Accounting has become political. Fair-value rules, which require assets to be marked to market prices, are blamed by some for exaggerating banks' losses. Although it will take years to establish whether banks' accounts have painted too bleak a picture, the rows are already in full swing. Confidence in "efficient" market prices has been hammered, as has the principle that accounts are designed mainly for investors. The public has a big interest in banks' books now, too. "There are competing paradigms about what financial statements are for," says John Hepp of Grant Thornton, an accountancy firm.
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