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Controversy of fair value accounting
Advantages and disadvantages of historical cost
Controversy of fair value accounting
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On the other hand, fair value accounting raises the concerns of reliability. The estimation of fair value tends to be subjective since because “many assets and liabilities do not have an active markets, therefore the valuations are less reliable” (Bies, 2005). It is reliable only if markets for assets and liabilities are liquid and transparent. Even though fair value accounting has its own importance in term of measurement, the perspective of historical cost should be taken into account. As fair value reflects the current market conditions, an asset for example should have been valued at $50,000 may suddenly fall to $30,000 due to the economic downturn. It results a loss of $20,000 in net income since historical perspective was ignored. Also, …show more content…
There are three critical aspects to say that the application of FVA is still inappropriate. Firstly, relevance is a concern. Under fair value accounting practice, the core business management of banking sectors are not properly reflected, according to ECB (n.d.). Fair value accounting is concerned for the short-term profitability which has the conflict with the long-term decisions of bank management. Financial instruments are held for maturity will demand a longer timeframe to be effective. In order to achieve the goal, banks have to “reduce their exposure to increased volatility of income by shortening the average maturity of loans” (ECB, n.d). Banks can also choose to enter in a shorter contract by using hedging techniques combined with using variable interest rates. Therefore, banks have to face the tremendous risks in order to achieve the short-term pay-offs. The second issue is the feasibility. There is a requirement of active trading market to determine adequate fair value. However, some financial instruments have no secondary market in FVA practice unable to use fair value measurement. Also, “relevant information for the determination for the fair value of loans would never be priced in a market” (ECB, n.d). Therefore, errors in measurement may occur and cause the uncertainties that
For example, Chipotle incurred higher loss on disposal and impairment of assets because they company wrote down the value of the long-term assets of its ShopHouse restaurants, which were 15 non-Chipotle concept fast food restaurants, since the company was seeking strategic alternatives for the concept. Another example is Chipotle’s decision to not implement an internally developed accounting software, which lead to higher loss on disposal and impairment of assets in 2015 (CMG, 2017). As demonstrated by these two examples, loss on disposal and impairment of assets are often unusual and non-recurring. Thus, no projections are made for this extraordinary item, that is loss on disposal and impairment of assets are assumed to be zero for 2017 and
According to the conceptual framework, the potential users of financial statements are investors, creditors, suppliers, employees, customers, governments and agencies, and the general public (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 2006). The primary users are investors, creditors, and those who advise them. It goes on to define the criteria that make up each potential user, as well as, the limitations of financial reporting. The FASB explicitly states that financial reporting is “but one source of information needed by those who make investment, credit, and similar resource allocation decisions. Users also need to consider pertinent information from other sources, and be aware of the characteristics and limitations of the information in them” (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 2006). With this in mind, it is still particularly difficult to determine whom the financials should be catered towards and what level of prudence is necessary for quality judgment.
In order to affirm the value of a fixed asset, on the balance sheet, depreciation is used to show the asset’s true value. There are three methods for estimating depreciation expense; straight-line method, units-of-output method, and, double-declining-balance. Furthermore, with the straight-line method the write-off is applied directly to the customer account that has become uncollectible. On the other hand, the units-of-output and double-declining-balance methods are credited to an allowance account. This allowance for doubtful accounts is created to record the estimate of bad debts. Both the write-offs and allowance for doubtful accounts are used to calculate an asset’s true worth on the balance
What does ethics have to do with accounting? Everything, since there have been some recent financial accounting scandals; a few examples being Xerox, WorldCom, Enron, which have generated much unwanted and unfavorable publicity for CPA's, including those working as controllers or chief financial officers for organizations.
