I hear that eight Malaysians have made it to the 2007 Forbes Magazine's billionaire list . But perhaps they should not rush to celebrate yet because the way Forbes calculated wealth might well have been flawed. In compiling the list, Forbes had determined the worth of an individual's holdings in public companies using the Feb 9 closing stock price.

Not so long ago, the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister's Department went to pains to explain how equity ought to be computed . The proper way, it seemed, was to calculate equity not by current market value but by par value - an approach said to be recognised by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank.

I had been wondering about this some time back . If the EPU's methodology were applied, some billionaires seriously risk being booted off the Forbes list. (Bill Gates is probably safe for now though).