‘Deprival value’ vs. ‘fair value’ measurement for contract liabilities: how to resolve the ‘revenue recognition’ conundrum?

Revenue recognition and measurement principles can conflict with liability recognition and measurement principles. We explore here under different market conditions when the two measurement approaches coincide and when they conflict. We show that where entities expect to earn ‘super profits’ (residual income) the conceptual conflict is exacerbated by the adoption of ‘fair value’ (FV) as the measurement basis for assets and liabilities rather than the more theoretically grounded approach of ‘deprival value/relief value’ (DV/RV) which better reflects the impact of, and rational management response to, varying market conditions. However, while the problems of balance sheet liability and revenue recognition, and the related problems of income statement presentation, can be resolved by the application of DV/RV reasoning, this is not sufficient fully to resolve issues of the appropriate timing of profit recognition. Performance measurement issues still need to be addressed directly. The standard setters' current projects on ‘revenue recognition’, ‘insurance contracts’ and ‘measurement’ therefore need broadening to consider the pervasive issue of accounting for internally generated intangibles.     

保险公司负债公允价值的评估

保险公司的资产与负债按照财务报告或风险管理的要求要用公允价值来表示其价值。保险公司负债主要由各种类型的保险合同组成。尽管金融产品的交易非常活跃,市场价格可以相对容易地获得,但像保险合同这样缺乏交易市场,并且风险是非系统化的金融产品的公允价值的计算却十分困难。通过分层次的方法可以有效地评估金融工具的公允价值,其中评估保险公司负债的公允价值最常用的方法是现值法。现值法中包含了直接法与间接法两种本质上等价的方法。本文对这两种方法分别作了分析,并提出了在评估保险公司负债的公允价值时需要考虑的一些现实问题。     

Fair Value Accounting and Debt Contracting: Evidence from Adoption of SFAS 159

We examine how fair value accounting affects debt contract design, specifically the use and definition of financial covenants in private loan contracts. Using SFAS 159 adoption as our setting, we find that a small but significant proportion of loans (14.5%) modify covenant definitions to exclude the effects of SFAS 159 fair values. Only a limited number of these modifications exclude assets elected at fair value (less than 7%), while all exclude liabilities elected at fair value. Notably, we document that covenant definition modification is unassociated with ex ante fair value elections. We find that covenant definition modification positively varies with common incentive problems attributed to fair value accounting and negatively varies with benefits attributed to fair value accounting. Our results suggest that fair value accounting is not uniformly detrimental for debt contracting and fair value adjustments are included when they are most likely to improve performance measurement.     

保险负债的风险价值边际:评估方法及应用

国际会计准则委员会(IASB)正在实施一个关于保险合同的会计项目,其目的在于使保险公司的资产负债表以公允价值来计量。保险负债的公允价值以市场脱手价格为计量基础,可由最优估计价值和风险市场价值边际两部分构成。本文以公允价值的计量理论为基础,提出资本成本法这种风险价值边际的核算方法,并以财产险保单为例探讨该方法的应用。     

公允价值会计对保险公司财务报告的影响

主要探讨公允价值会计对财务报告体系和结构的影响。公允价值会计对财务报告的各要素都产生重大影响,从而影响保险公司财务报告本身。其中关键的因素是保险负债的评估,虽然保险责任准备金没有直接的市场价格,但是,只要构成保险责任准备金的各种要素反映了市场价格,就可以认为保险责任准备金具备了公允价值。在假设层面上,行业假设是假设市场...     

Use of CCA in the Public Sector: Lessons From Australia's Experience With Public Utilities

The background to the widespread adoption by Australian public trading enterprises of a deprival value variant of current cost accounting reflects successive efforts to establish demanding rate of return targets, or to legitimise price increases, or to monitor the financial performance of PTEs on a national basis. The experience of three public utilities in implementing CCA is reviewed. This experience suggests that CCA valuation of infrastructure (using deprival or optimized deprival values) is unable to deliver financial data to permit valid cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons of performance. Issues raised during the 1970s and 1980s debates about CCA were either ignored or overlooked.     

