Financialization and accounting in the 2008 crisis: the role of fair value accounting

Abstract

This article describes the way in which financialization has been developed, the use of fair value as a method to measure financial instruments, and the role played by accounting in the present economic transformation. Because of the different changes in economy, financialization has manifested through an accumulative regime, which has transcended the objectives of companies and has aimed their economic interests at the increase of profitability over their productivity; these considerations are classified as a fictional capital, according to Marxist theory. Therefore, accounting has been structured to adopt methodologies that allow to measure and control the use of fair value. The inadequate use of this method results in overvaluation and distortion of information quality.

Tutor: José Manuel Mora. Docente de Contaduría Pública, Universidad Central.