And the accounting measure passed by the House earlier this year is less stringent than the one being offered in the Senate.

But normal accounting measures fail to capture what sets United Asset apart.

Shoddy bookkeeping and a lack of the most fundamental accounting measures make it unclear what happened to the rest of the money, he said.

A.T.&T. described the charge as an accounting measure that would not affect cash flow or its ability to pay dividends.

House Democratic leaders, meanwhile, were savoring the comfortable 230-to-196 margin by which the accounting measure passed on Wednesday.

Pfizer also reports "adjusted diluted earnings," a nonstandard accounting measure that ignores many significant costs.

He recognized the flaws in the traditional accounting measures and developed alternative economic measures of corporate performance.

This accounting measure could cause a loss of positive equity at many banks.

Others, however, note that varying accounting measures can perhaps mitigate a ratio of 70 but cannot make it go away.

Solvency is an accounting measure that can be achieved merely by shifting costs from the trust funds to general taxpayers.