A distraction

BBH&Co. Insurance Asset Management reports on expensing options:

Every scandal has its poster children. For some reason, the lack of income statement accounting for executive stock options has become the scapegoat of choice for the most recent wave of corporate scandals. Former JPMorgan executive Walter Cadette declared in a recent New York Times Op-Ed that “the stock-options culture is at the root of the current scandals on Wall Street.” Warren Buffett placed the issue front and center this week with a scathing editorial (Who Really Cooks the Books?) claiming that option accounting was one of the two most “flagrant deceptions” in accounting today. Buffett declares that he is opposed to legislators setting accounting rules on principle. However, he is so appalled by stock option and pension surplus accounting that he is willing to make an exception to his own rules.

That guy writes so well, he should have a blog.