Q. Share-based payment transactions?

The fair value accounting standard SFAS 157 applies to monetary assets of all publicly-traded companies in the US as of 2007 Nov. 15. It as well applies to non-financial assets and liabilities that are recognized or disclosed at fair value on a recurring basis. Beginning in 2009 the standard will concern to other non-financial assets. SFAS 157 applies to items meant for which other accounting pronouncements require or allow fair value measurements except share-based payment transactions, such as stock option compensation.

SFAS 157 offers a hierarchy of three levels of input data for determining the fair value of an asset or liability. This hierarchy ranks the reliability and quality of information used to determine fair values with level 1 inputs being the most reliable and level 3 inputs being the least reliable.

- Level 1 is quoted prices for identical items in active liquid as well as visible markets such as stock exchanges.

- Level 2 is observable information for similar items in active or else inactive markets such like two similarly situated buildings in a downtown real estate market.

- Level 3 are unobservable inputs to be used in situations where markets don't exist or are illiquid such as the present credit crisis. At this point fair market valuation turns into highly subjective. Fair value accounting has been a contentious topic ever since it was introduced For instance banks and investment banks have had to reduce the value of the mortgages and mortgage-backed securities to reflect current prices. Those prices declined harshly with the collapse of credit markets as mortgage defaults escalated in the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Despite debate over the proper performance of fair market value accounting International Financial Reporting Standards utilize this approach a lot more than the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles of the United States.