...61) Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, ISSN 1548-6583, USA Fair value accounting under financial crisis HE Cai-xia1, ZHANG Chi2 (1. School of Accounting, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China; 2. School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430073, China) Abstract: 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 three 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. Key words: fair value accounting; historical cost accounting; financial crisis 1. Introduction The recent financial crisis has turned the spotlight on fair-value accounting (FVA) and led to a major policy debate involving among others the U.S. Congress, the European Commission as well banking and accounting regulators around the...
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...Did Fair-Value Accounting Contribute to the Financial Crisis? Christian Laux and Christian Leuz I n its pure form, fair-value accounting involves reporting assets and liabilities on the balance sheet at fair value and recognizing changes in fair value as gains and losses in the income statement. When market prices are used to determine fair value, fair-value accounting is also called mark-to-market accounting. Some critics argue that fair-value accounting exacerbated the severity of the 2008 financial crisis. The main allegations are that fair-value accounting contributes to excessive leverage in boom periods and leads to excessive write-downs in busts. The write-downs due to falling market prices deplete bank capital and set off a downward spiral, as banks are forced to sell assets at “fire sale” prices, which in turn can lead to contagion as prices from asset fire sales of one bank become relevant for other banks. These arguments are often taken at face value, but evidence on problems created by fair-value accounting is rarely provided. We discuss these arguments and examine descriptive and empirical evidence that sheds light on the role of fair-value accounting for U.S. banks in the crisis. While large losses can clearly cause problems for banks and other financial institutions, the relevant question for our article is whether reporting these losses under fair-value accounting created additional problems. Similarly, it is clear that determining fair values...
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...Global Financial Crisis came the search for answers as to what led to the meltdown in the United States mortgage market and ultimately the rest of the world economy. Speculation was rife that accounting standards, in particular, fair value accounting was the prime reason for this significant meltdown. “This sparked a fierce debate with some experts believing that fair value accounting was primary cause of the crisis whilst others considered that it exacerbated it. On the other side of the debate were those commentators that believed that fair value accounting was successful in acting as an early warning system and effectively prevented more calamitous consequences.” (Pabuccu, 2011) In response to this speculation, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) immediately took action to review this matter and implement the necessary changes to address the uncertainty surrounding Fair Value accounting. Body Due to the economic significance of the crisis, financial commentators around the world analysed the situation, made comment, pointed the finger; and laid blame for this event. Due to the speculation, a ferocious debate commenced, with many of them believing that fair-value accounting was the primary cause of this event. Bubbles and Busts have occurred throughout history and are closely linked to the periods preceding a financial crisis. According to McMahon (2011), “fair-value accounting amplifies business...
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...93–118 Did Fair-Value Accounting Contribute to the Financial Crisis? Christian Laux and Christian Leuz I n its pure form, fair-value accounting involves reporting assets and liabilities on the balance sheet at fair value and recognizing changes in fair value as gains and losses in the income statement. When market prices are used to determine fair value, fair-value accounting is also called mark-to-market accounting. Some critics argue that fair-value accounting exacerbated the severity of the 2008 financial crisis. The main allegations are that fair-value accounting contributes to excessive leverage in boom periods and leads to excessive write-downs in busts. The write-downs due to falling market prices deplete bank capital and set off a downward spiral, as banks are forced to sell assets at “fire sale” prices, which in turn can lead to contagion as prices from asset fire sales of one bank become relevant for other banks. These arguments are often taken at face value, but evidence on problems created by fair-value accounting is rarely provided. We discuss these arguments and examine descriptive and empirical evidence that sheds light on the role of fair-value accounting for U.S. banks in the crisis. While large losses can clearly cause problems for banks and other financial institutions, the relevant question for our article is whether reporting these losses under fair-value accounting created additional problems. Similarly, it is clear that determining fair values for illiquid...
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...How did Financial Reporting Contribute to the Financial Crisis? Mary E. Barth & Wayne R. Landsman a a b Graduate School of Business , Stanford University , Stanford, CA, USA b Kenan–Flagler Business School , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Chapel Hill, NC, USA Published online: 07 Jul 2010. To cite this article: Mary E. Barth & Wayne R. Landsman (2010) How did Financial Reporting Contribute to the Financial Crisis?, European Accounting Review, 19:3, 399-423, DOI: 10.1080/09638180.2010.498619 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2010.498619 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the...
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...to the Financial Crisis? Mary E. Barth Graduate School of Business Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305 mbarth@stanford.edu. Wayne R. Landsman Kenan-Flagler Business School University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 wayne_landsman@unc.edu. May 2010 Forthcoming, European Accounting Review, 2010 We appreciate comments from seminar participants at the Bank of Spain, Rob Bloomfield, Elicia Cowins, Hilary Eastman, Gavin Francis, Christian Kusi-Yeboah, Jim Leisenring, Martien Lubberink, Richard Rendleman, David Tweedie, and an anonymous reviewer. We acknowledge funding from the Center for Finance and Accounting Research at UNC-Chapel Hill and the Stanford Graduate School of Business Center for Global Business and the Economy. Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1601519 How did Financial Reporting Contribute to the Financial Crisis? Abstract We scrutinize the role financial reporting for fair values, asset securitizations, derivatives, and loan loss provisioning played in the Financial Crisis. Because banks were at the center of the Financial Crisis, we focus our discussion and analysis on the effects of financial reporting by banks. We conclude fair value accounting played little or no role in the Financial Crisis. However, transparency of information associated with asset securitizations and derivatives likely was insufficient for investors to assess properly the values and riskiness of...
