Fair Value Accounting And Audit

In accounting there is much to be learned, about the financial aspects of a business. In the past five weeks I have learned the importance of financial reports and how they relate to the success of an establishment. These reports may include balance sheets and income statements, which help accountants and the public grasp the overall financial condition of a company. The information in these reports is really significant to, managers, owners, employees, and investors. Managers of a business can take and deduce financial

Financial statements are used to determine the business activities of a firm and the role of accounting analysis is to determine the accuracy and quality of the information provided. This analysis would look into the degree of its accounting figures captures its business reality through the policies used and its resulting noise, potential forecast errors and its impact on Myer’s profit.

Morris Mining Corporation owns and operates mining facilities that are located in the United States, and Canada. This company primarily distributes extracted ores and minerals to their customers. Recently, in January 2015, Morris Mining acquired the mining company King Co. Once the company has been acquired, Mining Morris plans to record the difference of the purchase price and identifiable net assets as goodwill. The identifiable assets and liabilities of King Co. are going to be recorded at fair value on Morris Mining 's books. There has been discussion as to how the company is going to report the fair value for the patent that is part of the assets they acquired from King Co. Rob, an audit manager on the Morris Mining engagement, and Gabriela, the audit senior, are trying to evaluate if the method of the fair value estimate it reasonable.

Correct valuation of real assets can present challenges to financial analysts. Different models can be used to arrive at the closest estimate of value and yet certain issues will always arise.

Over the past several years, there has been a growing controversy over the accounting issues of fair values and historical cost. The basis of this controversy revolves around which one of these principles is the most accurate. There are many different viewpoints on this issue. Many accounting professionals believe that fair value is just as accurate as the historical cost principle, while others believe that the historical cost is more reliable. The facts about each of these valuation methods will be researched and explained throughout this research document, as well as the different viewpoint about which method is the most accurate and reliable.

Secondly, fair value model offers more accurate balance sheet and income statement. The fair value model lists investment properties on the balance sheet at their fair value. Any changes in fair value are recorded directly to the income statement as other gains or losses. Therefore, under fair value model, investors can obtain more relevant and accurate information.

Financial world is at the pace when the accountants are moving their steps towards fair value accounting, moreover FASB and IASB is motivating accountants to increase the use of fair value accounting by establishing new rules. Most of the people concur that fair values are the most reliable measure for financial assets and liabilities that an entity strongly trades, on the other hand some believes if management wants to hold an asset or liability till their maturity then historical method is best for measuring financial assets.

If markets were liquid and transparent for all assets and liabilities, fair value accounting clearly would be reliable information useful in the decision making process. However, because many assets and liabilities do not have an active market, the inputs and methods for estimating their fair value are more subjective and, therefore, the valuations less reliable. Management bias, whether intentional or unintentional,

There have been many debates in previous decades amongst the investors, users of the financial statements, on whether fair value accounting is worth being used. According to IFRS 13, fair value is “the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date”. Usage of fair value has advantages, however, it has disadvantages as well. This essay will discuss how fair value is more advantageous than disadvantageous and how it is carried out. It will also examine how fair value led Lehman Brothers, an American investment bank, into bankruptcy during the global financial crisis and why the trend of fair value has emerged in the recent decades.

The current financial crisis was triggered by subprime mortgage in the United States. This lead not only to a large amount of mortgage default but also other problem suc as, credit card and store loans. The result was huge losses in financial institution in the United States Europe and Asia, because of financial liberalization had enabled the transnational transaction of “bad” assets. Some people argue that this crisis was aggravated by Fair Value Accounting because it prices an asset based on its current value. Which means, the financial institution show the current prices of their asset in financial statement. In this crisis, almost all of assets values are decreased, then people have less confidence about the financial

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

Nowadays, as our economy is facing possible everyday crises, managers undergo an increasing pressure in order to keep their company 's earnings stable. Shareholders and analysts expect companies to meet forecasted goals and not to deviate from these. Especially, reliable companies are to report positive results and shall not present any 'surprises '. Managers therefore often turn to their accounting departments for help, whose job it then is to improve the bottom line by changing the information shown in financial

ACC307 INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT TASK 1: Contemporary Issues of Accounting Theory Fair Value Measurement Overview After the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) released the IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement in May 2011 for the purpose of completing its joint project with the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on fair value, the Australian Accounting Standard Board (AASB) released the Australian equivalent - AASB 13 Fair Value Measurement in the September of the same year. This standard permitted early adoption but generally started to take effect for the financial reporting periods beginning from 1 January 2013. This new standard requires no new requirement for the adoption and but it was accompanied with the issuing of AASB 2011-8 Amendments to Australian Accounting Standards arising from the AASB 13 which has made consequential changes to 32 standards and 9 interpretations for the adoption in Australia. The new standard attempts to unify IFRS and US GAAP by specifying how entities should apply the fair value measurements that applied in previous IFRS standards. It clarifies and redefines fair value as “the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date”, sometimes referred to as an “exit price”. It also sets out a single source guidance for a robust measurement framework to ensure that the requirements are applied consistently and have clear

An important function of the accounting field is to provide external users of financial statements with assurance that the financial information being presented is both reliable and accurate. This basic function of accounting is so important that there is an entire field of experts, called auditors, dedicated to assuring its proper performance. Throughout history there have been many instances in which the basic equilibrium between an institution and current/potential investor has been threatened due to a lack of accountability and trust between the two parties. This issue has been the catalyst for many discussions regarding the proper procedures a firm should follow in order to provide

Therefore accounting methods are very much important in measuring the profit of the company and company must prepare their finical report by using the fair value and historical cost method simultaneously. However, true financial position of the company or business can be easily calculated by using the accounting methods that are more reliable and accurate. Therefore companies must use both historical and fairly value method to know the actual financial position of the company.