81.   Some have moved away from it after accounting rules requiring the amortization of goodwill were changed.

82.   So increasingly companies took advantage of loose accounting rules.

83.   Tax and accounting rules also encourage corporations to use options, rather than base salary increases, to reward employees, said consultant Laura Sejen of Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

84.   That helps earnings because Mexican accounting rules require that results be restated to reflect inflation.

85.   That reflected a colossal writeoff, which AOL Time Warner announced previously it would take because of a new accounting rule for acquired assets.

86.   That was more than required by Korean accounting rules which state that only a portion of securities losses must be written off.

87.   The accounting rules allow the combining of calendar periods that come close to matching.

88.   The accounting rule requires that marketing and other costs associated with developing a membership base be amortized over the same period in which revenue from its cards is recognized.

89.   That task was made easier because many investors, even professionals, do not understand how much flexibility companies have to alter their results under standard accounting rules.

90.   The advocates of new accounting rules argue that the current system allows companies to give an overly cheery picture of their financial condition.