As you may be aware, the subject of fair value accounting has been discussed in the United States for well over a decade. Advocates of fair value accounting believe that fair value is the most relevant measure for financial reporting. Others, however, believe that historical cost provides a more useful measure because it more clearly represents the economics of business performance and because ...

Unfortunately the fair value of a liability that is not actively or efficiently traded is not readily ascertainable through a financial market. This is in contrast to publicly traded assets such as bonds and stocks. However various approaches can be taken to determine estimates of such values based on discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques. Such techniques are also used to determine the fair val...

We examine the causes and consequences of European real estate firms’ decisions to provide investment property fair values prior to the required disclosure of this information under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). We find evidence that investor demand for fair value information—reflected in more dispersed ownership—and a firm’s commitment to transparency increase the likelih...