VOA慢速英语20060526a

ECONOMICS REPORT - Fannie Mae Agrees to Big Fine to Settle Accounting¹ CaseBy Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, May 26, 2006

I'm Bob Doughty² with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance company, agreed this week to pay a fine of four hundred million dollars. The United States government will get some of that money. Most of it will go to shareholders³.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight⁴ says top officers at Fannie Mae created a false image of always meeting earnings⁵ targets. This let them receive millions of dollars in extra pay.

The office released a report that deals with the period from nineteen ninety-eight to two thousand four. It says former chief Franklin Raines set high goals for earnings per share. Company officials then produced misleading financial reports that gave the appearance of smooth growth.

The report says Mister Raines received fifty-two million dollars in bonus payments.

Mister Raines says he never approved or knew about any violations⁶ of accounting rules. And his replacement⁷, Daniel Mudd, says Fannie Mae has learned some powerful lessons. Yet the report says Mister Mudd did not fully⁸ investigate concerns expressed by three employees.

Fannie Mae buys home loans from banks and other lenders. This gives them money to lend for other purposes. Fannie Mae is a private company. It began in nineteen thirty-eight as the Federal National Mortgage Association, created by Congress.

To buy mortgages, Fannie Mae borrows huge amounts of money. In fact, it is the second largest borrower in the world after the United States government.

Fannie Mae sells and trades investment products secured by mortgages. The report says Fannie Mae sought to present itself as a very low-risk company when, in fact, it was out of control. The report also says Fannie Mae officials tried to slow the investigation⁹ through influence in Congress.

The civil fine is one of the largest ever in such a case. The settlement does not require Fannie Mae to admit or deny wrongdoing. Under the agreement, Fannie Mae will not add to its mortgage holdings without approval. And it must propose a system of financial controls.

Fannie Mae has already been ordered to restate its earnings to correct for accounting mistakes. These are currently estimated at about eleven thousand million dollars.

Fannie Mae and a smaller company, Freddie Mac, control about half the home loans in the nation. Three years ago, Freddie Mac reported five thousand million dollars in accounting mistakes.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. I'm Bob Doughty.

1 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

2 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

3 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

4 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

5 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

6 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

7 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。