The Problem with Current Accounting

In recent decades, as the use of derivatives by financial institutions has expanded, the shortcomings of historical cost accounting approaches have become increasingly apparent. Since derivatives can create large exposures to risk that go unnoticed under historical standards, the accounting industry has focused on how to change the standards so that these risks are reflected appropriately in a company’s accounting statements. New standards such as SFAS 115 and SFAS 133 have been adopted in part to achieve this goal. However, both of these standards use a piecemeal approach to risk measurement that may be adding to the problem rather than creating a solution. This paper will use a simple equity-indexed annuity to illustrate the problem with historical cost accounting and with the standards that have been adopted to correct it. The paper then argues that the only legitimate means of reflecting risk properly on a company’s accounting statements is to adopt full fair value accounting for all assets and liabilities on the company’s books.