Inflation accounting: perspective and prospects

Abstract

During the last two decades, there have been several proposals on how financial statements should be adjusted to show the effects of Inflation. The earlier suggestions were to adjust the financial statements using a general price index. Lately the emphasis has been on current value accounting. In UK's SSAP-16 (and more recently ED 35) USA's FAS-33, Canada's section 4510 of CICA Handbook were considered landmark at the time of their issuance. Yet, every one of these proposals is having an uneasy time and lacks general acceptance. The status of inflation accounting remains fluid and confusing. The accounting profession, realising that theoretically there is no right answer, has opted to experiment the different approaches. Abandoning the experiment may prove risky and costly, if high inflation is to return. One can only conclude that inflation accounting remains a controversial topic and is likely to continue to be so in the near future.