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Bankers have been blaming themselves for their troubles in public.
臺面上，銀行家們將他們的麻煩歸咎于己身，
Behind the scenes, they have been taking aim at someone else: the accounting standard-setters.
臺面下，他們一直把目標對準他人：會計準則制定者。
Their rules, moan the banks, have forced them to report enormous losses, and it's just not fair.
銀行業抱怨會計規則迫使他們報告巨大損失，認為這不公平。
These rules say they must value some assets at the price a third party would pay, not the price managers and regulators would like them to fetch.
規則規定他們必須以第三方付出價格來評估部分資產的價值，而非按照管理者和監管者期望該資產能夠獲得的價格。
Unfortunately, banks' lobbying now seems to be working.
不幸的是，銀行的游說活動看來已顯成效。
The details may be unknowable, but the independence of standard-setters, essential to the proper functioning of capital markets, is being compromised.
其中細節可能無法獲知，但是準則制定者在獨立性方面--這正是資產市場正常運行的關鍵--已經做出妥協了。
And, unless banks carry toxic assets at prices that attract buyers, reviving the banking system will be difficult.
銀行如果不以能夠吸引買家的價格計量不良資產，銀行系統的復蘇將會非常困難。
After a bruising encounter with Congress, America's Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rushed through rule changes.
美國財務會計準則委員會 （FASB）在與國會激烈摩擦之后，匆匆通過了規則修改。
These gave banks more freedom to use models to value illiquid assets and more flexibility in recognizing losses on long-term assets in their income statement.
這些修改使得銀行在使用模型評估非流動資產方面用有更大的自由，同時使得它們確認收益表中長期資產損失時更為靈活。
Bob Herz, the FASB's chairman, cried out against those who "question our motives.
FASB 主席 Bob Herz 大聲反對那些"懷疑我們的動機"的人們。
" Yet bank shares rose and the changes enhance what one lobby group politely calls "the use of judgment by management. "
然而銀行股票上漲了，修改進一步加強了"管理層使用理性判斷"的說法。該說法是某游說團的客氣之言。
European ministers instantly demanded that the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) do likewise.
歐洲的部長們立刻要求國際會計準則委員會(IASB)也這么做。
The IASB says it does not want to act without overall planning, but the pressure to fold when it completes it reconstruction of rules later this year is strong.
IASB 表示沒有完整計劃不想就冒然行動。但其在今年下半年完成規則修訂時，承受的壓力十分巨大。
Charlie McCreevy, a European commissioner, warned the IASB that it did "not live in a political vacuum" but "in the real word" and that Europe could yet develop different rules.
歐洲委員會委員 Charlie McCreevy 警告 IASB 說：它不是"處在政治真空中"而是"在現實世界里"，并表示歐洲最終可能會發展出不同的會計規則。
It was banks that were on the wrong planet, with accounts that vastly overvalued assets.
正是這些銀行呆錯了星球，它們的賬目上充斥著估值過高的資產。
Today they argue that market prices overstate losses, because they largely reflect the temporary illiquidity of markets, not the likely extent of bad debts.
現在他們爭論道市價高估了損失，因為市價主要反映了市場的暫時性流動性不足，而非壞賬的可能范圍。
The truth will not be known for years.
幾年中，沒人會知道真相。
But bank's shares trade below their book value, suggesting that investors are skeptical.
但是，銀行股票以低于賬面價值的價格交易，這一點反應了投資者的懷疑。
And dead markets partly reflect the paralysis of banks which will not sell assets for fear of booking losses, yet are reluctant to buy all those supposed bargains.
沉寂的市場一定程度上反應了癱瘓的銀行的問題：由于怕賬面損失既不愿出售資產，也不愿意去購買那些看似不錯的廉價資產。
To get the system working again, losses must be recognized and dealt with.
為了讓銀行系統重新運轉起來，損失必須被確認和處理。
America's new plan to buy up toxic assets will not work unless banks mark assets to levels which buyers find attractive.
只有在銀行將資產定價在足夠吸引買家的水平上，美國收購不良資產的新計劃才會有效。
Successful markets require independent and even combative standard-setters.
成熟的市場需要獨立的，甚至是好斗的準則制定者。
The FASB and IASB have been exactly that, cleaning up rules on stock options and pensions, for example, against hostility from special interests.
FASB和 IASB 以往正是這樣對抗特殊利益集團的敵意的，例如改進股權和退休金的相關規則。
But by giving in to critics now they are inviting pressure to make more concessions.
但是現在向批評者妥協是自尋壓力，他們會進一步做出讓步，面臨更多的壓力。
