Fannie Mae accounting problems again

Fannie Mae’s accounting practices are being called into question by Wall Street again, this time over how it calculates potential losses from mortgages.

Three years after the major account scandal which forced Fannie Mae to restate earnings by $6.3 billion, the mortgage giant is under tough scrutiny again.  Fannie disclosed its new calculation for potential mortgage losses last Friday and received attention by Fortune.

Under the new method, Fannie reported an “annualized credit-loss ratio” of 4 basis points during the first nine months this year.  According to the Fortune article, using the old method, the credit-loss ratio during that period would have been 7.5 basis points.  That would be a significant increase to the forecasts.

Fannie Mae is under very strict review as it’s currently pressuring the government to raise the cap on its mortgage holdings, which are currently set to $735 billion.

You can read mroe about the latest round of Fannie Mae’s accounting problems at MSNBC.