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原文:
Recent Developments in Fair Value Accounting
SFAS 157, Fair Value Measurements, which became effective in January 2008, defines fair value and prehensive implementation guidance for applying it to assets and liabilities for measurement under GAAP. Since then, the meltdown of financial markets and a deepening recession have led to are appraisal of fair value accounting. Critics argue that the fair value accounting, commonly called mark-to-market accounting, has exacerbated the crisis by requiring significant write-down of assets,
resulting in sharp decreases in regulatory capital of banks and other financial institutions (see William Isaac, “How to Save the Financial System,” Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2008; John Berlau “Maybe the Banks Are Just Counting Wrong,” Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2008; Gary Gorton, “The Panic of 2007,” Yale ICF Working Paper No. 08-24, /abstract=1255362). The crisis led to swift and unprecedented actions from the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and Congress, including the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) to help financial institutions. In October 2008, Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, authorizing the SEC to suspend SFAS 157 for some issuers or certain transactions in order to protect investors and the public interest. The act also directed the SEC to study the standard’s impact on financial institutions’ balance sheets and on bank failures, as well as to suggest alternative accounting standards. FASB soon issued three Staff Positions (FSP)—FSP FAS 157-4, “Determining Fair Value When the Volume and Level of Activity for the Asset or Liability Have Significantly Decreased and Identifying Transactions That Are Not Orderly”; FSP FAS 107-1 and APB 28-1, “Interim Disclosures About Fair Value of Financial Instruments”; and FSP FAS 115-2 and 124-2, “Recognition and Presentation of Other-Than-Temporary Impairments”—as part of its response to the concerns related to me