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...the fair value of an asset as the price that would be received by the holder of that asset in an orderly transaction. On September 30, 2008, SEC and FASB issued a joint clarification which stressed that fair market value is not the price that would be received in distressed sale or forced liquidation. They also provide guidance that estimates of fair value can be made using the expected cash flow of such assets, provided the estimates has also reflects the adjustment of a willing buyer in the risk of default. This concept created transparency on the value of the assets which was easily confirmed by the auditors and users of the financial statements. However, during the recent economic crisis, this concept has created havoc on the balance sheets of some major financial companies. These financial companies were forced to write down assets in which the market has dried up and made it hard for them to value these financial assets. Since these financial assets were also used as a requirement for the liquidity ratio of some financial institutions, the write down of these financial assets caused the ratio to fall and trigger some margin calls. Many financial institutions decided to horde cash in order to preserve their ratio which caused the credit market to dry up. Most bankers argued the requirement of fair value accounting unfairly punished financial companies and caused their ratio to fall. Thus, they were lobbying the governments to ease up on fair value accounting and...
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...The concept of Fair Value Fair value is defined as “the amount for which an asset could be exchanged between knowledgeable, willing parties in an arm’s length transaction”. Prior to the introduction of Fair Value Accounting (FVA), accounting was carried out on a historical cost basis. However there were many limitations of Historical Cost accounting (HCA). HCA assumes money holds a constant purchasing power. It ignores specific price-level change, general price-level change and fluctuations in exchange rates. During inflationary periods, HCA can become irrelevant and can lead to an erosion of operating capacity. IASB framework states “the objective of financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, performance and changes in financial position of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users in making economic decisions. It also states “financial statements also show the results of stewardship of management, or accountability of management for the resources entrusted to it”. FVA is superior to historical cost accounting for these purposes. FVA is dominant in numerous IFRS’s and IAS’s. The IASB have yet to finalise an IFRS on fair value measurement, but it is expected it will have been completed by early 2011. Furthermore, the IASB is developing extra educational material to accompany the publication of the IFRS on fair value measurement. This material will give a description on the thought process for the measurement of assets, liabilities...
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...management. He holds a BS in accounting from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College and a JD from Fordham University School of Law. He is the author of the 2009 award-winning article ‘Meet Two-Face: The Dualistic Rule 10b-5 and the Quandary of Offsetting Losses by Gains’. Fordham Law Review 77(6): 3045–3094. Correspondence: Samuel Francis, 321 Roselle Avenue, Cedarhurst, NY 11516, USA E-mail: samfrancis@optonline.net ABSTRACT At the center of the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 was the collapse of American International Group, brought on by extensive unhedged positions in derivatives, such as credit default swaps, and possibly exacerbated by mark-to-market accounting rules. Even though these rules generally produce the most realistic valuations of derivatives, a heated debate broke out over their application in a dislocated market. The foremost concern was that forcing financial institutions to mark down assets to their current market prices actually causes further declines. Regulators largely dismissed such concerns, but acknowledged that the existing standards could use additional clarification and modification. Many scholarly studies have since concurred that the rules should not be replaced, but suggest that additional measures should be taken to avoid their potential procyclical effects. Journal of Derivatives & Hedge Funds (2011) 17, 122–132. doi:10.1057/jdhf.2011.6; published online 9 June 2011 Keywords: mark-to-market; fair value accounting; credit default swaps;...
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...Subprime Crisis, accounting standards allowed certain subprime-related debt to be kept off the balance sheets of financial institutions. If standards required subprime debt exposure to be included on balance sheets, it would have allowed a more transparent view into the financial health of a given institution. If such exposure were made public during the Housing Bubble, it may have had a sobering effect, turning the trend that dominated Wall Street away from a carefree hunger for risk, back toward the conservative contentment of risk-aversion. It is possible that this could have slowed the pace of the U.S. Subprime Crisis from turning into a global financial crisis, but it remains to be seen if more stringent accounting could have prevented the Subprime Crisis from occurring. Obviously, a host of destructive factors propelled the calamity: easy credit, lax lending standards, historically low interest rates, a belief in the permanence of ascending home values, and the cult-like following that Wall Street formed around a mathematical formula known as the Gaussian Copula function, which was used to assess risk on tranches within collaterized debt obligations. (The Wired magazine article is worth a read: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant?currentPage=all ) The sheer existence of mortgage backed securities has been blamed for the crisis, the question of what to do with them remains. Are accusers looking to the suspects for answers? Liberal accounting standards...
