accounting

The title of this post is fairly provocative and categorical. This is by design. For I see Obama's banking plan as more of the same -- not 'change we can believe in.' And we all need to be clear about the need for Obama and his team to…

Evidence that companies think that much of the downdraft in the economy represents a structural shift to a lower revenue base instead of a cyclical shift comes from the enormous goodwill writedowns companies are taking.  Case and point is…

In case you missed it, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have cost taxpayers tens of billions to date. The bill is still rising, however, as the two companies are looking for $50 billion more to avoid technical insolvency. Then there is…

This just in from the German daily Der Spiegel: German banks are still loaded with risky U.S. assets, only a fraction of which has been written down. If this report is true, it suggests that the entire German banking sector is extremely…

JPMorgan Chase moved up its earnings announcement to today in order to surprise the market with better than expected earnings. The company reported full-year income of $5.6 billion and 4th-quarter income of $702 million or $0.07 a share,…

The statements coming from Meredith Whitney in this video interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo could not be more blunt: the financial serves sector is weak, needs bailout money and investors will be diluted. As a result, she expects…

Earnings season is upon us and I think it bears remembering that earnings season for banks has generally been associated with very bad news for banks over the past two years. Every earnings season is filled with surprise writedown…

As you know from reading my blog, I am expecting a lot of writedowns from regional banks as real estate loans sour. In fact, I expect a number of bankruptcies because of defaults in commercial real estate where much exposure is hidden.…

After meetings with lawmakers, Citigroup has agreed to back legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to alter the amount due on mortgage principal, so called cram downs. As it stands today, all other debtors including corporations…

An issue that has received scant acknowledgment in the media is the likely hole in pension funds books resulting from the recent out in shares. Pension funds must invest the money they receive today in order to provide pensioners funds…