Fair value versus historical cost-based valuation for biological assets: predictability of financial information

There is an intense debate on the convenience of moving from historical cost (HC) toward the fair value (FV) principle. The debate and academic research is usually concerned with financial instruments, but the IAS 41 requirement of fair valuation for biological assets brings it into the agricultural...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Argilés, Josep M., García Blandón, Josep, Monllau Jaques, Teresa M.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Institución:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositorio:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/45000
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/45000
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1138-4891(11)70029-2
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Fair value
Historical cost
Biological assets
Earnings prediction
Cash flow prediction
Valor razonable
Coste histórico
Activos biológicos
Predicción del resultado contable
Predicción de flujos de tesorería
Descripción
Sumario:There is an intense debate on the convenience of moving from historical cost (HC) toward the fair value (FV) principle. The debate and academic research is usually concerned with financial instruments, but the IAS 41 requirement of fair valuation for biological assets brings it into the agricultural domain. This paper performs an empirical study with a sample of Spanish farms valuing biological assets at HC and a sample applying FV, finding no significant differences between both valuation methods to assess future cash flows. However, most tests reveal more predictive power of future earnings under fair valuation of biological assets, which is not explained by differences in volatility of earnings and profitability. The study also evidences the existence of flawed HC accounting practices for biological assets in agriculture, which suggests scarce information content of this valuation method in the predominant small business units existing in the agricultural sector in advanced Western countries.