An audit of the public finances by the national accounting office is due next month, conveniently after the elections.

ECONOMIST: France��s new president: The first steps of St Fran?ois | The

Reliant Resources was also punished by the market when it delayed releasing its results by a day earlier this month even though it explained that its accounting had been too cautious and its profits were therefore higher than previously stated.

ECONOMIST: Energy trading

Traders are intensely focused on level 3 reported by the banks, because new accounting rules changing the way assets are valued kick in later this month and could fuel a new wave of write-downs.

FORBES

P2P systems, downloading 2.6 billion songs a month and 400, 000 films a day, accounting for over half of all internet traffic by some measures.

ECONOMIST: Peer-to-peer