51.   In October, Lucent was finally able to make large acquisitions without being penalized by certain accounting rules that apply to spin-offs.

52.   In the latest period, the company switched to new accounting rules that do not call for such charges.

53.   In the meantime, the accounting rules allowed AES to act as if the shares did not exist when it computed earnings per share.

54.   Independent accounting experts said last week that the change in policy stretched and may have broken accounting rules.

55.   Inflation and obscure accounting rules discouraged the union and the companies alike from pursuing longer agreements.

56.   Instead, it is because accounting rules make it easier for banks to hide their mistakes.

57.   Instead, the buyer contends that some part of the price of a purchase is acquired research, which must be written off immediately under current accounting rules.

58.   Investment banks are concerned that a change in the accounting rules would bring merger activity to a grinding halt.

59.   It appears to have been the first time the SEC has stepped in to correct what it saw as an abuse of that accounting rule.

60.   It is not known if the Unify board suspects fraud or just thinks the company misapplied complicated accounting rules.