JPMorgan Juggled Accounting Too (JPM)
Lehman Brothers is not the only firm which manipulated accounting rules. JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) is also guilty of disguising its repurchase trades as sales. However, JPMorgan (JPM) detailed the values of these assets in its balance sheet. The company ended this accounting treatment in 2005.
A JPMorgan spokesperson said, “The transactions were done in very small amounts and were fully disclosed.” The bank has also denied the transactions were used as a balance sheet management tool. The bank ended this accounting practice after its acquisition of Capital One in 2004. During this year, JPMorgan had reported sales worth $20 billion. However, the bank had reported only average figures for the transactions, which minimized the impact of accounting manipulation on the balance sheet.
