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Fair Value: It's the Disclosures, Stupid

A former regulator and veteran CFO contends that too many critics are "missing the boat" when they argue against fair-value accounting.

November 20, 2008

A former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and a one-time bank CFO, Susan Schmidt Bies looks at fair value from two sides of the debate — and she thinks "people are missing the boat." Speaking at an industry conference this week, Bies asserted that "the focus is disclosure," adding that investors, regulators and other financial-statement users aren't fixated on a single fair-value estimate. Rather, they want to understand "the key drivers behind fair-value estimates," she said. Read more...

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