Wednesday, November 5, 2008

IASB publishes guidance on fair value measurement

WebCPA.com in its publication dated November 4, 2008 alerted that The International Accounting Standards Board has issued educational guidance from an expert advisory panel on the controversial issue of fair value measurement when markets become inactive.

In conjunction with the 84-page report, the IASB also published an eight-page staff summary, outlining the highlights of the major issues in the report and the contex.

The report and summary take into account recent documents issued by the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of the Chief Accountant.

The Press Release of IASB dated October 31, 2008 said that the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) today published education guidance on the application of fair value measurement when market become inactive.

Further, it said that the education guidance takes the form of a summary document prepared by IASB staff and the final report of the expert advisory panel established to consider the issue.

The summary document sets out the context of the expert advisory panel report and highlights important issues associated with measuring the fair value of financial instruments when markets become inactive.

"The expert advisory panel has provided useful input to a number of projects and we are moving quickly to incorporate their valuable contributions into our standards. Round-table discussions in Asia, Europe and the United States, to be held jointly with the FASB, will provide additional opportunities to gather views on where further enhancements may be required. Added to this, the joint IASB - FASB high level advisory group now being set up will provide advice to both boards on the reporting lessons from the credit crisis," said Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the IASB, commenting the publication of the guidance report.

Go here for the full press release issued by IASB on October 31, 2008 and for downloading the final report of the expert advisory panel and the IASB staff summary.