Financial Instruments

Financial Instruments
Author: International Accounting Standards Committee
Publisher:
Total Pages: 22
Release: 2000
Genre: Accounting
ISBN:

Economic Consequences of Fair Value Reclassifications of Financial Assets According to IAS 39

Economic Consequences of Fair Value Reclassifications of Financial Assets According to IAS 39
Author: Meryem Önüt
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2017-10-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3668549907

Master's Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: 2,0, University of Hohenheim, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to provide direct empirical evidence on the use of the Amendment according to IAS 39 regarding the reclassification of financial instruments. It therefore reviews what happened when the accounting policies were switched from fair value accounting to historical accounting during the financial crisis in 2008. Using a sample of manually collected data from Western European banks, the thesis empiri-cally examines which banks used this reclassification option to deal with problematic financial assets and how these reclassification activities are correlated with other firm characteristics. Furthermore, the thesis shows the influence of the amount of assets in each fair value level on the fair value hierarchy and the impact of the banks’ regulatory capital during the height of the financial crises on the use of the relaxation option. The final aim is to analyze the economic consequences of this option and to determine how beneficial it is for the global financial system, considering that banks will again make use of this sort of permission in other, future crises. After the development of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) in 2001, the European Union (EU) decided to unify the jurisdictions for all listed corporations and therefore decreed a mandatory adoption of IFRS in the EU. The EU reasoned that common ac-counting standards improve capital market efficiency and reduce information processing and auditing costs. However, the decisive reason for the adoption of IFRS was that today’s global economy requires global standards to ensure transparency, accountability and comparability of financial accounts. IFRS was preferred because of its focus on a fair value-based method of accounting compared to historical cost accounting, and the EU claimed that adopting IFRS would bring financial stability while serving the interests of the public.

Accounting discretion of banks during a financial crisis

Accounting discretion of banks during a financial crisis
Author: Mr.Luc Laeven
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 43
Release: 2009-09-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451873549

This paper shows that banks use accounting discretion to overstate the value of distressed assets. Banks' balance sheets overvalue real estate-related assets compared to the market value of these assets, especially during the U.S. mortgage crisis. Share prices of banks with large exposure to mortgage-backed securities also react favorably to recent changes in accounting rules that relax fair-value accounting, and these banks provision less for bad loans. Furthermore, distressed banks use discretion in the classification of mortgage-backed securities to inflate their books. Our results indicate that banks' balance sheets offer a distorted view of the financial health of the banks.

The change from amortised costs to fair value regarding the International Financial Reporting Standards 9

The change from amortised costs to fair value regarding the International Financial Reporting Standards 9
Author: Kristina Kraljevic
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 113
Release: 2020-07-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3346214400

Master's Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Economics - Finance, grade: 1, University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt (Austria), language: English, abstract: This paper examines the adaption of the International Financial Reporting Standards 9, effective as of 1 January 2018. The introduction outlines the reasons for the amendments and the objectives of IFRS 9 which are divided into three phases. The focus of this paper is the effect of IFRS 9 on financial liabilities. While the International Accounting Standards 39 for financial liabilities are still accurate, IFRS 9 lead to a change in the fair value option. As a result, changes in the fair value which are caused by the own credit risk are booked into the other comprehensive income. This paper aims to give an overview on the relevant changes regarding IFRS 9. However, the main focus is set at the liabilities side, the classification and the measurement of financial liabilities. Although the IASB intended to create a model in order to classify financial instruments of both the asset and the liabilities side, it had to prioritise the asset side owing to the financial crisis and the demand for new regulations in 2009. Therefore, the research context considers the adjustment of the fair value option (FVO) treatment. Due to the new regulation, changes in the own credit spread or rather the creditworthiness need to be captured under the position “other comprehensive income” (OCI), which affects the net income. Unless the financial liability is designated as FVO, the subsequent measurement of the liability follows amortised cost. However, choosing the FVO implies that once the change in the credit spread has been recorded under the OCI, the amount is not reclassified into the profit-and-loss account (P & L). In contrast to that, a reclassification is permitted within equity e.g. a financial liability designated at FVO that is derecognised. The reason for the new regulation is based on IAS 39 and the measurement of liabilities in regard to the credit spread. Although, the creditworthiness deteriorated during the financial crisis, financial institutions had to realise the increasing credit spread in the P & L as an earning and a decreasing fair value (FV) of the liability. This mixed-model approach is a reason for the volatility in P & L’s and has been revised in the course of the IFRS 9.