After our print deadline for the May 4 issue in which we ran this editor's column in Credit Union Times, the NCUA's assistant director of public affairs, David Small, completed gathering up the responses. I'm including them here verbatim for your information. I've also added my two cents as editor's notes. I invite you to share your thoughts on the questions and answers.

Cooke: In our recent story about Vensure (and has happened with St. Paul's Croatian and others over the last couple of years) the agency said NCUA examiners only "validate" call reports, and don't necessarily scrutinize them beyond making sure everything adds up. Are examiners encouraged to flag something that doesn't meet the smell test? For example in Vensure's case the $2.7M CU took in nearly $2M in fees and St. Paul's reported zero delinquencies throughout 2010, which was a particularly rough year.

If examiners make sure the ledgers add up but do not read into the story they could be telling, isn't that a safety and soundness issue? Is NCUA trusting CUs to report everything accurately themselves? Is there double checking involved?