Accounting rules that contributed to recent problems at American International Group and other giant financial institutions have made financial statements less clear and less transparent for investors, an insurance executive said here.
A few days after taking on rating agencies during a speech at the NCCI meeting in Florida, William Berkley, chair of Greenwich, Conn.-based W.R. Berkley Corp., had accounting standards setters in his sights when asked about the impact of the credit crisis on insurers.
During a media briefing in New York, he noted that problems created by accounting rules requiring certain investments to be marked to market values are shared by many financial firms, including insurers. He said the assumptions of the accountants who developed the rules–including an assumption that the investments always have marketability–are not valid.
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