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Fair value accounting: Simulacra and simulation

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  • Bougen, Philip D.
  • Young, Joni J.

Abstract

The paper examines the application of simulacra and simulation in fair value accounting for financial instruments in the U.S. As copies of copies, simulacra problematize the notion of an original and with it an imaginary of a single authentic reality. We examine simulacra as they have been applied in two interconnected fair value accounting arenas. Firstly, simulacra employed as a measurement basis for certain financial instruments. In this regard, we challenge the FASB's insistence that fair value accounting is an originary market based measurement system. Secondly, we examine the process of simulation as employed by the FASB in copying and amending FAS 157 in its subsequent modifications to the guidance provided to the preparers of financial statements. Our purpose here is to both reinforce the absence of a market reality and also to illustrate how the FASB's subsequent modifications to FAS 157 were shaped by political forces. We conclude with some suggestions as to how simulacra and a politicization process might be productively embraced in future fair value accounting endeavors.

Suggested Citation

  • Bougen, Philip D. & Young, Joni J., 2012. "Fair value accounting: Simulacra and simulation," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 390-402.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:23:y:2012:i:4:p:390-402
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2011.05.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Hayoun, Shaul, 2019. "How fair value is both market-based and entity-specific: The irreducibility of value constellations to market prices," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 68-82.
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    7. Adam Leaver & Keir Martin, 2021. "‘Dams and flows’: boundary formation and dislocation in the financialised firm," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 403-429, December.
    8. Okamoto, Noriaki, 2014. "Fair value accounting from a distributed cognition perspective," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 170-183.
    9. Tiago Cardao-Pito, 2017. "Classes in Maximizing Shareholders’ Wealth: Irving Fisher’s Theory of the Economic Organization in Corporate Financial Economics Textbooks," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 11(4), December.
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