Contemporary Issues Of Accounting Theory Fair Value Measurement Essay

As the responsibilities of the global harmonization of accounting standards IFRS and GAAP transfer to IASB, FASB’s influence is waning. Advantages of the convergence include high quality financial reporting, which lowers cost of capital for investors and the cost of borrowing for companies. However, there are disadvantages to be noted, such as the costs of introducing IFRS to current and potential accountants and the risk of reducing the uniformity of financial reports due to the lax rulings of IFRS, which promotes earnings management amongst companies. Although arguments regarding the convergence remain prevalent, the completion of IFRS and GAAP is inevitable. Come year 2015, accountants, investors, and companies alike will discover whether or not the pros outweighed the cons; or vice versa.

If some research is undertaken that provides evidence that capital markets do not always behave in accordance with the Efficient Market Hypothesis, does this invalidate research that adopts an assumption that capital markets are efficient?

SFAC No. 8 addresses the cost constraint on useful financial reporting, “Cost is a pervasive constraint that standard setters, as well as providers and users of financial information, should keep in mind when considering the benefits of a financial reporting requirement.” (SFAC No. 8 BC 3.47) However, the ability to place a dollar value and fully enumerate a cost or benefit is almost an impossible task for standard-setters. Additionally, there is no way to successfully identify and measure all of the economic consequences associated with a new standard. The FASB should be applauded though for advancing uniformity in accounting standards, however; uniform financial reporting suggests a one size fits all approach. “Smaller, non-publicly listed firms (and their auditors) argue that accounting standards are formulated mainly for larger, publicly traded firms” and that “compliance costs are disproportionately higher and the

The field of accounting is constantly evolving. This is true not only for the theory of accounting itself but also the entities that govern its theory and practice. Presently, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are faced with some of the biggest challenges to date. To understand the significance of these two boards, it is necessary to understand their histories, relations between the boards, and the standards that they set. Also how the knowledge of these boards and the field they lead, gained through the masters of science in accountancy

For our project, we wanted to pick the topic, “Is fair value accounting really fair?” The first part of our presentation was simply explaining what fair value accounting is. This is the amount for which an asset could be exchanged, or a liability settled, between knowledgeable, willing parties in an arm’s length transactions. According to the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the price that would be received to sell an asset or price to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date is the idea behind Fair Value accounting. FASB came up with SFAS 157 to improve this accounting principle. Some of their objectives were to “provide a framework for fair value measurements, change the definition of fair value, elaborate on the concept of market participants.”

Since 2002, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) have been working toward “convergence” of US General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). They have made significant progress in efforts to converge critical accounting standards such as those dealing with revenue recognition, financial instruments and leases. Once these projects are complete, the "era" of convergence will be at an end. Nevertheless, the benefits for investors of eventually getting to consistently applied, high-quality, globally accepted accounting

NOTE: As part of your two case research assignments, you need to search the online Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) for authoritative support for the positions you are taking in your solution. Your solution should contain specific references to the ASC standard numbers you are relying upon. The ASC can be located at http://aaahq.org/ascLogin.cfm and the userID and password are AAA51268 and LGU9z3k, respectively. They are case sensitive.

As the complexity of our financial economy develops it is important that our accounting standards progress in accordance. Accounting is very important to the development of the global and local economies. Accounting is basically the gathering, summarizing and presenting of financial information of an entity to interested internal, external and possible investors. This information should be presented in a non-bias way so that other people are able understand.

This past Thursday I was able to attend the Accounting Fair in McGuire hall, and I found it to be very informative. I am not an accounting major; however, as a finance major I know the how significant it is to have a strong accounting background for whatever job I ultimately choose. I enjoyed the fair, mostly because it was a casual setting where I could interact with recruiters solely for networking purposes. It is important as a business student to be able to communicate comfortably with company recruiters. When I start the application process for jobs, I want to impress employers. Not only was I able to learn more about opportunities in the accounting field and also the financial world, but I also was able to ask lots of lingering questions

In 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a road map for the United States (US) to implement International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) that would eventually lead to the dissolution of US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) (Cox 2008). US GAAP is rules based system of accounting that contains over 25,000 detailed pages of guidance, whereas IFRS is a principles based system of accounting that contains 2,500 pages of guidance. IFRS allows accountants to exercise professional judgment when making many decisions. This paper will compare and contrast US GAAP with IFRS on Intermediate Accounting Topics.

There has been much debate over whether FAS 157 sparked the economic crisis or whether big companies, such as financial institutions, only want to use mark to market when it suits them. (Did an Accounting Rule Fuel a Financial Crisis 2008). Critics say fair value can distort market realities, but proponents argue it actually creates transparency by reflecting the up to date reality of an asset or liabilities' worth. (Johnson 2008). Many companies have had to write down assets causing huge losses in their financial statements at a time of economic crisis. Some of these companies blame the fair value measurement on the economic crisis and are lobbying in Washington to change the rule.

To over view the knowledge we learnt from accounting theory and practice, the main thing I can conclude that is the tendency of accounting will shift away from technical way to people’s behaviour way. By understanding what should do, we should ask why and how we could improve and change it into a better way. This essay aims to explain how the theoretical material that we learn in lectures can be developed under a real practical manner.

Historically ,it is seen that there are numerous number of disputes in the field of financial reporting among different professionals, regulators and theoretitions .most of these disputes are related to the valuation of financial reporting components.the current curve in the progress of valuation is the push for and against the fair value approach.the purpose of this research is to examine the arguments on the use of fair value accounting and to identify the issues related to implementation of fair value accounting standards. Further, the results of literature related to role of fair value accounting within financial crisis are also investigated.

IFRS 13 provides a principles-based framework for measuring fair value in IFRS. This is based on a number of key concepts including unit of account; exit price; valuation premise; highest and best use; principal market; market participant assumptions and the fair value hierarchy. Fair value is an important measurement on the basis of financial reporting. It provides information about what an entity might realize if it sold an asset or might pay to transfer a liability. In recent years, the use of fair value as a measurement basis for financial reporting has been expanded. Determining fair value often requires a variety of assumptions as well as significant judgment. Thus, investors desire timely and

Using positive approach for describing and predicting accounting practice, and consequently, developing the accounting theory, has led to sufficient support for accounting information. In fact most of empirical accounting research has shown that accounting numbers and figures can lead to changes in the capital market features. This creates a lot of sensitivity towards accounting information. In most countries, the funds necessary for the activities of the financial accounting standard board are provided by the representatives in the parliament. If accounting standards endanger the wealth of these representatives, the budget of the board will be limited and consequently the wealth of the members of the board will be at risk. Accordingly, accounting enters a realm of