SEC tells companies to lift lid off fair value

The Securities and Exchange Commission has put companies on notice that greater fair value disclosures will be needed this year.

The body dispatched letters to CFOs offering a helping hand as to how they should apply new fair-value accounting rules, but also warned that they would need to work harder to show how they reached their values.

Companies will now have to do more need to explain how they arrive at their assumptions when valuing assets and liabilities which rely on mark-to-model calculations where there is no actual trading market for these holdings.

The SEC expects the fuller disclosures to start being filed by May when the quarterly filings are due.

Further reading:

Blaming fair value - is it a fair cop?