Hedging Forces Bank of America to Restate Earnings

Bank of America will restate earnings going back to 2002 to adjust for the accounting of certain derivative transactions related to hedging interest rate risk and foreign exchange exposure.The adjustments, which pertain to Financial Accounting Standard 133, will increase earnings by $345 million over that period. Bank of America said its financial strength will not be adversely affected by the restatement. Alvaro de Molina, chief financial officer, said in a statement, "The interpretations of how to apply FAS 133, a quite complex standard, continue to evolve." Bank of America's review of recent interpretations of the accounting rule led Bank of America to decide that certain of its hedges did not warrant "short cut" treatment under FAS 133, he said. In those cases where the short cut method didn't apply, Bank of America decided it had to run fluctuations in the value of hedging instruments through its earnings statement.