Firm Characteristics Influencing Responses Towards Adoption of the Fair Value Accounting Option : A Survey of Chief Financial Officers of U.S. Firms

This paper examines the opinions of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of public companies in the U.S. with respect to the choice of fair value accounting for non-financial assets. Based on 209 surveyed firms, we first show that the majority of CFOs are resistant to fair value accounting for non-financial assets, similar to prior studies reporting that European firms were not willing to adopt fair value accounting when the option was given. We also examine what firm characteristics affect CFOs' attitudes toward the adoption of fair value accounting and show that large firms, more leveraged firms, and firms with more non-financial assets and expertise in fair value measurements tend to choose the option of fair value accounting for non-financial assets