Silic Case Report
Title of case analysis: Case Silic
Date: 2013/11/17
Summary:
The Council of Ministers of the European Union approved regulation on applying IFRS for all companies, so Silic, a France-based investment property company, also faces the substantial impact on their accounting standards, needs to choose between historical-cost or fair-value accounting to report its investment properties according to IAS 40.
Silic was a major and historical player on the French commercial-property market. It had over 700 individual tenants, ranging from small and medium-sized companies to major multinationals in Paris and surrounding areas. Additionally, Silic had a largely institutional and relatively stable shareholders community. At
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Historical cost tells the user the acquisition cost of an asset and its depreciation in the following years, it ignores the possibility that the current market value of that asset may be higher or lower than it suggests.
2. Can’t measure the loss of value of monetary assets.
Historical cost accounts do not measure the loss of value of monetary assets as a result of inflation. So in case of high inflation, the assets could be mispricing and provoke disturbances in the analysts. The validity of historical-cost accounting is based on the assumption that the currency in which transactions are recorded remains stable, that is to say its purchasing power remains the same over a period of time.
B) Fair-value method:
Advantages:
1. Comparison.
Each company has the data fairly estimated at the same date, so the comparison is possible. Thus, there is a better quality in the information disclosed. The fair-value model enables the comparisons with the financial statements of other property companies. So, fair-value measurement which shows current market conditions provides comparability of the value of financial instruments bought at different times.
2. Relevance for investors
Fair-value measurement and presentation of an entity’s assets and liabilities result in increasing relevancy of financial statements information, so that readers of the financial statements will not have to make complex adjustments in analyzing the entity. Furthermore, the fair-value
ASC 820 requires that the measurement of fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed should be based on the
Furthermore, by adopting a historical cost approach the assets will be depreciated over that useful life which has been estimated. With the useful life of an asset being so subjective it is hard to apportion a useful figure to depreciation. By increasing the useful life of an asset you are effectively spreading the depreciation expense over a longer period of time resulting in lower depreciation expenses and vice versa. In fact, Zheng et al. (2012) go one step further and consider depreciation to be a strategy for managers to manipulate profits.
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.”
All historical costs does not relate to a situation requiring decision because they have occurred already and don’t have any effect on the cost further.
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.
The fair market value is used to determine the Gross Estate of ones property. After calculating the Gross Estate, accountants may make applicable
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.
On February 24, the SEC unanimously agreed to publish a statement of continued support for a single set of high-quality global accounting standards. The SEC acknowledged that IFRS is best positioned to be the global standard. Even without a set conversion timeline from the SEC, IFRS has been affecting
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
There are a lot of alternative accounting model but historical cost accounting is still the standard form of accounting even there are a lot of flaws in this method. This is not only historical cost accounting is a conventional method and simple to record but also considering current value accounting will have a direct impact on the price value of share. The changes of value in asset and liability will affect the owner’s equity. Since considering current values are seen to have a direct impact on the share’s prices, accountant and accounting firms are not willing to implement
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
With complete notion and awareness of how each country has their set of rules, “the goal of IFRS is to provide a global framework for how public companies prepare and disclose their financial statements” (Rouse, 2011). This view is meant to provide general guidelines, as well as international comparisons through conventional and edifying means. To bring broader and vivid objectives, IFRS replaced IAS, the older standards, in order to bring a more comprehensive and simplified accounting procedures.
Now the basis for all future transactions relating to this building would also be at its cost, i.e. $12 million. For example: The depreciation would be charged on $12 million and not on $15 million. Similarly when the asset is sold in future, the profit or loss on sale would be based on the cost price actually paid for it. Since the original or
The historical cost: A technique of accounting based mostly chiefly on the first cost incurred in group action, it is relaxed to some extent by such exercise because the valuation of stock at the lower of value and web realizable price and appraisal of capital asset. The benefits of historical cost accounting is comparatively objective, however, the results of historical cost accounting will be false as profit will be exaggerated in terms of current values, and capital maintenance and anxious with the nominal quantity of the capital endowed instead of its buying power. As a result of these defects it is controversial that historical cost accounting is of very little use for deciding, however efforts to interchange it with such alternative ways.