Accounting Standards

Bank of America management, with likely involvement from the U.S. Treasury, ignored the advice of its company treasurer, external auditor and later its own general counsel by not disclosing the pre-merger losses at Merrill Lynch, according to a complaint filed last week by the New York Attorney General's office.

More and more of the details are emerging about what really happened during the tense moments back in November and December of 2008 at the height of the credit crisis when Bank of America either voluntarily or involuntarily acquired Merrill Lynch, a Wall Street investment firm that had already suffered billions in losses and was heavily exposed to the crumbling debt markets.

The integration of European capital markets and the rapid growth of China's economy and capital markets have increased the pressure to merge the various accounting standards of the world into one cohesive accounting standard -- a movement known in the accounting world as convergence.  Perhaps no one has examined and monitored the convergence issue more than Bruce Pounder, CMA, President of Leveraged Logic, an educational products and services consulting firm in Asheville, North Carolina and author of The Convergence Guidebook.   

Approximately 1,100 corporate accounting and finance professionals from around the country, and some from around the world, gathered in Tampa, Florida two weeks ago for the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) 89th Annual Conference & Exhibition.