Outlining commitment and resistance to dominant accounting paradigms

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has permitted or mandated increasing use of fair value accounting. This has been associated by the academic community with a neoliberal objective of financial accounting. Nevertheless, historic cost accounting, associated with a stewardship objective, continues to remain firmly embedded in the accounting discourse. The presence of both objectives in the IASB’s “Conceptual Framework” leads to cognitive disunity. The result is accountants with varying degrees of commitment to fair value and/or historic cost accounting. This chapter outlines the stewardship and neoliberal paradigms and their implications for the adoption of fair value accounting. Results from South Africa are used to demonstrate the commitment, opposition and flexible adherence to fair value accounting. Proponents of a stewardship logic and flexible adherents to fair value resist fair value accounting in different and subtle ways without risking deliberate non-compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards. Associated challenges and resistance to fair value accounting and its importance for standard-setters and auditors are provided.