Effectively, this accounting loophole allows managers to hide their failures and makes it exceedingly difficult for investors to learn how much value they have destroyed.

FORBES: Big Write-Downs Usually A Red Flag For Failed Management

Any hint of accounting irregularities, for which the Sarbanes-Oxley Act imposes dire penalties, causes corporate managers to freeze up and conservative investors to head for the exits.

FORBES: Correction Appended

As for the viability of these funds, managers, with the collaboration of actuaries, accounting firms and bankers invested the funds in progressively more risky ventures in order to get higher yields to further reduce the participation of the employers to the pension funds.

ECONOMIST: Letters