Assessing the Information Content of Mark‐to‐Market Accounting with Mixed Attributes: The Case of Cash Flow Hedges

Frank Gigler, Chandra Kanodia and Raghu Venugopalan

Journal of Accounting Research, 2007, vol. 45, issue 2, 257-276

Abstract: We examine how outsiders rationally interpret a reported loss on derivatives when the application of mark‐to‐market accounting to cash flow hedges creates a mixed attribute problem. We find that because of the mixed attribute problem, the information content of mark‐to‐market accounting is related to the information content of historical cost accounting in a very specific way. This relationship allows us to identify the circumstances under which mark‐to‐market accounting facilitates and when it detracts from the objective of providing an early warning of potential financial distress. We show that the reporting of an impending derivative loss by a distressed firm can actually lead outsiders to infer that the firm is in a better financial position than what they would have inferred under the silence associated with historical cost accounting. Without the mixed attribute problem, mark‐to‐market accounting would always yield more accurate assessments of the firm's financial position.

Date: 2007
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