The International Accounting Standards Board has published new, relaxed rules for fair-value accounting, a victory for floundering European banks that left IASB insisting it remains committed to the fair-value treatment of all financial assets in the long term.
At an Oct. 13 meeting, the Board rushed through amendments to International Accounting Standard No. 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement, and International Financial Reporting Standard No. 7, Financial Instruments: Disclosures. The changes allow banks to reclassify some of their financial assets, which in practice means they can avoid carrying them on their books at fair value. IASB had earlier voted to suspend its due process rules so that it could implement the change with immediate effect.
