The GAO Should Apply GAAP At FNM

Back in April I wrote, The Mess Won’t Stop At Fannie Mae, in that article Fannie Mae announced that it would be trimming $200 million from its annual operating budget. After hiring an extra 1,000 staff to sort out the accounting mess that the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight ordered to be done, it looked like they were back on track. After all, why announce such drastic cuts if the job is not completed.

Washington Business Journal article by Neil Adler Fannie Mea didn’t file their 2005 financial report with the Securities and Exchange Commission until May, 2 and has until next Feb. 29, 2008 to submit the annual report for 2006.

If a public company handled their accounting this way, heads would roll and they would face strong regulatory discipline.