Fair value accounting is an improvement to the traditional form of accounting – the historical cost
accounting. Under historical cost accounting, the initial price paid by the company during the purchase of the asset
or incurrence of the liability is the one that matters. The price reflected on the balance sheet either is the purchase
price or at a value reduced by obsolescence, depreciation or depletion (Nobes, 1997). For a financial asset, the price
on the balance sheet does not change until the security is liquidated. Historical cost accounting is easy to understand
because it is based on a fixed price that is always completely known, specifically the actual price that a company
paid. Historical cost accounting is generally easier to follow since it is based on fixed and certain inputs. While this
eliminates uncertainty from the initial valuation decision, it creates uncertainty in future periods about the true value
of assets (Meunier, 2012). In both fair value accounting and historical cost accounting methods, the value of assets
depicted on the balance sheet is always lower due to the depreciation, depletion and obsolescence.