Accounting standards during the global financial crisis of 2008-9: the political dimension

The thesis papers focus on the history of mark-to-market accounting during the global financial crisis from 2008 to 2010. Banks claimed that mark-to-market had caused or exacerbated the crisis. Those opposed to the banks (accounting professionals, standard setters, advocacy groups) claimed that mark-to-market gave appropriate valuations of financial businesses that had mismanaged their own investment risks. Despite these defenses, in October 2008 and April 2009 mark-to-market was severely downgraded by standard setters in the US and the International Accounting Standards Board. This expo presentation focuses on the use of level-3 assets by non-banking corporate during the financial crisis. While banks are known to have mal-used level 3 measurements to hide troubled assets, little research has been done on non-banking companies.