The Journal said the guidance is aimed at giving investors more information about prices that are difficult to gauge because many markets have seized up in recent months.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to tell public companies they can give investors a wider range of possible market values for hard-to-price assets, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The Journal said the guidance is aimed at giving investors more information about prices that are difficult to gauge because many markets have seized up in recent months.
The SEC plans to tell companies as soon as next week they can provide ranges for the values that surround market prices, said the Journal.
The paper cited Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank, a Democrat from Massachusetts, saying there is an urgent need to look at mark-to-market accounting because it is having a "downward pull" on the economy.
!ADVERTISEMENT!The SEC was not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by David Holmes)
