Brutalizing The FASB's Attempts At Piglipsticking

Jonathan Weil of Bloomberg goes apeshit on the FASB, whom he affectionately calls the Fraudulent Accounting Standards Board, claiming that the FASB whored away its soul earlier this week when it "unveiled what may be the dumbest, most bankrupt proposal in its 36-year history."

Here’s what the board is floating. Starting this quarter, U.S. companies would be allowed to report net-income figures that ignore severe, long-term price declines in securities they own. Not just debt securities, mind you, but even common stocks and other equities, too.

All a company would need to do is say it doesn’t intend to sell them and that it probably won’t have to. In most cases, it wouldn’t matter how much the value was down, or for how long. In effect, a company would have to admit being on its deathbed before the rules would force it to take hits to earnings.

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