WARRENVILLE, Ill. — According to its newly released September2008 financials, Lehman Brothers' and GAAP accounting handed $9.1billion Members United Corporate FCU a stunning change of fortunelast month, transforming a record-earning year into a loser.

The corporate charged off half of its $45 million Lehman Bros.holdings last month, took another $15.4 million hit on twomortgage-backed securities and lost another $5 million infair-value adjustments. The result was a $40.3 million net loss forthe month and a $27.8 million year-to-date net loss.

As of Aug. 31, 2008, the corporate had racked up $12.4 millionnet income year-to-date, almost double 2007's pace.

“It's extremely frustrating,” said President David Preter. “Thisis, by far, the best year ever in terms of member appreciation andthe things we can do from an income perspective. In fact, I thinkSeptember was our best month in history before the extraordinaryitems were factored in.”

Rather than wait for the final outcome of the fair valueaccounting debate, Preter and CEO Joe Herbst said they made theassumption that GAAP standards won't change, and decided to takeimpairments. The losses took a chunk out of retained earnings, butMembers United's capital ratio still remains well above the 5%regulatory minimum, at 6.83%.