The American Bankers Association wrote

If you want to start a fight in the financial world, try to pin the blame somewhere for the current financial crisis. With debt markets locked up tight and equity bashed to very low levels, everyone is understandably trying to duck any blame. One place where a lot of blame is being placed is on the “mark to market ” style of accounting currently required by Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Mark-to-market accounting means valuing an asset at its current price, regardless of other quantifying and qualifying elements. Mark-tomarket accounting is FAS 157, defining Fair Value Measurements. This new rule became effective in November of 2007, right about the same time things started going south in the banking world. Former FDIC chairman William Isaac puts the blame for the credit crisis squarely on the use of mark to market accounting during a downturn as one of the major reasons why markets have blown up. So does Steve Forbes, and any of a number of others in the financial world