The Economic Consequences of Increasing Accounting Transparency

Haresh Sapra, Professor of Accounting, Chicago Booth

Sapra will provide two general insights that are useful in evaluating the economic trade-offs of alternative accounting measurement rules. First, when there are mutliple imperfections in the world, restricting a strict subest of it need not always improve welfare. Second, a firm is not a black box that operates independently of the measurement environment. Measuring a firm's operations affects the firm's actions which, in turn, affect the underlying distribution of cash flows that is being measured.

Using these two insights, Sapra will discuss the economic consequences of accounting measurement rules that strive for greater transparency. In particular, he focuses on the costs and benefits of fair value accounting and its implications for financial stability.

Read Sapra's article "What Are the Economic Trade-offs in the Fair Value Debate?" (PDF)

View Sapra's presentation (PDF)