One objection to fair value accounting for liabilities is that changes in a company’s credit risk are recognized as gains or losses in a manner that is counterintuitive to the way gains and losses are typically interpreted (Lipe 2002). Specifically, when a company’s credit risk increases...

When liabilities are accounted for at fair value, a deterioration of a company's credit risk results in the reporting of an income statement gain; an improvement in a company's credit risk results in a loss. Many argue that these income statement effects are counterintuitive and that financial...