21.   Accounting rule makers say that should change.

22.   Accounting rules mean that companies do not normally have to treat options as an expense, charged against reported profits, as they do any other form of compensation.

23.   Accounting rules permitted the company to previously record these expenses as assets in its financial statements.

24.   Accounting rules require software firms to delay recording some of the revenue for such sales in case the buyer cancels the contract or returns the product altogether.

25.   After a wave of bank failures, it was clear that many banks had abused accounting rules to make themselves look healthier than they were.

26.   But during the last two years, Tyco has repeatedly faced questions from regulators and investors about whether it stretches accounting rules to overstate its profits.

27.   But faced with those estimates, corporate executives become more willing to bend accounting rules to hide problems or inflate earnings.

28.   But Hyde has repeatedly said that the bank was not in financial trouble during the years he participated in its oversight, based on accounting rules at the time.

29.   But under accounting rules, Enron could only keep those losses off its books if the Raptors remained financially healthy enough to fulfill their obligations.

30.   Companies often choose to use stock rather than cash when it allows them to use accounting rules to avoid big expenses.