The book is a comprehensive guide to fair value measurement – one of the foundations of modern-day accounting. Fair value measurement is extremely important since it touches both upon accounting and finance. Many items in the financial statements are measured at fair value, e.g. financial instruments, items acquired in business combinations and, under IFRS, investment property. In addition, fair value is used extensively as a valuation base by corporate finance and valuation specialists. The book gradually unfolds the full theoretical framework for measuring fair value for accounting purposes. It includes clear and informative explanations, focusing on the theoretical and practical issues arising from the relevant accounting standards and using illustrative numerical examples and further analysis as well as hands-on guidelines on how to apply fair value principles in practice.
The book (in process) has several distinctive features. First, it covers fair value in accordance with both International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP). Although the two systems take very similar approaches to the topic, there are some slight, though significant, differences between them that are thoroughly discussed in the book; secondly, the book combines professional accounting literature, standards and practice into a single well-rounded and user-friendly resource.
The book (in process) is intended as an essential tool not only for professionals involved in preparing or auditing financial statements – such as accountants and financial managers – but also for practitioners in related domains, such as appraisers and preparers of valuations for legal proceedings, which are based on the accounting concept of fair value. These practitioners may find other accounting issues discussed thoroughly in competing literature to be less relevant.
The Authors
Shlomi Shuv – Lead Author. Shlomi is a certified public accountant and owner of IFRS Consulting Ltd., which provides accounting consulting to companies and accounting firms. He serves as Head of the Accounting Program and Vice Dean of the Arison School of Business at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. A member of the Board of Directors of the Israeli Association of Appraisers, Shlomi has been named Israel’s Top IFRS Expert by the country’s leading certified public accountants; he also serves as Co-Head of the Fair Value Forum (FVF).
Yevgeni Ostrovsky – Co-Author. Yevgeni is Senior Deputy to the Commissioner of the Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings Authority in Israel, and Head of the Accounting Division. For 11 years, he served in senior accounting and valuation positions with the Israel Securities Authority, including as Head of Valuations and Deputy Chief Economist. He has lectured on financial accounting and valuations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and IDC Herzliya since 2011.