从净收益视角看公允价值和历史成本计量属性的作用

论文在决策有用性的会计目标框架下,以权益投资者的企业价值评估为视角,探讨了会计计量属性的选择和应用问题。在资产负债会计体系下,即便采用公允价值计量也无法反映企业的整体经济价值。企业价值需要借助金融模型估计,传统收入费用会计体系下的净收益指标是模型中的关键变量,但资产负债表中公允价值的引入使净收益的计量失去了逻辑一致性。这对权益估价模型的应用造成了干扰,从而损害了财务报告对投资者的有用性。论文认为对投资者提供公允价值信息的最佳方式是单独披露,而不是表内确认。最近FASB为应对金融危机对有关会计准则的修订反映了计量方法多样化的趋势,但计量方法的优势并不取决于该计量方法是否符合计量对象的具体特点,而是是否符合会计系统的整体目标。

The Role of Fair Value and Transaction Based Accounting Measures in Providing Information on Firm Value

This paper examines the choice between Fair Value and transaction based accounting measures in the context of firm valuation.The paper argues that Fair Value cannot direcfly measure the economic value of the firm as a simple difference between assets and liabilities.Instead,it is necessary to use financial models to estimate equity values.Net income from the traditional revenue-expense model is an essential input to these models.A problem arises when Fair value reporting of balance sheet amounts within the revenue-expense accounting model conflicts with the measurement of net income.This reduces the usefulness of financial reporting for equity investors in particular because it interferes with the application of equity valuation models.Our analysis suggests that Fair Value information is most useful to investors when it is presented in disclo-sures,separately from the traditional system of income statement and balance sheet financial reports.However,there are no simple answers to the measurement challenges presented by the traditional financial statements of the revenue-expense model.Recent history,including FASB re-spenses to the US financial crisis,(FAS157-4 and PSP FAS115 and FAS 124-2)shows a continuing process of atustment and compromise between different measurement approaches.We conclude that the benefits of different accounting measurements depend not on their individual characteristics,but on how they contribute to the objectives of the accounting system.