What do the changes mean for investors?

Well, probably not much – the change is really more of a clarification that will give auditors a bit more leeway in valuing assets. Reuters claims that the rule won’t have a big effect on next quarter’s results for financial stocks. Want the lowdown on mark to market accounting? Check out this article I wrote for Investopedia last year:

In the accounting world, the numbers on a company’s books are rarely indicative of market values. According to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), companies are supposed to record the value of assets at their cost in order to err on the side of caution. In other words, if a bakery buys an oven for $10,000, the purchase is recorded as an asset on the company’s balance sheet for $10,000 – even if it could be sold for more in the marketplace.