Role of Accounting and Audit in the Recent Financial Crisis

2013 ◽  
pp. 91-98
Author(s):  
Alev Dilek Aydin
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Fair Value ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Historical Cost ◽  
The Public ◽  
Creative Accounting ◽  
Recent Financial Crisis ◽  
Audit Reports

This study aims to assess the role of accounting and auditing in the recent financial crisis. After each crisis, there have been serious discussions concerning the reasons behind those crises. However, no consensus has yet been achieved until now. In this context, the analysis of the relationships among financial crisis, accounting, and auditing is of utmost importance in better evaluating the structural reasons behind the crisis. There are several points that this chapter aims to analyze to indicate the contributions of accounting and auditing to the recent global financial crisis. These points are: impacts of disregarding the main principles of accounting, the wide use of fair value accounting over cost-based accounting, incorrect and misleading financial and audit reports, applications of creative accounting, and lack of transparency and weaknesses of the auditing process. The debates generally concentrate on the use of fair value (mark-to-market) accounting in the financial reports as opposed to the historical cost method. It should be emphasized that accounting is very important as a key mechanism of market economies, because of its crucial role in the functioning of the markets in accordance with the public interest. The chapter concludes with several suggestions by taking the fact into consideration that accounting and auditing systems should be revised for the better protection of interests of the third parties such as investors, potential investors, and the state.

Role of Accounting and Audit in the Recent Financial Crisis

2013 ◽  
pp. 1496-1503
Author(s):  
Alev Dilek Aydin
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Fair Value ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Historical Cost ◽  
The Public ◽  
Creative Accounting ◽  
Recent Financial Crisis ◽  
Audit Reports

This study aims to assess the role of accounting and auditing in the recent financial crisis. After each crisis, there have been serious discussions concerning the reasons behind those crises. However, no consensus has yet been achieved until now. In this context, the analysis of the relationships among financial crisis, accounting, and auditing is of utmost importance in better evaluating the structural reasons behind the crisis. There are several points that this chapter aims to analyze to indicate the contributions of accounting and auditing to the recent global financial crisis. These points are: impacts of disregarding the main principles of accounting, the wide use of fair value accounting over cost-based accounting, incorrect and misleading financial and audit reports, applications of creative accounting, and lack of transparency and weaknesses of the auditing process. The debates generally concentrate on the use of fair value (mark-to-market) accounting in the financial reports as opposed to the historical cost method. It should be emphasized that accounting is very important as a key mechanism of market economies, because of its crucial role in the functioning of the markets in accordance with the public interest. The chapter concludes with several suggestions by taking the fact into consideration that accounting and auditing systems should be revised for the better protection of interests of the third parties such as investors, potential investors, and the state.

scholarly journals The relationship between the financial crisis and the measurement of fair value in financial statements

2014 ◽  
pp. 43-51
Author(s):  
Birutė Gudonytė ◽  
Kristina Rudžionienė
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Fair Value ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Value Evaluation ◽  
True Value ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Value Measurement

Literature suggests that the main goal of fair value evaluation is more reliable and relevant information disclosure to external users. However, in 2007, at the beginning of the global financial crisis, the benefits of fair value, as well as the opportunity to provide information about the true and fair view of a company, were called into question. Opponents of the fair value claim that the fair value was the main reason for the global financial crisis, but the advocates disagree; therefore, the correlation between the fair value and crisis is controversial. It reflects the problem of the thesis: how the system of fair value accounting influenced the financial crisis? Object of the paper: the method of true value measurement. Aim of the paper: to evaluate the measurement of fair value and its potential impact on the financial crisis in Lithuania. After analysing the evaluation of 25 Lithuanian listed companies by disclosure of fair value, it can be state that stock companies evaluate more property than liabilities by disclose the fair value. A correlation coefficient was determined while assessing the correlation between the application of fair value in financial reports and financial crisis in Lithuania, but it disapproved the correlation.

THE CRISIS AND FAIR VALUES: ECHOES OF EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY DEBATES?

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garen Markarian
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Fair Value ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Fair Value Measurement ◽  
Value Measurement ◽  
Secondary Characteristic

The recent global financial crisis has led to extensive criticism of the role of accounting and its use of fair value measurement in causing and spreading the crisis. This paper argues that the debate surrounding fair value vs. historic cost, and relevance versus reliability, is nothing new; it was at the center of early accounting discussions in the AAA (especially by A.C. Littleton and W.A. Paton), the AICPA (especially G.O. May), and the SEC. Although prominent accounting scholars and practitioners in postdepression 1929 focused on the use of historic cost, the paper discusses the decision of the IASB/FASB to move reliability to a secondary characteristic in its recent conceptual framework. This action ignores lessons learned from a century of research, teaching, and practice of accounting.

scholarly journals Accounting measurement at fair value in the conditions of financial crisis

2021 ◽  
pp. 275-287
Author(s):  
Vladimir Obradovic ◽  
Nemanja Karapavlovic
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Professional Community ◽  
Fair Value ◽  
Risky Behaviour ◽  
Accounting Measurement ◽  
The Impact

