| Lost library card used to get 44 items, $700 in fees
When 14-year-old George Vartanov lost his wallet at a movie theater, he didn't worry too much.The Crescent Valley High School freshman's wallet contained only a few bucks, his student body card and a library card. But about two weeks later, Vartanov's family got a phone call from the Corvallis-Benton County Library about overdue items. A lot of overdue items.Someone had used the teen's library card to check out 44 books and DVDs � none of which have been returned. All together, the materials were worth nearly $700, according to a Corvallis Police Department report."I didn't think there would be any issue with a library card," Vartanov said.But after the theft was discovered on Oct. 26, he worried he'd have to pay for the items.Because he's a crime victim, though, he won't be held liable, said Carolyn Rawles-Heiser, library director.Vartanov's grandmother said he has already been issued a new card.Rawles-Heiser said that if a card goes missing, residents should contact the library to cancel it, and if it gets used, they should call police."People do need to be careful with their library cards, just like their credit cards," Rawles-Heiser said.The library isn't looking to change circulation policies in the aftermath of the incident, but it does review those policies annually.Patrons currently can check out as many as 100 books and 10 DVDs at one time.Still, such thefts are uncommon.
Commentary>All companies to disclose management of risk
Accounting standard IFRS 7 brings transparency to financial statements. It is a common myth that the accounting standard on Financial Instruments: Disclosures, or IFRS 7, is relevant to financial institutions only. It applies to all entities, financial and non-financial. The extent of disclosure, however, will be driven by the entity's use of financial instruments and exposures to risk. IFRS 7, which became effective January 1, is now the comprehensive standard on financial instrument disclosures. It consolidates and expands a number of existing reporting requirements and adds some challenging new disclosures. And, it replaces the disclosure requirements previously contained in: IAS 30 - Disclosures in the Financial Statements of Banks and Similar Financial Institutions (now withdrawn); and IAS 32 - Financial Instruments: Disclosure and Presentation (now renamed Financial Instruments: Presentation).
Fannie Under Fire Over Accounting Change
Fannie Mae's bookkeeping is drawing scrutiny from Wall Street -- again. Three years after a stunning accounting scandal that forced it to restate earnings by $6.3 billion, the giant government-sponsored company that buys and sells home loans is on the defensive over a change in how it calculates potential losses from the growing mortgage crisis. .
BofA hosts talks to kick-start debt market
Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., the three largest U.S. banks, reached an agreement on the structure of an $80 billion fund to help unfreeze the market for short-term debt, a person familiar with the talks said yesterday. Bankers working on the deal met at Bank of America's offices in New York on Nov. 9 and settled on a simpler plan than initially proposed last month, according to the person, who declined to be named because the agreement isn't public. Under the original plan brokered by Treasury Security Henry Paulson, the fund would buy some of the $320 billion in assets held by so-called structured-investment vehicles, known as SIVs. A term sheet may be ready in as few as two weeks, once ratings companies evaluate the super-SIV and the banks obtain tax and legal opinions, the person said.
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