Professional Investors' Asset Measurement Preferences

Debates persist among academics, regulators, practitioners, and standard setters regarding the extent to which different asset measurement methods aid investment decisions. Surprisingly, evidence of actual resource providers’ views on this issue is sparse. We survey 528 and interview 13 professional investors to provide evidence of their preferences among four common measurement methods. Overall, we find a general inclination for more assets measured at market price or discounted cash flows. However, we document considerable variation in measurement preferences based on the type of asset (e.g., trademarks vs. fixed assets), characteristics of the asset and its environment, and the financial statement that remeasurement affects. Accordingly, our findings suggest that providing professional investors with relevant asset information would require accounting standards that: (1) use different measurement methods for different types of assets; (2) provide multiple measurement methods in each reporting period; and (3) consider how to separately provide relevant balance sheet amounts and earnings information, such as by using Other Comprehensive Income