Jonathan Weil, a columnist for Bloomberg, was looking into how the Federal Reserve keeps its books for the Bear Stears bailout and found that it doesn't follow GAAP. In fact, he had to file a FOIA request to get the Fed's very own accounting manual. From his column,"Fed's Bear Stearns Books Look Prime for Cooking,"
The Fed also should eliminate the secrecy around its precious accounting manual. You won't find the manual on the Fed's Web site, even though it's cited by name in the Fed's financial statements. To get my copy, after the Fed's press office initially declined to provide one, I had to file a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The Fed sent me a lightly redacted version 18 days later.
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