The revelations that sparked the crisis in October, about off-balance sheet partnerships, accounting restatements and an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, were embarrassing, certainly.

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Even those banks that are in good shape may want to hold back amid uncertainty over capital-adequacy requirements and accounting rules for off-balance-sheet assets.

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However, evidence emerged in the Andersen trial that Mr Fastow had rejected a particular accounting treatment for some of the off-balance sheet partnerships, adopting instead something that did not conform with American accounting rules.

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Unlike the opaque Lehman, MF Global fully disclosed the trades and their accounting treatment including the off-balance sheet effect.

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During the meeting, Hulse passed around a memo, disclosing that PwC had erred in approving the accounting treatment for the off-balance sheet entities, the suit says.

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The Federal Accounting Standards Board is considering new rules about how financial companies account for off-balance sheet holdings.

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New Constructs includes off-balance sheet debt in all of its reports and adjusts the reported earnings of all companies for this misleading accounting practice.

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The accounting standards for both these trades and repo-to-maturity trades allowed off-balance-sheet treatment.

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PwC came to this conclusion after consulting with three of the other big accounting firms and each firm indicated that the unit didn't qualify for off-balance sheet treatment, the suit says.

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