The most immediate is the mark-to-market, or so-called fair-value accounting, rules that regulators have been enforcing since the early 1990s.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Just as important, the Administration must deal decisively with the insanity of mark-to-market, or so-called fair value, accounting that has forced institutions under severe pressure from regulators and accountants to maniacally mark down to absurdly low levels the value of unmarketable securities and assets, thus destroying entities that have positive cash flows.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Even with Fannie and Freddie inflating the bubble and the Fed and the rest of the Bush Administration weakening the dollar, the crisis never would have become so unprecedentedly destructive but for a seemingly arcane accounting principle called mark-to-market, or fair value, accounting.

FORBES: Magazine Article

We're in a market-based economy, where we're looking at fair-value accounting and marking instruments, to the markets.

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More controversially, the government plans to suspend mark-to-market accounting rules, which force banks to value their holdings at market prices.

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With the market value plummeting, he argued, mark-to-market accounting turned AIG's balance sheet into a nightmare.

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For instance, the recent guideline on fair-value accounting, which decrees that companies must show equity holdings at their market value, also contains a provision that allows them to avoid writing down shares if they think that they will soon recover in value.

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Even small domestic investors have been getting in on the market moves, with trading value from individual buyers reaching a six-year high in February and accounting for 30% of average daily volume, up from less than 20% last October, according to broker Reorient Group, which cited data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

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