Goldman Sachs boss backs fair value
29 Jun 09
Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, has backed the use of mark to market accounting at the annual conference of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions in Tel Aviv
Blankfein said that more widespread use of fair value accounting would have provided an “early warning” of the financial crisis, as the practice forced managers to face up to problems as they began.
“It’s painful to mark these things down, but it’s more painful to have to mark them down beyond the point where you can no longer afford the capital [to hold them],” he said.
“Had fair market been implemented more widely then people would have had an early warning and seen value erode,” said Blankfein.