Fannie Mae Shares Fall on Accounting Woes WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) tumbled on Thursday after the Securities and Exchange Commission said the company must restate earnings because of accounting problems. Shares in Fannie Mae stock opened at $68.00, down $2.69, or 3.81 percent, from a close of $70.69 per share on Wednesday. The company, which buys mortgages from lenders and holds them or repackages them as securities for investors, had said it may have to report after-tax losses of as much as $9 billion over 2001-2004 if regulators' concerns about its accounting were upheld. The SEC said after the market close on Wednesday that Fannie Mae's accounting practices from 2001 to mid-2004 "did not comply in material respects" with certain accounting standards for derivatives, hedging and other matters. SEC Chief Accountant Donald Nicolaisen said he has advised Fannie that it should "restate its financial statements filed with the commission to eliminate the use of hedge accounting," among other steps. Analysts said the determination will hit the company's shareholders hard. "Equity holders, in my view, are dead in the water. There's no growth coming in 2005. All of 2005 is going to be devoted to building their capital," said Edwin Groshans, vice president and senior mortgage finance analyst at Fox-Pitt Kelton. Fannie Mae -- which has already agreed to add a thicker capital cushion over a nine-month period as it addresses concerns about its accounting -- said after the announcement on Wednesday that the SEC's ruling cast doubt on the adequacy of its capital position. "The determination made by the SEC will have a negative impact on our minimum capital position, and we are committed to taking the steps necessary to comply with our minimum capital requirement," Fannie Mae spokesman Chuck Greener said in a statement. The SEC's announcement also raises questions about the futures of Fannie Mae Chief Executive Franklin Raines and Chief Financial Officer Timothy Howard, who told Congress during a marathon hearing in October that they and their auditor, KPMG, believed they were following proper accounting procedures. Quelle "Fannie Mae Shares Fall on Accounting Woes" : reuters.com Main page for "Fannie Mae Shares Fall on Accounting Woes"