creative accounting

5 Stories

Obama Just Legalized Fraud
 Obama Just Legalized Fraud 
Matt Taibbi

Obama Just Legalized Fraud

Matt Taibbi on why the JOBS Act 'couldn't suck worse'

(Newser) - Did you enjoy the dot-com bubble? Well, expect a replay on an even bigger scale, because last week President Obama signed a bill that, according to Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone , "will very nearly legalize fraud in the stock market." The JOBS Act is ostensibly designed to make...

Missing Olympus Billions Tied to Yakuza Crime Gangs

$4.9B unaccounted for at Japanese firm

(Newser) - To make a serious financial scandal much, much worse, simply quadruple the sums involved and add gangsters. Investigators probing the shady accounting at Japanese camera maker Olympus believe that in addition to the $1.4 billion the firm paid in merger fees to mask losses, some $4.9 billion is...

Olympus Admits Hiding Decades of Losses

Accounting shenanigans could doom Japanese firm

(Newser) - Olympus has done an about-face after weeks of denials, and admitted to financial wrongdoing on a scale that could doom the Japanese camera and medical equipment maker. The company has admitted that it used acquisitions to hide over $1 billion in investment losses dating back to the 1990s, the New ...

Whoops! Germany Finds $79B in Math Screwup

'Bad bank' entered a sum twice

(Newser) - Good news/bad news time, Germany. The bad news: Your accountants might be incompetent. The good news: Hey, you’ve got $79 billion less debt than you thought! An accounting screwup at FMS Wertmanagement—the so-called “bad bank” set up to handle all the toxic assets from mortgage lender Hype...

EU Should Go After Goldman, Since US Won't
 EU Should Go After 
 Goldman, Since US Won't 


Greek Crisis

EU Should Go After Goldman, Since US Won't

Firm helped Greece hide staggering debt, leading to near collapse

(Newser) - With the revelation that Goldman Sachs was peddling exotic instruments to help Greece hide its runaway debts as recently as November, something must be done, Simon Johnson writes. US authorities clearly aren't going to raise a finger—a few phone calls around Washington will ensure that the Fed looks the...

5 Stories