These paper reviews recent literature on the debate about the convenience of the move
of accounting from historical cost toward the fair-value principle. There is a lack of
agreement about the advantages and drawbacks. No unanimous pronouncement can be
ascertained in previous literature with respect to whether volatility in income and
profits, relevance, manipulation and profitability are improved or worsened with the use
of fair value principle. However, in the existing literature on agricultural accounting
prevails a claim against the requirement of IAS 41 of fair valuation for biological assets.
Most authors complain that it is a major departure from the convenient valuation
method applied in agriculture and will entail serious drawbacks for the agricultural
sector.