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Aspects of the Future in Accounting: The Use of Market Prices and “Fair Values” in Financial Reports

Michael Bromwich

in The Economics and Politics of Accounting: International Perspectives on Trends, Policy, and Practice

Some arguments are examined for incorporating into accounting reports further estimates or predictions of the future, and items that embed future cash flows. After an introduction (Section 1), ... More

Some arguments are examined for incorporating into accounting reports further estimates or predictions of the future, and items that embed future cash flows. After an introduction (Section 1), Section 2 outlines some of the common concerns of standard-setters with decision-orientated accounting (the essence of which is that accounting items should be measured using their economic values, which are founded on the cash flows they are expected to generate), and considers some of the general arguments for incorporating future-orientated accounting items into accounting reports. Looks at the strong movement toward ‘fair-value’ accounting in which asset and liability carrying values are based on the market prices that would result from arm’s length transactions between well-informed participants. In Section 3, as an example of this market value approach, some problems with suggestions for accounting for financial instruments (assets) are considered. Section 4 looks more briefly at the use of fair values with non-financial assets, and the final section gives a brief conclusion.Less

 Summing Up and Charting a Future for Standard Setters

George J. Benston, Michael Bromwich, Robert E. Litan, and Alfred Wagenhofer

in Worldwide Financial Reporting: The Development and Future of Accounting Standards

This chapter reiterates the major themes of the book and then further discusses a number of current key issues in financial reporting: that “fair values” based on estimates are unlikely to be seen as ... More

This chapter reiterates the major themes of the book and then further discusses a number of current key issues in financial reporting: that “fair values” based on estimates are unlikely to be seen as trustworthy and may be difficult, if not impossible, to verify; that financial reports can never provide all the information necessary for entity valuation; and that national differences in accounting requirements mean that any global set of accounting standards is likely to fragment in use. It suggests that a better approach is to entertain a small set of competitive international accounting standard regimes.Less

 Why and How Audited Financial Accounting Statements Are Useful

George J. Benston, Michael Bromwich, Robert E. Litan, and Alfred Wagenhofer

in Worldwide Financial Reporting: The Development and Future of Accounting Standards

Investors, creditors, government officials, and others require information to evaluate companies’ economic position, performance, and prospects. This chapter examines the usefulness of financial ... More

Investors, creditors, government officials, and others require information to evaluate companies’ economic position, performance, and prospects. This chapter examines the usefulness of financial accounting statements and their limitations in providing this information, particularly measures of economic values. The essential features of the traditional market-transaction, cost-based accounting system, and the benefits and costs of fair-value accounting and of audits and attestations by independent public accountants (IPAs) are described and evaluated.Less

Why Fair Value Is the Rule: The Changing Nature of Standard Setters

Karthik Ramanna

in Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy

With auditors and industrial companies focused on their own interests in accounting rulemaking, can we rely on the FASB regulators themselves to represent the public interest? Chapter 5 explores this ... More

With auditors and industrial companies focused on their own interests in accounting rulemaking, can we rely on the FASB regulators themselves to represent the public interest? Chapter 5 explores this question. It provides evidence that FASB regulators appear to represent the interests of the industries from which they hail. In particular, regulators from the asset-management industry appear to be behind the rise in fair-value accounting rules, perhaps because such rules enhance compensation levels in the industry. The evidence points to the potential “financialization” of the FASB as the asset-management industry has grown larger. In their potential capture of the FASB, these finance-industry interests have had allies – notably, academics who appear to have been selectively drawn for their support of fair-value accounting. This narrative presents a more complex picture of capture – one that involves the cooption of ideas and ideologies in the service of economic interests. This process is described as “ideological capture.”Less

Compensation

Borzu Sabahi

in Compensation and Restitution in Investor-State Arbitration: Principles and Practice

This chapter examines compensation in investment treaty arbitration. It shows the development of principles of compensation for expropriation in customary international law, and how investment ... More

