Accounting is an art, not a science.

Bank of America is the latest victim of the conceptual incoherence and labyrinthine demands of FAS 133, the U.S. accounting standard for derivatives.

FAS 133 is so deeply flawed that it should be scrapped altogether and re-thought from scratch.

The consensus is that it is time at a minimum for major revisions, if not for Financial Accounting Standard 133 to be scrapped altogether and replaced.

Without in any way making excuses for Fannie and Freddie, the questionable character of Financial Accounting Standard 133 is the ghost at the feast of their accounting scandal.

Companies should be permitted to publish pre-fair-value accounting statements as well as marked-to-market balance sheets, which would offer investors multiple perspectives on firms' financial health.

With the re-election of President Bush and increased Republican majorities in the Congress, legislation addressing stronger regulation of the housing GSEsis now highly probable.

What is accounting truth? This is the best we can do.