The trek toward a fair-value system of accounting—which critics have said sometimes feels like a forced march—took another step forward last week, as accounting rulemakers finally approved a way to establish fair value where it’s already required or permitted in existing accounting literature.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued Financial Accounting Standard No. 157, Fair Value Measurements, to define how the fair value of assets and liabilities should be measured in more than 40 other accounting standards where it is allowed or required.
