One Accounting Reason Not to Invest in Individual Securities

I often discuss my reasons for not recommending the purchase of individual securities; instead I suggest the use of indexed mutual funds or ETFs.

Take, for example, the question of leases which account for a major liability of corporations, yet are treated differently on their balance sheets. In many instances, they are not on the balance sheets but are still major liabilities. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)