– But troll a little further in the headlines, and you'll discover a very interesting development at our favorite government-coddled mortgage lender. "Fannie Mae Reports $1.2bn Accounting Error," writes the Associated Press. Due to a "flawed application of new accounting standards," Fannie Mae claims, the lender had previously understated its portfolio by $1.7 billion. Now, Fannie admits both its total assets and unrealized gains on certain securities are each over a billion dollars more than originally reported.