Mark To Market Revisions Discussed At FASB

In the hope of assisting with the process of pushing TARP bailout funds into the lending market and the hands of borrowers, the FASB convened on Monday, March 16 to consider proposals for reducing the restrictive mark to market rules on valuation of long term assets. FASB hopes to provide a new final guidance on these issues before first quarter results are due to be reported. The proposal would give accountants greater discretion in deciding whether or not impairment of an asset is temporary, and whether the institution intends to hold the troubled asset to maturity. Details of the staff handout to FASB at the Monday meeting can be found here:

http://www.fasb.org/board_handouts/03-16-09.pdf

The mark to market handout is the second one in the .pdf under this link.

FASB Promises Prompt Mark To Market Rule Reform

Responding to intense congressional pressure to help unblock housing market credit, SEC Acting Chief Accountant James Kroeker promised to work with FASB Chairman Robert Herz to revise the mark to market accounting rules in a way that would give permission to banks and other mortgage lenders to assign a value to long term debt instruments according to the cash flow they produce rather than their sale value in an arms length transaction on any particular day. Both men promised to have a new rule ready within the next three weeks in an effort to unblock housing credit markets and staunch the flow of red ink in the mortgage lending industry. Trust Congress to try finding ways to solve this terrible problem without writing another trillion dollar check to the financial hot shots who got us into this mess.