This chapter examines compensation in investment treaty arbitration. It shows the development of principles of compensation for expropriation in customary international law, and how investment treaties have treated compensation for expropriation and for other breaches. It outlines the treatment of both unlawful and lawful expropriation prior to the milestone ADC v Hungary decision, and how that award has impacted thought and practice on compensation for expropriation since then. The chapter also outlines how the amount of compensation has been determined in investment arbitrations, focusing on the concept of Fair Market Value. It discusses the determination of the date of the injury and the proper date of valuation, central to setting the amount of compensation, as well as the treatment of post-act events. It outlines a number of valuation methods used to set the amount of compensation, both for valuing investments and for contractual and business interruption damages.Less

The Shrinking Big N: Rule-Making Incentives of the Tightening Oligopoly in Auditing

Karthik Ramanna

in Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy

This chapter provides evidence on the role of auditors in accounting rulemaking – particularly the Big Four audit firms that dominate the industry. These large audit firms are among the few players ... More

This chapter provides evidence on the role of auditors in accounting rulemaking – particularly the Big Four audit firms that dominate the industry. These large audit firms are among the few players that could provide broad stewardship of public interests in accounting rulemaking. But the evidence suggests that they are instead focused on their own interests. In their lobbying on accounting rules, the auditors have sought to protect their wealth and income from political and legal scrutiny. Prevailing standards of litigation and regulatory enforcement are key explanatory variables for the nature of auditor lobbying in accounting rulemaking. One likely consequence is the increasing incidence of accounting rules that are “check-the-box” or compliance-based – a phenomenon identified by the Securities & Exchange Commission as a major source for concern in U.S. capital markets.Less

Pre-Insolvency Proceedings: Objective and Justification

Nicolaes Tollenaar

in Pre-Insolvency Proceedings: A Normative Foundation and Framework

This chapter starts with a brief outline of the pre-insolvency plan in the conceptual form proposed in this book. It then goes on to develop a normative foundation for pre-insolvency proceedings and ... More

This chapter starts with a brief outline of the pre-insolvency plan in the conceptual form proposed in this book. It then goes on to develop a normative foundation for pre-insolvency proceedings and formulates the boundary conditions that must be satisfied for their application. As part of the analysis the concepts of fair market value and liquidation value are examined and the differences between price and value are discussed. The chapter explains why pre-insolvency proceedings are to be conceived as a collective debt enforcement instrument of the creditors rather than a rehabilitation instrument of the debtor. The chapter concludes by defining pre-insolvency as the stage at which insolvency has become inevitable and argues that this is the earliest possible triggering event for the use of a collective enforcement procedure, such as the plan mechanism in the proposed form.Less

The IASB Survives the Financial Crisis

Kees Camfferman and Stephen A. Zeff

in Aiming for Global Accounting Standards: The International Accounting Standards Board, 2001–2011

During the initial stages of the financial crisis, the IASB came under pressure to revise its guidance on fair value measurement for financial instruments traded in inactive markets. As the crisis ... More

During the initial stages of the financial crisis, the IASB came under pressure to revise its guidance on fair value measurement for financial instruments traded in inactive markets. As the crisis intensified, the role of accounting standards in exacerbating financial instability became a matter of debate at the highest political level. In October 2008, the IASB was forced to amend IAS 39 without due process in order to avoid the loss of its franchise to set accounting standards for the EU. The IASB and the FASB sought to coordinate their attempts to develop a new financial instruments standard, but drifted apart as each faced its own political pressures. When the IASB produced a revised standard, IFRS 9, the European Commission declined to propose its endorsement for use in the EU.Less

Financial Instruments: The Confrontation with Europe

Kees Camfferman and Stephen A. Zeff

in Aiming for Global Accounting Standards: The International Accounting Standards Board, 2001–2011

Accounting for financial instruments became a test-case for the adoption of IFRSs by the European Union. The standard IAS 39 had always been controversial. There was a widely held view that the IASB ... More

Accounting for financial instruments became a test-case for the adoption of IFRSs by the European Union. The standard IAS 39 had always been controversial. There was a widely held view that the IASB was not sufficiently receptive to the views of the European banking industry while making a number of short-term improvements to IAS 39 prior to its endorsement for use in the EU. The IASB, on its part, insisted that it had followed due process and properly exercised its independent expert judgment. The issue ascended to the political level. IAS 39 was endorsed in 2004, but with two so-called carve-outs. Relations between the IASB and its European constituents were severely strained, even before the actual transition to IFRSs in 2005.Less