During the last 20/30 years there has been an increase in trade and communication. It is easier for people to do business across the world as the new technology allows this to be possible. The problem with this is that different countries have different ways of accounting standards, and therefore there is a problem on how to account standards. Hence, during the last years the debate on whether to use Fair presentation or the True and fair View is becoming a major concern. Fair presentation and the true and fair concept may seem as a similar concept, however, they do differ as well. While the former is the concept for United States, the latter is used in the UK, EU, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
Ethics is derived from the greek word ‘ethos’, which means character and the latin word ‘moras’, which means customs. Thus ethics is defined as the personal and professional behaviour with regards to the values, customs, behaviour, principles and morals of society (Senarante, 2011). Professional ethics can be defined as the personal and corporate standards of conduct that is carried out by members of a particular profession. For example, medicine, accounting and engineering. Professional ethics or business ethics cover larger areas than the law, and although an issue may not be illegal, it can be considered as an ethical issue (ATT Ethics, 2013). Business ethics can be defined as the policies and principles that act as operational guidelines
When compared to the physical capital maintenance concept, the financial capital maintenance concept is the better choice for standard setting when distinguishing between a return of capital and a return on capital. The main argument in favor of physical capital maintenance is that it provides information that has better predictive value, confirmatory value, and is more complete. However, due to agency theory, prospect theory, and positive accounting theory, neutrality and completeness under physical capital maintenance would be impaired so gravely that predictive value and confirmatory value become inefficacious. As a result, financial capital maintenance, with its use of historical cost, is able to provide information to decision makers with stronger confirmatory value and predictive value.
This paper objective is to examine the pros and cons of both principles-based standards and rules-based standards and decide on which of these approaches is the better for the ever-evolving nature of accounting. Ultimately, the better of the two approach should take into account reliability and
Lange, Fornaro, and Buttermilch (2015) focused their research on the FASB Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2011-08, in regards to Intangibles – Goodwill and Other: Testing Goodwill for Impairment. The authors elaborated on how reporting has been done in the past and how the changes made for private companies has helped ease the financial reporting of goodwill. In addition, the authors discussed the definition of a public business entity. This helps to allow private companies to determine the proper way to report their financial
According to Yale’s School of Management Robert Swieringa (1997), “We come to an age of technology, information, and global competition with a financial accounting model that was fashioned almost 100 years ago.” That same accounting model continues to evolve today. One area in particular is with accounting for intangible assets.
The purpose of this document is to describe the nature, purpose and scope of accounting and it deliberately explains the details of each category in accounting. Accounting involves in preparing financial documents of an entity by analyzing, verifying, and reporting this records. It emphasizes its major characteristic role in field of banking and finance, with a mixture of supportive sub topics.
In an exceedingly aggressive market, companies are always looking for ways to increase their productivity, and to cut and manage their costs. Cost accounting offers a true depiction of the connection between detailed costs and exact outputs because it follows the resources as they travel through the business.
The word Accounting is quite a typical one and we listen to a comparable in our daily life. Before drilling right down to other areas of accounting, why don't we understand what does indeed this means? In layman term, the Accounting is an act of saving, summarizing, inspecting and documenting of financial deals of a business. Accounting is one of the main functions of any company. It is known as "Language of Business". The foundation of accounting can be tracked back to old civilizations and over time it has changed. Accounting can be split into various domains like financial accounting, management accounting etc. Both financial accounting and management accounting varieties part of business accounting.
Accounting has been a living part of history since the Neolithic period and remains a prevalent and ever-evolving profession still to this day. This essay therefore proposes to look at the significance and role of history specifically related to the accountancy field. In order to substantiate this claim of the importance of accounting history, numerous benefits of accounting history will be presented. Factors such as the use of historical research and its availability thereof to constantly develop accounting policies will be discussed as well as how historical accounting practices can be used to understand current practice and assist in the training of individuals in the accounting field. Lastly, the importance of history in the development
Accounting is a very important term to our modern society. It is the career for men and women who at the start have their eyes set on top positions in industry, management, government, and general business. Accounting is a basic need of every businessman, from the operator of a filling station to the government of the United States. It's so important to our society. None of the business organization can operate without is. They are there-somewhere-in every business. In small business, people use pen, ink and skill keep the records. In large business, modern accounting machines are used to operate. Men and women are directing these machines in the accounting process. Wise businessmen enter business must have some accounting knowledge.