Acceptability of Fair Value Accounting In Indian Corporate Sector – An Opinion Study

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Govt. of India, by its notification dated 16.02.2015, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 133 read with section 469 of the Companies Act, 2013 in consultation with the NACAS, introduced a new accounting standard rules which has converged Indian Accounting Standards in the line of IFRSs (i.e. Ind ASs). MCA has notified 39 Ind. ASs till date including a separate Ind AS on Fair Value Measurement (Ind AS 113). Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015 and its subsequent amendments stipulate adoption and applicability of Ind ASs in Indian corporate financial reporting in a phased manner mandatorily from the financial year 2016-17. Therefore, in India, financial statements for the year ended 31st March, 2017 are the first that some specified companies have already prepared adopting Ind ASs as well as applying fair value measurement with a transition date of 1st April, 2015. The undertaken research study is a humble endeavour to judge opinions of Indian academicians and professionals in the field of accounting regarding acceptability and impact of application of fair value method on Indian corporate financial reporting. For the purpose, we conducted an opinion study through questionnaire survey with the Indian academicians and professionals. In the opinion survey, it has been observed that most of the respondents advocate for presentation of assets and liabilities in the financial statements at fair value, instead of historical cost.