METAMORFOSIS

On Nov. 15, finance ministers from the 20 wealthiest countries are scheduled to convene in Washington, D.C., to discuss what could amount to a comprehensive overhaul of the global financial system. The alarming speed with which the credit crisis has spread from toxic mortgage-backed assets in the U.S. to banks as far afield as Iceland, Russia, and Korea certainly calls for a radical rethinking of how these markets are set up and regulated.

How far-reaching such a structural makeover turns out to be is anyone's guess, but one issue that demands attention sooner rather than later: strengthening the rules that govern how publicly traded companies report financial information. Strictly speaking, the financial crisis erupted from risky investments that have tainted the balance sheets mainly of banks and other financial institutions. But the crisis of confidence, some believe, is pervasive and extends to confusing accounting practices applied by a much broader universe of companies. Investor confidence in the markets hangs in the balance until financial transparency and disclosure are significantly improved.

The core of the problem is the failure of many companies to provide a complete and accurate depiction of their financial standing, which is reflected in deficient disclosures of asset values, liabilities, and overall risk on corporate balance sheets. Even as financial analysts and regulators have called for increased transparency, the banks at the center of the credit crisis have stepped up requests that fair-value accounting for impaired assets be suspended to allow the credit markets to loosen up.

(By David Bogoslaw : BusinessWeek.com, 10/15/08).