Fair Value Accounting and Financial Reporting Quality

In an era marked by the globalization of financial markets, a rapidly evolving economic environment that demands swift corporate responses, and heightened attention to sustainability and stakeholder interests, the international accounting harmonization process has emerged as a key response to the growing call for transparency and corporate disclosure, to be achieved through a common accounting language. Central to this process is the identification of what constitutes decision-useful information, an issue that continues to fuel debate among academics, standard-setters, and practitioners.
A primary focus of this debate is the role of fair value accounting and Comprehensive income reporting, whose contribution to producing high-quality financial disclosure remains an open question. Against this backdrop, this book explores the tension between relevance and reliability that arises from the need to balance the inherently stimationdriven, judgment-based nature of accounting processes with the imperative to protect the interests of outside parties, particularly focusing on the implications of fair value measurements for firm performance figures and their information content.
Recognizing that financial reporting quality is a multidimensional construct shaped by factors that extend beyond the accounting regime itself, this volume explores the role of firm-level corporate governance and social responsibility practices. It suggests that the decision-usefulness of fair value adjustments included in comprehensive income may depend critically on the strength and design of corporate governance, specifically on their ability to foster credible, forward-looking estimates while curbing opportunism and preserving managerial insight.

Carlotta D’Este, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Business Administration and Management at the Faculty of Economics and Law, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Her teaching experience includes financial and managerial accounting in both bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. Her primary research interests include financial accounting and reporting under Italian GAAP and IFRS, as well as corporate governance, diversity management, and corporate social responsibility. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and books.