost. In other words, it allows them to just say what they paid for it, minus any adjustment for impairment. And because they can reclassify assets reclassify financial assets at their July 1, 2008, they can materially alter their results depending on the accounting policy they choose.
This mean the quality is worse than what investors had before.
no comment untill now