Fannie Mae Accounting

The accounting problems at Fannie Mae just keep growing. From Marketwatch:

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Fannie Mae said Thursday it’s uncovered new accounting problems in the course of an ongoing review, with the mortgage giant identifying more than $10 billion in issues related to derivatives, insurance accounting and other matters.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Washington-based company, which has previously said it will restate several past periods of financial results, now expects that its 2005 annual financial report won’t be completed before the second half of 2006.

Fannie also said the New York Stock Exchange is reviewing the company’s listing since it’s been unable to file results in a timely manner. It also said the exchange has filed a proposed rule change with the SEC that would allow it to keep Fannie Mae listed.

In the filing, the company said it has identified a problem related to hedge accounting that will lead to an estimated net cumulative aftertax loss of about $8.4 billion as of Dec. 31, 2004.

A few billion here, a few billion there… pretty soon we’ll be talking about some real money.

Kash