Experts seem to disagree how much fair-value accounting may or may not have played a role in Bear Stearns’ downfall. While some argue that the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s new fair-value standard—Financial Accounting Standard No. 157, Fair Value Measurement—caused a write-down spiral that is still descending rapidly, others argue that the financial firm’s valuations of instruments were too opaque for the investment community to understand and digest.
