An Ugly Truth About Bank Accounting (BAC)(WFC)(C)

24/7 Wall St. set out to look at whether financial reporting at a number of companies, particularly banks ,is “reliable”? This process took into account the chances that a firm might have to restate earnings, face litigation over misstatements, and even exposure to charges of fraud.

24/7 turned to Audit Integrity, which conducts forensic measurements of the transparency and statistical reliability of corporate financial reporting. The firm uses its own “Audit Integrity Accounting and Governance Risk Rating” to determine accounting risk: 1) a forensic assessment of the risk that financial results are misrepresented in public disclosures, and 2) governance risks, a forensic measurement a company’s governance practices helps users identify statistically high-risk behavior.

A review of the country’s largest banks shows that the most aggressive accounting practices and those most subject to reliability problems are the accounting practices at Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Ciitgroup (C), Fifth Third Bank (FITB), PNC Financial (PNC), and KeyCorp (KEY).