Accounting for Financial Instruments

This work, motivated by the controversy surroundingfair value accounting for all financial instrumentsin financial institutions, generates empiricalevidence on preparer and user preferences. Anunderstanding of actual perceptions is important forstandard-setters to determine the most acceptableaccounting standard for financial instruments,particularly for the complex financial institutionsindustry in Australia and Singapore, two prominentfinancial markets of the Asian Pacific region. Onaverage, preparers neither strongly support norstrongly oppose fair value accounting, while usersare slightly more supportive. Results show thatachieving the qualitative characteristics espoused bythe IASB framework for financial reporting is farmore important than trying to fulfill the differentneeds of various groups. This slight support for fairvalue accounting is part of a bigger tapestry of aslow but steady movement towards fair valuemeasurement in financial accounting and reporting.The findings would be useful to those interested inaccounting standards, especially in relation to fairvalue accounting for financial instruments infinancial institutions.