Accounting and the Plasticity of Valuation

Andrea Mennicken Michael Power

in Moments of Valuation: Exploring Sites of Dissonance

This chapter explores exemplary moments of dissonance and innovation in accounting valuation. Examining the cases of value-added accounting, brand accounting, fair value accounting and impairment ... More

This chapter explores exemplary moments of dissonance and innovation in accounting valuation. Examining the cases of value-added accounting, brand accounting, fair value accounting and impairment testing, this chapter traces debates and show that accounting valuation is ‘plastic’ due to both methodological variability and the different domains of worth that get registered within accounting concepts and techniques. Accounting is both a powerful vehicle of economization, valorising economic constructions of actors and things, and a practice which has been significantly destabilized by processes of financialization, namely ideas and practices of financial economics. The plasticity of accounting should not be read as weakness. This chapter confronts the apparent paradox that the power and reach of accounting as a practice of ordering and valorising has never been greater than at the time of crisis when its core practices of measurement and valuation are most contested and plural.Less

The IASB and the FASB Rush to Complete the Convergence Programme

Kees Camfferman and Stephen A. Zeff

in Aiming for Global Accounting Standards: The International Accounting Standards Board, 2001–2011

Until June 2011, the IASB and the FASB worked at a frantic pace to complete the convergence work programme included in their Memorandum of Understanding. Much of the drive came from the IASB, which ... More

Until June 2011, the IASB and the FASB worked at a frantic pace to complete the convergence work programme included in their Memorandum of Understanding. Much of the drive came from the IASB, which did not wish to jeopardize the still existing possibility that the US SEC would decide in favour of IFRSs. The review of technical projects in this chapter highlights the challenges posed by the inherent complexity of the issues and the difficulties of achieving convergence by two boards with different priorities and constituencies. Despite several decisions to reduce the scope of the convergence agenda, the final record was mixed. Some projects were successfully completed, but four major projects remained unfinished by June 2011 when David Tweedie and the other remaining members of the initial Board retired.Less

Sen’s Capability Critique

Christopher Lowry

in John Rawls: Debating the Major Questions

Amartya Sen’s capability critique identified a problem with Rawls’s use of primary goods as his metric of advantage (that is, his way to measure inequality). Sen offered the notion of capability as a ... More

Amartya Sen’s capability critique identified a problem with Rawls’s use of primary goods as his metric of advantage (that is, his way to measure inequality). Sen offered the notion of capability as a solution that would improve the ability of justice as fairness to acknowledge unfair inequalities related to disability, among other things. This chapter aims, first, to provide a more precise and conciliatory understanding of the disagreement between Rawls and Sen (by attending to Rawls’s remarks about the value of liberties); second, to spell out the deeper theoretical implications of Sen’s critique by tracing the connections between the elements Sen modifies and other more fundamental elements in justice as fairness (such as liberal neutrality); third, to identify problems raised by those implications; and fourth, to provide a solution by developing a further modification to Rawlsian theory (namely, public value perfectionism).Less

Concepts and Convergence: An Ever Closer Relation with the FASB

Kees Camfferman and Stephen A. Zeff

in Aiming for Global Accounting Standards: The International Accounting Standards Board, 2001–2011

Between 2005 and 2008, the IASB’s technical agenda was increasingly dominated by convergence with US GAAP. In order to facilitate the lifting of the 20-F reconciliation, the IASB and the FASB agreed ... More

Between 2005 and 2008, the IASB’s technical agenda was increasingly dominated by convergence with US GAAP. In order to facilitate the lifting of the 20-F reconciliation, the IASB and the FASB agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2006, outlining a work programme of over a dozen convergence projects. The MoU was updated in 2008. A target or deadline for completion by mid-2011 was agreed, evidently with a view to a decision by the SEC on use of IFRSs by US domestic companies. The chapter reviews the most important convergence projects. To the alarm of some constituents, the work programme led the two boards to a fundamental reconsideration of several basic accounting concepts and practices. During the period, the IASB also completed a version of its standards designed for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs).Less

