The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is made up of seven members, six of whom are either ex-partners of major accounting firms or former high-ranking financial executives of their clients. Unfortunately, there is no effective ombudsman or meaningful representation on the accounting standards board for tens of millions of small investors that entrust their life […]

On April 1, 2006, the financial news trumpeted that the FASB was taking, as Andrei Postelnicu put it in the Financial Times, ’significant steps in reforming the way companies report pension liabilities.’ The Financial Times article (FT.com, April 1, 2006) goes on to say, ‘The move aims to increase the transparency of financing for […]

In 2005, net issues of agency and GSE-backed securities were only 7.8% of levels of 2001, when Fannie Mae was in her heyday, aggressively flogging mortgages to the masses. In 2005, net issues of agencies were only $50.7 billion, indicating that this sector had become far less important in the fixed income market […]