The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) today published educational guidance on the application of fair value measurement when markets become inactive.
The educational 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. It takes into consideration and is consistent with recent documents issued by the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on 10 October and by the Office of the Chief Accountant of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FASB staff on 30 September.
The report of the expert advisory panel is a summary of the seven meetings of experts who are users, preparers and auditors of financial statements, as well as regulators and others. In the report, the panel identifies practices that experts use for measuring the fair value of financial instruments when markets become inactive practices for fair value disclosures in such situations. The report provides useful information and educational guidance about the processes used and judgements made when measuring and disclosing fair value.
The IASB has also used the work of the panel to address the issues of disclosure, an rel="noopener noreferrer" area identified by the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) along with fair value measurement and off balance sheet accounting. The feedback from the panel was incorporated in the preparation of the exposure draft proposing improvements to IFRS 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures published on 15 October and will be used in the development of the forthcoming standard on fair value measurement. The IASB expects to publish an exposure draft of that standard in 2009.
Commenting on the publication of the report, Sir David Tweedie, Chairman of the IASB, said:
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.
