The crisis of fair value accounting: making sense of the recent debate
- The recent financial crisis has led to a vigorous debate about the pros and cons of fair-value accounting (FVA). This debate presents a major challenge for FVA going forward and standard setters’ push to extend FVA into other areas. In this article, we highlight four important issues as an attempt to make sense of the debate. First, much of the controversy results from confusion about what is new and different about FVA. Second, while there are legitimate concerns about marking to market (or pure FVA) in times of financial crisis, it is less clear that these problems apply to FVA as stipulated by the accounting standards, be it IFRS or U.S. GAAP. Third, historical cost accounting (HCA) is unlikely to be the remedy. There are a number of concerns about HCA as well and these problems could be larger than those with FVA. Fourth, although it is difficult to fault the FVA standards per se, implementation issues are a potential concern, especially with respect to litigation. Finally, we identify several avenues for future research. JEL Classification: G14, G15, G30, K22, M41, M42
Verfasserangaben: | Christian LauxORCiDGND, Christian LeuzORCiDGND |
---|---|
URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-65780 |
Titel des übergeordneten Werkes (Deutsch): | Center for Financial Studies (Frankfurt am Main): CFS working paper series ; No. 2009,09 |
Schriftenreihe (Bandnummer): | CFS working paper series (2009, 09) |
Dokumentart: | Arbeitspapier |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Jahr der Fertigstellung: | 2009 |
Jahr der Erstveröffentlichung: | 2009 |
Veröffentlichende Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Datum der Freischaltung: | 30.04.2009 |
Freies Schlagwort / Tag: | Banks; Fair value accounting; Financial crisis; Financial institutions; Liquidity; Mark-to-Market; Procyclicality |
GND-Schlagwort: | Fair-Value-Bewertung |
HeBIS-PPN: | 213873109 |
Institute: | Wissenschaftliche Zentren und koordinierte Programme / Center for Financial Studies (CFS) |
DDC-Klassifikation: | 3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft |
Lizenz (Deutsch): | Deutsches Urheberrecht |