1.  Are these deals likely to increase the combined profits of the merging companies?

2.  Both investment banks, and the merging companies, declined to comment.

3.  But many companies and Wall Street deal makers have come to rely on pooling accounting because it allows merging companies to avoid expensive charges that reduce future earnings.

4.  Coulter said that, as the two merging companies do now, the new company wants to sell insurance products but not necessarily to own an insuror.

5.  He said the merging companies should be required to enter into a consent decree, agreeing to meet pre-set performance standards for interconnections with local access competitors.

6.  She called it Citigroup, and challenged Travelers and Citicorp when those merging companies adopted the same name.

7.  Sometimes they did not realize that assets the merging companies had not included in a sale were essential to succeeding in a new business.

8.  The reason is the radical difference between the types of people the merging companies employ, and the financial incentives that motivate them.

9.  The rule makers say they are concerned that merging companies can create different financial statements simply by choosing pooling over the alternative method, known as purchase accounting.

10.  The two merging companies mesh.