Accounting News Roundup: Bank of America Waves the Accounting Wand; 1986 All Over Again?; IRS Commish: Budget Cuts Hurt Everyone | 10.18.11
Bank of America swings to $6.2bn profit [FT]
Bank of America reported a third-quarter net profit of $6.2bn but the results were flattered hugely by accounting gains and its sales of shares in China Construction Bank. Stripping out a litany of exceptional items, from a $3.6bn gain due to the CCB stake sale to a $4.5bn boost from an accounting rule that allows banks to book a profit on the falling value of their own debt, BofA’s businesses produced a loss.