Fair value accounting in the context of the internationalisation of financial accounting - with special consideration of 'impairments of assets'

Starting from the various roles of financial accounting, the internationalisation process is
highlighted, in which fair value accounting is starting to play a predominant role. Testing the adequacy of the fair value accounting approach is
the main objective of this work. Various accounting theories are being investigated in trying to discover the roots of fair value accounting. Different capital and income concepts are the main concern and their implementation in the frameworks of accounting regulations will be analysed. Subsequently the main approaches of implementing
fair value accounting are discussed. Selected fields of application of the fair value approach are portrayed in the following: financial instruments, goodwill, contingencies and finally impairment of assets, the main research topic. A closer investigation is justified by its cash-flow orientation and valuation of asset groups, concepts traditionally related to business valuation rather than to financial accounting. Besides these normative investigations, empirical work related to different measurement concepts in general as well as with respect to impairment of assets more specifically is reviewed. An own empirical study will be conducted in order to document current reporting practice related to the impairment of assets as implemented under the regimes of IAS 36 (1999) and SFAS 142 and 144 (2001). Areas allowing earnings management due to management discretion in financial reporting shall be detected.