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TITLE I - Troubled Assets Relief Program

Sec. 133. STUDY ON MARK-TO-MARKET ACCOUNTING. (4 Comments) subscribe to the comments feed

  1. STUDY.The Securities and Exchange Commission, in consultation with the Board and the Secretary, shall conduct a study on mark-to-market accounting standards as provided in Statement Number 157 of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, as such standards are applicable to financial institutions, including depository institutions. Such a study shall consider at a minimum

    1. the effects of such accounting standards on a financial institutions balance sheet;

    2. the impacts of such accounting on bank failures in 2008;

    3. the impact of such standards on the quality of financial information available to investors;

    4. the process used by the Financial Accounting Standards Board in developing accounting standards;

    5. the advisability and feasibility of modifications to such standards; and

    6. alternative accounting standards to those provided in such Statement Number 157.

  2. REPORT.The Securities and Exchange Commission shall submit to Congress a report of such study before the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act containing the findings and determinations of the Commission, including such administrative and legislative recommendations as the Commission determines appropriate.

4 comments on Sec. 133. STUDY ON MARK-TO-MARKET ACCOUNTING.

  • What a waste of money studying this will be. We did not have this problem before Sarbanes Oxley. People who study finance know the time value of money and how to value assets based upon risk and return as opposed to an arbitrary market price when the market is paniced.

    posted by Anonymous at October 2, 2008

  • I fully agree, but as reflected in the comments above there are plenty of folks who don't get it. If I can't sell something today, does that mean it is worth zero?

    posted by R. Parvey at October 2, 2008

  • STUDY????

    The only things Congress seems to be good at is spending money badly and wasting paper with studies. I propose we study what life would be like without Congress for a year. Anything we truly miss can be funded the next year. Everything else should be money back in the taxpayers' pockets.

    posted by Garth Shaner at October 2, 2008

  • After this study the SEC will not allow mark to market accounting. As a nation,why would we purchase these assets. They have a value and the market for them will determine that value. As surely as our banking industry executives privatize their gains; so should we as a nation, insist that they privatize their losses.

    posted by George Madsen at October 2, 2008
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