A finite element analysis is performed for lateral buckling problems on the basis of a geometrically nonlinear formulation for a beam with small elastic strain but with possibly large rotations. The total Lagrangian formulation for a general large deformation, which involves finite rotations, is chosen and the exponential map is used to treat finite rotations from the Eulerian point of view. For lateral buckling, the point of vanishing determinant of the resulting unsymmetric tangent stiffness is traced to examine its relationship to bifurcation points. It is found that the points of vanishing determinant is not corresponding to bifurcation points for large deformations in general, which suggests that the present unsymmetric tangent stiffness is not an exact first derivative of internal forces with respect to displacement. This is illustrated through several numerical examples and followed by appropriate discussion.