Problem:
Off-balance sheet financing is potentially a serious problem as a tool to misstate financial statements. Furthermore, the problem is not likely to be easily resolved with deteriorated ethics in the US corporate world. (Remember balance sheet management and off balance sheet financing are not inherently bad management tools).
Given the current state of affairs, what do you think can be done to manage the potential risk to the financial statement users of off-balance-sheet financing being employed to misrepresent a company's financial position?