政府隐性负债分析

政府隐性负债是客观存在的事实，而且在目前表现得相当突出，这给政府财政造成了极大的压力。隐性负债大致可分为直接的隐性负债和或有的隐性负债两种类型，并各有不同的表现形式。对隐笥负债风险的防范与化解，要从预算管理、提高预算内收入所占比重、体制改革、政府与市场共同化解等多方面入手。特别是要充分发挥市场机制的作用，要通过进一步深化改革，建立风险分担的机制和制度。     

系统性风险转移、金融危机与公允价值披露

金融创新过程中系统性风险的转移突破了证券投资中收益与风险的传统对应关系,使衍生工具成为一种能有效规避系统性风险的投资载体。公允价值按市值计价的会计处理方法存在着一定的不足,即反映收益的同时忽视了对风险的应有监督;而同时披露收益的相关性和风险的相关性这两方面的信息是提升公允价值信息决策有用性的重要一环。这就需要从披露的视角研究公允价值的具体应用,探讨公允价值披露的改进。     

公允价值会计对财务报表的影响

本文通过比较公允价值会计和传统会计在具体的操作方法和考量范围方面的不同之处,来探讨使用公允价值会计后对财务报告的影响,并对在企业管理的过程中,如何更有效地利用财务报告提出了一些探索性的建议.     

寿险公司负债价值计量研究

有效的资产负债管理以寿险公司资产和负债价值的正确计量为基础。寿险负债的长期性和多种嵌入期权的特性使寿险公司资产负债管理更具复杂性。寿险负债价值计量的精算方法注重于它的死亡率风险测定的技术秘诀和期限的长期性,但该方法使期权的效应无从体现,也使在利率和被保险人行为的静态假设不成立的前提下,负债价值被低估的情况发生。因此,必须辅之于财务方法来测量期权在寿险合约中的价值。本文对寿险合约中期权价值的测量及其对ALM的作用也做了探讨。     

IFRS Ten Years on: Has the IASB Imposed Extensive Use of Fair Value? Has the EU Learnt to Love IFRS? And Does the Use of Fair Value make IFRS Illegal in the EU?

Abstract

This paper is a commentary on issues related to the first decade's mandatory use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) in the EU. Three specific but related questions are addressed, as in the paper's title. On the first (imposition and use of fair value (FV)), I conclude that the International Accounting Standards Board has not substantially extended the use of FV in its 15 years of work and that most companies hold few assets or liabilities on the FV basis. On the second question (adoption in the EU), I analyse a consultation exercise which strongly suggests that the EU's imposition of IFRSs will continue. On the third question (legality of IFRSs), I explain why recent UK legal opinions that question the legality of reporting under IFRSs are not persuasive.     

上市公司财务报告目的评估价值相关性研究——来自A股市场的经验证据

公允价值在会计准则中的广泛运用引致了以财务报告为目的的评估业务需求。本文选取了2004~2008年上市公司为研究样本,检验了以财务报告为目的的资产评估总体价值相关性以及基于资产减值测试的评估价值的市场反应。研究结果表明,新会计准则实施后的价值相关性显著提高,而资产减值的计提受投资者的关注度则有所减弱。这说明以财务报告为目的的评估有效地提高了会计信息的质量和信息含量,并在一定程度上抑制了滥用公允价值进行盈余管理的行为。从长远来看,深化经济的市场化程度,努力构建一个完整、统一、开放、充分竞争的市场,实现评估界与会计审计界的良性互动,同时加强会计监管及行业自律并对滥用公允价值及虚假评估行为予以严惩,仍是未来一段时期的重中之重。     

