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The decision by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in the case involving the Belgian footballer Jean‐Marc Bosnian presents the most serious challenge yet to the influence football clubs hold over their players. The court decided that it is a breach of European law for clubs to demand a transfer fee in respect of a player at the end of his contract, as this is a restriction of the free movement of labour as set out in Article 48 of the Treaty of Rome. This paper considers the implications of this decision for professional football clubs in the UK, several of whom record the services provided by their players as assets on their balance sheet. The paper considers various possible accounting treatments and concludes that in the short term at least, given the uncertainties surrounding the industry post Bosman, recording the cost of players' registrations at their historical cost is the most appropriate policy for clubs to adopt. The paper also considers the implications of the case for clubs' fund‐raising capabilities, through interviews with clubs' bankers, finding that banks are more concerned about the quality of income stream rather than the existence of security in the form of transferring players' registrations. ‘If someone regards players as a merchandise with a monetary value, whose value may in some cases even be included in the balance sheet, he does so at his own risk.’

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has justified the simplification of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in several ways, but no effective justification for this simplification has been made based on the information needs of users. This study aims to provide empirical evidence of the decision usefulness of IFRS for SMEs from a prominent user group of SME financial statements – the banks.

This study uses a mixed-method approach. First, a survey was conducted on commercial bank lending officers to assess the usefulness of different disclosure items included in the SME financial statements. Second, semi-structured interviews were conducted with commercial bank lending officers to gain an in-depth insight into the appropriateness and economic consequences of the requirements of IFRS for SMEs on their lending decisions.

The findings show that commercial bank lending officers did not consider all the disclosure requirements presented to them to be equally important. Hence, to facilitate the actual needs of the users’ decision usefulness, it is imperative that when given the opportunity, users participate in the development of accounting standards.

The findings of this study will be of interest to accounting regulators for evaluating the successful implementation of IFRS for SMEs and planning the next review of IFRS for SMEs. The IASB and SME Implementation Group are presently considering ways to increase user involvement for the next review of IFRS for SMEs, and the findings of this study signify the need for user involvement in the standard setting process.

The objective of this research is to explore the challenges being encountered when applying and implementing fair value accounting requirements, focusing specifically on the determination of fair value per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 13: Fair value measurement (IFRS 13) in the South African capital market.

Data are collected from 20 detailed interviews, primarily with preparers and interpretively analysed to identify how individuals internalise the requirements of IFRS 13 and the challenges associated with its application. The researchers focus specifically on South Africa because of its status as a developing economy and, at the same time, its extensive experience in applying IFRS.

South African preparers appear reluctant to change from a conventional cost-based measurement approach to one grounded in fair value. Primary concerns include the perceived usefulness of fair value accounting and its conceptual appropriateness, given its perceived de-emphasis of the traditional stewardship role of financial reporting. Related challenges to the application of IFRS 13 include concerns about the cost of determining fair value; the inherent subjectivity of fair value measures and the practical difficulty of calculating fair values when markets are not efficient or where business environments are complex and dynamic where Level 1 inputs are not widely available for all assets and liabilities. These challenges encourage preparers to choose accounting policies, which minimise the use of fair value or apply the provisions of IFRS 13 legalistically.

Data are collected from a group of respondents from a single developing economy. Additional research on the application of IFRS 13 in other developing markets will be required to conclude on the relevance of economic, cultural and social factors for the understanding and implementation of new accounting standards by practitioners.

Standard setters and regulators cannot assume that new accounting standards will be interpreted and applied as intended. Even when compliance with IFRS is mandatory, preparers have considerable discretion when it comes to operationalising accounting prescriptions. Unless the challenges raised by preparers are addressed, misapplication of IFRS is likely to continue.

The research makes an important empirical and practical contribution by providing primary evidence on the operationalisation of IFRS 13 in a novel setting. It complements earlier research which has focused primarily on the conceptual/theoretical dimension and on American and European perspectives.

The current paper aims to understand whether fair value accounting (FVA) affects analysts’ loan approval decisions and default risk judgments.

This study focusses on three issues: unrealized gain or loss resulting from FV measurement recognized in other comprehensive income (OCI), recognition of assets at FV or historical cost and the disclosure or non-disclosure of the FV of collateral assets. It uses an experiment carried out with a sample of 29 CFA analysts.

The results show that all three issues have a significant effect on analysts’ judgment and decision-making in processing FV estimates.

The paper extends knowledge on how financial analysts perceive FV estimates and disclosure and may help the accounting standard boards assess the challenges facing analysts when they apply professional judgments in interpreting FV measurements and disclosures. Moreover, it offers fresh views to the debate on the decision usefulness of FVA, particularly relevant in the post-implementation review of IFRS 13.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to survey views of bankers in Jordan about the usefulness of fair value accounting and major obstacles facing its implementation in practice.

Methodology/Approach – A structured questionnaire was administered to individuals holding high positions in Jordanian banks. The questionnaire covered the respondents' views about the appropriateness of using fair value accounting, the usefulness of fair value figures in terms of their relevance for decision making and the obstacles facing the application of fair value accounting in practice.

Findings – Results of the survey showed that while there was general approval of the use of fair values in financial reporting, there were some reservations about their relevance in terms of predictive value and, more importantly, feedback value. Major obstacles facing the usefulness of fair values in financial reporting included, according to respondents, (1) the possibility of fraud in fair value reporting, (2) the ambiguity of accounting standards on fair value application and (3) the reliability of figures measured using fair value accounting, as opposed to those measured using historical cost accounting.

Social implications – The paper discusses the positive and negative aspects of application of fair value financial reporting in accounting. It discusses how fair value financial reporting may be useful for decision making of users of financial statements and what obstacles may limit this usefulness. The paper also discusses the implications of the findings for Jordan and other emerging economies, including suggested ways to reduce the possible negative effects of fair value accounting.

Originality/Value of paper – Fair value accounting practice is relatively new to Jordan, and the Jordanian context, as a less-developed country with a low-efficiency stock market, is significantly different to the environments in which fair value accounting practices were established. The effects of applying fair value accounting in Jordanian financial reporting practices are under-researched, so this study yields views on the reliability and relevance of fair value measures and the ease of their application in practice that could be specific to the Jordanian environment and differ significantly from results from developed countries. The findings generally support this argument.

1. Introductory perspectives If you want to catch a trout, you must think like a trout. If you want to value real estate, you must look at it from various angles. If you want to understand valuations for current cost accounting you must think like an accountant and view it from several perspectives.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the claim that Western accounting reforms, in particular the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSASs) would enhance transparency and accountability and reduce corruption in patronage-based developing countries such as Nigeria.

The paper utilises the patron/clientelism framework to examine the dynamics of Western accounting reforms in the Nigerian patronage-based society, in which the institutions of governance and regulatory structures are arguably weak. The paper utilises archival data and interviews conducted with representatives of state bodies (elected politicians and officials) and professional accounting associations.

Results from two major reforms (the sale of government-owned residential properties in Lagos and the monetisation of fringe benefits for public officials) are presented. Despite the claim of the adoption of Western accounting standards, and in particular IPSAS 17, which requires full accrual accounting and the utilisation of fair value in property valuation, historical cost accounting appeared to have been mobilised to massively corrupt the process for the benefit of politicians, other serving and retired public officials and family members.

This study contributes to the current literature by providing evidence of the relationship between patronage, corruption and accounting in wealth redistribution in the patronage-based Nigerian socio-political and economic context.