Dérivés et comptabilité de couverture en IFRS : vers une (mé)connaissance des risques ?

There has been a sophistication of derivative instruments since the beginning of the 90?s. They represent a large portion of balance sheet today. Thus, the knowledge of the exposure the firms face is very important either for the management of firms either for stakeholders and actors in the market (rating agencies, financial analyst, shareholders and so on). New international accounting standards have emerged as a response for more transparency. The primary purpose is to guaranty a true and fair view of the balance sheet of every firm in order to incite them to implement a better management of risks. We show that solutions offered by IFRS (including hedge accounting) are going against this objective because of an excessive volatility of earning. Furthermore, this volatility is disconnected of real exposure of firms. In a second part, our analyse deals with the impact of accounting choices made by IASB concerning the accounting of hedge positions, the perception of risks across financial statements et consequences for financial management. We review academic and empirical articles and show three things. First, research put in evidence that the accounting volatility ( earning variability) ? even if it is not correlated with economic volatility and thus risks? exposure of the firm ? seem to change the perception of risk. Second, the artificial increase of risks has an impact on firms? behaviour. The financial management consequences of the IAS 39 are not optimal from a finance point of view, and in contradiction with IASB?s objectives.