对《债务重组准则》实施中应注意的几个问题的探讨

从1999年1月1日至2000年12月31日，《企业会计准则－债务重组》在企业执行过程中，由于准则对债务重组业务会计处理规定上的某些缺陷，导致了某些企业尤其是某些上市公司利用此法律上的便利，随意调节度利润，粉饰财务报表，给国家在会计信息失真的治理工作方面制造了障碍，国家财政部审时度势，及时修订了《企业会计准则－债务重组》准则，克服了原准则的缺陷，进一步规范了企业债务重组务和会计核算办法，使中国的会计准则体系进一步得到了完善，但新准则的实施由于新经济情况的情况，难免有不妥当的表现，笔者从六个方面提出了应注意的和改进的问题，希望能与同仁进行商榷并在该准则实施和执行过程中引起关注，对该准则的有效实施产生一些进步的影响。     

法的公平价值与人的发展的关系

法的公平价值,既是社会主义市场法治经济的本质要求,也是促进人的更高层面发展的充分展示和重要保障。正确认识相互之间的关系,有利于促进人的自由全面发展。     

公允价值会计对财务报表的影响(英文)

本文通过比较公允价值会计和传统会计在具体的操作方法和考量范围方面的不同之处,来探讨使用公允价值会计后对财务报告的影响,并对在企业管理的过程中,如何更有效地利用财务报告提出了一些探索性的建议。     

投资者教育能提高投资者理性水平吗?

本文以投资者对公允价值的认知偏差程度作为理性水平的替代指标,在进行调查研究的基础上,使用李克量表对投资者的理性水平进行了分析。根据关于对投资者理性水平调查结果,本文对投资者进行了关于公允价值信息的教育和模拟投资实验;通过对比投资者接受教育前后的理性水平,并以之为解释变量,对实验过程中的股价信息含量进行了检验。实证研究发现,投资者对公允价值的认知水平的变化能够显著影响股价信息含量,说明加强投资者对于市场环境的认识有助于提高投资者的理性水平,从而有助于增强我国证券市场的有效性。     

Do Firms Manage Fair Value Estimates? An Examination of SFAS 142 Goodwill Impairments

Abstract:  I find that goodwill write-offs under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142 (SFAS 142) are associated with future expected cash flows as mandated by the standard. However, there are indications that goodwill write-offs lag behind the economic impairment of goodwill. Additional analysis reveals that the association between goodwill write-offs and future cash flows is insignificant for firms with contemporaneous restructuring. I hypothesize that this finding is due to agency-based motives. Finally, I examine a sample of non-impairment firms in which there are indications that goodwill is impaired. I fail to find convincing evidence that these firms are opportunistically avoiding impairments.     

Do measurement-related fair value disclosures affect information asymmetry?

Using a sample of European real estate firms over the 2007–2010 period, this study provides some evidence that measurement-related fair value disclosures reduce information asymmetry. We find a negative association between the extent of fair value disclosures and the bid-ask spread, but no association with two additional measures of information asymmetry (zero returns and price impact). Contrary to our expectation, we fail to find evidence that firms using model estimates exclusively benefit the most from such additional disclosure. Analysing measurement errors (the absolute difference between the selling price of an asset and its fair value prior to sale), we find that firms that use model estimates exclusively and provide more measurement-related disclosures have lower errors and more accurate fair value estimates. In other words, if our lack of results is due to investors not using this additional disclosure this is to their detriment.     

金融工具公允价值信息的价值相关性

本文以会计信息决策有用性的计量观为基础,通过实证方法对比分析了新企业会计准则实施前后,公允价值是否改进会计信息对公司股票市场价格的影响,以及金融工具的公允价值信息与历史成本对公司股票市场价格的影响;新准则实施后公允价值变动损益对公司的股票市场价值的影响。研究结果表明:在引入公允价值计量属性后,盈余信息和净资产账面价值对模型的整体解释能力有所提高;公允价值计量的金融工具具有显著的增量价值相关性和相对价值相关性,投资者在投资决策时已经开始考虑公允价值因素,金融工具公允价值信息具有价值相关性。