Posts

Let Me Tell You A Funny Story: Lehman’s Repo 105 Accounting

When a new batch of Ernst & Young auditors arrived at Lehman Brothers each year, Repo 105 transactions must have caused debate. After all, a transaction that’s called a “Repo,” short for “repurchase”, but that’s actually recorded on the books as a sale, is a little odd. It may have even quacked.

Goldman Sachs’ Senate Testimony: Did CFO Viniar Screw Their Pooch?

This article was originally posted on Going Concern.com on April 29, 2010. I watched all 11 hours yesterday of the Goldman Sachs testimony to the Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations. I never expected anyone to mention the auditors and I was not disappointed. You may think, given my criticism of the auditors, that I would […]

The End of Lehman, Part 3: Repo 105 and the Legacy of Lehman

Financial Reform Watch blogger Ben Hallman looks at how Lehman Brothers was a leader in disguising its losses—and how a government investigation into Lehman’s practices could offer federal authorities their best, and possibly last, chance to hold individuals responsible for the crisis personally accountable.