blankfein says mark-to-market rule not to blame.
lloyd blankfein, chairman and chief executive of goldman sachs group inc., delivered a speech tuesday to the council of institutional investors’ spring meeting in washington. the whole speech is worth a read, but accountants will zero in on this passage:
financial institutions didn’t account for asset values accurately enough. i’ve heard some argue that fair value accounting — which assigns current values to financial assets and liabilities — is one of the major reasons for exacerbating the credit crisis. i see it differently. if more institutions had properly valued their positions and commitments at the outset, they would have been in a much better position to reduce their exposures.
full text here.
