FCIC will look at how banks massage quarterly financials

Maneuvers by banks to make assets and liabilities disappear from their books immediately before issuing quarterly results will soon get a close examination from the U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. One of these techniques allowed Lehman Bros. to hide $50 billion in investments from regulators and investors shortly before its collapse, according to a bankruptcy report. Analysts said many banks continue to use special-purpose entities, hedge fund relationships and other techniques to "window-dress" their balance sheets.