Another step towards full fair value accounting for financial instruments

The international Joint Working Group of Standard Setters (JWG) was established by the IASC (replaced by the IASB in 2001) and other national accounting standard setters for the purpose of developing a comprehensive set of principles for reporting financial instrument at fair value. In December 2000 the JWG issued a Draft Standard addressing the accounting for financial instruments and similar items. The proposals in the Draft Standard would affect existing accounting practice in many areas, including those related to the use of hedge accounting. This article states the main problems that could result from applying the provisions of that Draft Standard, offering some alternative approaches to overcome those problems.