The Debate over Fair Value Reporting

For the past several decades, FASB and the IASB have been slowly but steadily shifting from historical cost to fair value reporting. The current financial reporting model comprises a mixture of both historical costs (eg, plant assets) and fair values (eg, certain investments). But both standards-set...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The CPA journal (1975) 2013-02, Vol.83 (2), p.46
Main Authors: Jordan, Charles E, Clark, Stanley J, Pate, Gwen R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accounting
Balance sheets
Costs
Earnings management
Fair value
Financial reporting
Financial statements
Fraud
Investments
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:For the past several decades, FASB and the IASB have been slowly but steadily shifting from historical cost to fair value reporting. The current financial reporting model comprises a mixture of both historical costs (eg, plant assets) and fair values (eg, certain investments). But both standards-setting bodies have made known their view that fair value reporting is here to stay -- and will likely become the primary reporting basis for financial accounting in the future. Benford's Law has become a popular forensic analytical tool for discovering fraud or the manipulation of financial data. Named for General Electric physicist Frank Benford, who discovered its properties in the early 1930s, the law is based on mathematical theorems that determine the probabilities that the numbers 0 through 9 will appear in specific digital positions of naturally occurring data.
ISSN:0732-8435