The subject of the paper is the role of fair value, as one of the accounting measurement attributes (measurement basis) of assets and liabilities in the statement of financial position, in the conditions of crisis, based on the experience with global financial crisis which appeared in 2008 in the US financial sector, and later spilled over into the real sector of that country, as well as, to a greater or lesser extent, to the rest of the world. The crisis has stimulated discussions in the scientific and professional community about the usefulness of using fair value and the impact of this measurement attribute on the appearance and widening of the crisis. The aim of the paper is to consider the impact of fair value application on the occurrence of the mentioned financial crisis. Qualitative research methodology based on the review of relevant literature in the field of research subject has been applied. A review of literature available to us has shown that there is no unique attitude about the role of fair value in the financial crisis which appeared in 2008. In that sense, opinions range from the one that fair value played little or no role in the financial crisis, over the opinion that it may have contributed to the acceleration of the crisis, to the opinion that it was one of its main causes and that it should be suspended. It is certain that fair value cannot be declared as the only financial crisis causer, and that there is no only one causer. Inadequate banking practices, risky behaviour of financial markets participants, inconsistent and insufficiently coordinated macroeconomic policies, inadequate structural reforms and omission of credit rating agencies dominantly caused the financial crisis and contributed to its spread.

scholarly journals Did Fair-Value Accounting Contribute to the Financial Crisis?

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Laux ◽  
Christian Leuz
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Fair Value ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Fair Value Accounting ◽  
Descriptive Data ◽  
Fire Sales ◽  
The 2008 Financial Crisis ◽  
Recent Financial Crisis

The recent financial crisis has led to a major debate about fair-value accounting. Many critics have argued that fair-value accounting, often also called mark-to-market accounting, has significantly contributed to the financial crisis or, at least, exacerbated its severity. In this paper, we assess these arguments and examine the role of fair-value accounting in the financial crisis using descriptive data and empirical evidence. Based on our analysis, it is unlikely that fair-value accounting added to the severity of the 2008 financial crisis in a major way. While there may have been downward spirals or asset-fire sales in certain markets, we find little evidence that these effects are the result of fair-value accounting. We also find little support for claims that fair-value accounting leads to excessive write-downs of banks' assets. If anything, empirical evidence to date points in the opposite direction, that is, toward the overvaluation of bank assets during the crisis.

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF INDIAN INSURANCE INDUSTRY POST GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (01-02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anis Ur Rehman ◽  
Yasir Arafat Elahi ◽  
Sushma .
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Insurance Sector ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The New Deal

India has recently emerged as a major political and economic power in the world. The financial crisis that engulfed the world in 2008 needed developing countries like India to lead the rescue and recovery, instead of G7 westerns countries who dealt with such crisis in the past. Recently, discussions and negotiations are going amongst G20 countries regarding a new global financial architecture (G-20 Summit, 2008). The outcome will affect the relevant industries in India and hence it is a public interest issue for the actuarial profession in the country. Increased and more intrusive and costly regulations and red tapes are likely to be a part of the new deal (Economic Survey 2009-10). The objective of this paper is to study the perception of higher level authorities in Insurance sector regarding the role of regulator in minimizing the impact of global financial crisis. The primary data has been collected from 200 authorities in insurance industry. The data has been analyzed with statistical tools like MS-Excel. On the basis of the findings, various measures and policy recommendations for insurers have been suggested to minimize the impact of crisis.

scholarly journals Assessing the sustainable nature of housing-related taxation receipts: the case of Ireland

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diarmaid Addison Smyth ◽  
Kieran McQuinn
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Housing Market ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Finances ◽  
Financial Market Regulation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Recent Financial Crisis ◽  
Run Up

Purpose The Irish fiscal position was significantly affected by the recent financial crisis. Budgetary surpluses quickly gave way to significant deficits post 2007, culminating into a lengthy excessive deficit procedure and entry into a formal EU/IMF assistance programme in 2010. Much of the deterioration in the public finances was caused by a sharp decline in property-related taxes because the Irish housing market rapidly contracted. In this paper, the authors quantify the extent to which disequilibria in the housing market can affect the tax take, finding significant implications over an extended period. Design/methodology/approach The authors attempt to quantify the extent of housing-related tax windfall gains and losses in Ireland over a 30-year period as a result of disequilibrium in the housing market. This involves a three-step modelling approach where we relate property-dependent taxes to the housing market while estimating equilibrium in the latter before solving for the tax take consistent with that equilibrium. In so doing, the authors find that the fiscal position compatible with equilibrium in the housing market has at times diverged greatly from actual outturns. Findings This paper confirms the significant role played by the housing market in influencing both the tax-take and the overall fiscal position. The authors find that there have been a number of instances where excesses in the housing market have spilled over into fiscal aggregates, notably in the housing bubble period between 2003 and 2008. However, with the on-going adjustments in the housing market, it would appear that prices and volumes have overcorrected in recent years. Overall, much greater emphasis should be given to the role of the housing market in forecasting key taxation aggregates. Originality/value The recent crisis highlighted how domestic policy mistakes (both in terms of budgetary planning and financial market regulation) can greatly amplify economic shocks. Irish budgetary policy in the run up to the financial crisis of 2008/2009 was clearly based on unsustainable levels of housing-related tax receipts. This paper highlights the need for a much more granular approach in framing tax forecasts and in assessing the public finances by more explicitly factoring in housing market developments.

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