>GREENSPAN: The truth of the matter is that you might want two or
>three separate sets of books.
>
>I mean you may want, for example, and the most important one from
>the point of view of the chief executive officer, is to have a set
>of accounts which says, as I indicated earlier today, whether, in
>fact, a particular corporate strategy is successful. That is a very
>specific request and you would keep your accounts in a certain
>manner.
>
>There's another set of accounts which you may want to keep to
>determine what's the probability that you will default. And that's a
>different set. You value assets differently. For example, in one
>case you try to get an exact measure of the value of assets. In a
>default issue you want to get a very conservative estimate and to
>lean over backwards.
>
>Then you've got tax accounting, which is different again. And all I
>would suggest is that, as I indicated in my prepared remarks, the
>national income and product accounts, which, as I indicated, are
>rising -- the profits are rising quite significantly, are
>essentially derived from the IRS data system, and in that regard
>offer the macro data more accurately.