HISTORICAL COST AND FAIR VALUE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF FINANCIAL CRISIS

Abstract

Financial crisis determined the fast extension of global financial bankruptcy upon the world, representing at the same time the first crisis of the accounting term of "fair value", under the shade of which subsists a number of standards which request to the institutions to estimate at the market value much of the assets they possess. The Council for International Standards in Accountancy (IASB) revised the rules regarding the accountancy at the fair value, as a reaction before the critics which sustains that the accountancy rules at the fair value were the basis of volatility of financial market. The alternative for "fair value" – the historical cost of assets – has little admirers within the financial crisis. In the pages of the present article, we will try to achieve an incursion through specialized literature while analysing the two methods of valuation within the context of financial crisis.

Keywords

• valuation in accountancy
• historical cost
• fair value