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...Stakeholder Theory 4 3.2 Positive Accounting Theory 5 3.2 Efficient Market Hypothesis 7 4.0 Discussion and findings 8 5.0 Conclusion 10 Reference 12 Relationship between Fair Value Measurements with Investor Confidence during Global Financial Crisis Abstract As investor, the needs of information which can reflect accurate financial information matching with current market condition is essential. Using fair value methods and measurement for asset valuation is one of the best accounting methods which can reflect current market condition accurately. But FVA cannot be separated from the critique especially when global financial crisis hit the world. Critique said FVA decrease investor confidence to invest in market which made more illiquid market during the time. In this paper, our aim is to find the relationship between fair value accounting, method, and measurement with investor confidence. We have been searched the data from previous journal that has been worked before to prove our assumption which are Fair value has decrease investor confidence and investor rely on information which is provided only by fair value measurement. 1.0 Introduction and Motivation There have been many studies on the role of FVA to global financial crisis (GFC) which may result in different opinion and open debate in the future. Most of the past research papers consist of the focus of this paper which is to find in depth more on how the fair value (FV) measurement may or may not affect...
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...Fair Value Accounting: The Road to Be Most Travelled By Rock Lefebvre, Elena Simonova and Mihaela Scarlat Fair Value Accounting: The Road to Be Most Travelled By Rock Lefebvre, Elena Simonova and Mihaela Scarlat December 2009 Sponsored by the Certified General Accountants Association of Ontario Introduction ................................................................................................................................ Fair Value Accounting – An Overview....................................................................................... 4 5 Critique of Fair Value Accounting ............................................................................................. 14 Arguments in Support of Fair Value Accounting ....................................................................... 17 Concluding Remarks.................................................................................................................. 20 2 Issue in Focus Executive Summary The use of fair value accounting has gained momentum and has proven to attract a level of attention rarely witnessed in the annals of accounting practice. One of the driving forces is the belief endorsed by some that fair value accounting initiated and aggravated the recent credit crisis. In light of these circumstances, it is considered timely to advance awareness in relation to fair value accounting and to clarify the competing arguments in favour of, and against, the use of...
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...principal transactions revenues is actually explained by unrealized losses of $US 1.6 billion in the first semester of 2008 vs. unrealized gains of $US 200 million in the first semester of 2007. Thus, accounting at fair value for some financial assets amplified Lehman's downward earnings performance. Hence, it can be put forward that FVA, through its magnifying impact on earnings volatility, may have contributed to aggravate investors', regulators' and governments' perceptions with respect to the severity of the crisis, itself characterized by record volatility in the prices of many securities and goods. On a related note, the increased volatility brought forward by FVA is conducive to the use of equity-based compensation, especially stock options, which value is then enhanced (according to the Black-Scholes model, volatility is one of the key inputs in option valuation). Prior research 此前的研究 suggests that there is a strong association between performance volatility and the use of stock options. 選項。 20 20 Through FVA, the outcomes from aggressive risk-taking in investment and financing strategies will directly flow into reported earnings, thus further leveraging the potential gains to be derived from stock options and other incentives. Many financial institutions involved in the current crisis made extensive...
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...THE PROS AND CONS OF FAIR VALUE ACCOUNTING Abstract The speed of globalization in the capital markets and the increasing complexity of financial instruments have caused financial statement users to question the relevance and usefulness of historical cost accounting (HCA). The propensity to use fair value accounting (FVA) is imminent as we enter into a borderless economy and as financial markets evolve that require more current and relevant financial information. The U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) joint effort to establish a uniform accounting standard has caused alarm to U.S. companies and accounting professionals. They contend that fair value accounting has some inherent flaws that will cause adverse effects in the economy. This paper will compare fair value accounting and historical cost accounting and will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two valuation methods. It will also explore several issues embedded between the two valuation methods and will examine other alternatives possible to reduce the limitations inherent between the two valuations. Key words: fair value accounting, historical cost accounting, and pro-cyclicality Introduction The use of fair value accounting has gained so much attention in the past decade due to the global economy and increasing complexity of financial instruments. Many critics believe that fair value accounting offers more relevant...
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...The Role of Accounting in the Financial Crisis: Lessons for the Future S.P. Kothari kothari@mit.edu 617-253-0994 and Rebecca Lester rlester@mit.edu MIT Sloan School of Management E60-382, 30 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02421 December 14, 2011 ABSTRACT: The advent of the Great Recession in 2008 was the culmination of a perfect storm of lax regulation, a growing housing bubble, rising popularity of derivatives instruments, and questionable banking practices. In addition to these causes, management incentives, as well as certain US accounting standards, contributed to the financial crisis. We outline the significant effects of these incentive structures, and the role of fair value accounting standards during the crisis, and discuss implications and relevance of these rules to practitioners, standard-setters, and academics. This article is based on a presentation by Deputy Dean and Professor SP Kothari of the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Baruch College on October 25, 2010. 1 Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1972354 The Role of Accounting in the Financial Crisis: Lessons for the Future I. Introduction The Great Recession that started in 2008 has had significant effects on the US and global economy; estimates of the amount of US wealth lost are approximately $14 trillion (Luhby 2009). Various causes of the financial crisis have been cited, including lax regulation over mortgage lending,...
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