Corporate Transformation and Employee Pensions

Adam D. Dixon

in The New Geography of Capitalism: Firms, Finance, and Society

This chapter considers the changing role of the firm in systems of social protection. It does so through an examination of how and why firms have pulled back significantly in their provision of ... More

This chapter considers the changing role of the firm in systems of social protection. It does so through an examination of how and why firms have pulled back significantly in their provision of occupational defined benefit pensions, regardless of national traditions. Firms everywhere are largely unwilling to assume long-term liabilities associated with the provision of non-wage benefits. The decline of corporate-sponsored occupational defined benefit pensions is, in part, an outcome of the globalization of financial markets and the globalization of supply chains. Large firms in particular are hardly constrained by their history and geography. Notwithstanding this broader trend, the outcomes of this shift are still contingent on the local institutional environment. Such contingency is demonstrated by comparing the decline and transformation of occupational defined benefit pensions in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.Less

Hedge Fund Liquidation and Hedge Fund Influence on the General Market

Douglas Cumming, Na Dai, and Sofia A. Johan

in Hedge Fund Structure, Regulation, and Performance around the World

Chapter 10 discusses the survival of hedge funds. By analyzing what causes the failure of hedge funds, it is hoped that a better understanding of the risks in the hedge fund industry is developed.

Liberal-Republicanism and the Basic Liberties

Alan Thomas

in Republic of Equals: Predistribution and Property-Owning Democracy

John Rawls issued a fair value proviso for the political liberties alone to avoid the Marxist critique that the formal equality granted to all citizens by liberalism is practically undermined by the ... More

John Rawls issued a fair value proviso for the political liberties alone to avoid the Marxist critique that the formal equality granted to all citizens by liberalism is practically undermined by the material inequality permitted under Rawls’s principles. It is argued that the republican component of liberal-republicanism offers a more robust defense of the political liberties than Rawls’s “insulation strategy” of keeping money out of politics. By presenting the example of an authoritarian form of capitalism under which some citizens sacrifice some of their basic liberties further to dominate other social groups, it is argued that only a property-owning democracy places a limit on capital-based inequalities. So the commitment to a property-owning democracy can be derived from the fair value proviso; it is then shown that it also follows from the fair equality of opportunity principle. So a property-owning democracy is derivable from all of Rawls’s principles.Less

Pricing of Futures Contracts

Timothy A. Krause

in Commodities: Markets, Performance, and Strategies

This chapter examines the relation between futures prices relative to the spot price of the underlying asset. Basic futures pricing is characterized by the convergence of futures and spot prices ... More

This chapter examines the relation between futures prices relative to the spot price of the underlying asset. Basic futures pricing is characterized by the convergence of futures and spot prices during the delivery period just before contract expiration. However, “no arbitrage” arguments that dictate the fair value of futures contracts largely determine pricing relations before expiration. Although the cost of carry model in its various forms largely determines futures prices before expiration, the chapter presents alternative explanations. Related commodity futures complexes exhibit mean-reverting behavior, as seen in commodity spread markets and other interrelated commodities. Energy commodity futures prices can be somewhat accurately modeled as a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic (GARCH) process, although whether these models provide economically significant excess returns is uncertain.Less

Fair Valuation

William A. Birdthistle

in Empire of the Fund: The Way We Save Now

As this chapter explains, the formula for remunerating investment advisers is a simple but powerful one. The revenues an adviser earns each year are equal to the adviser’s fees multiplied by the ... More

As this chapter explains, the formula for remunerating investment advisers is a simple but powerful one. The revenues an adviser earns each year are equal to the adviser’s fees multiplied by the assets under management. If the professionals who work for investment advisers are like other corporate executives, then they are ever eager to maximize their revenues. Under this compensation formula, they have just two options for doing so either increase their fees or increase their funds’ assets. How might an adviser—granted, only one liberated from its scruples—attempt to manipulate our compensation formula to its illicit advantage? Simply by overstating the amount of assets under its management. If the value of the securities in a fund’s portfolio was reported to be greater than it actually is, then the assets under management would be higher, and the adviser would thereby earn greater revenues.Less