Browse Accounting

Measurement, Valuation, and Investment Accounting

Accounting terms for fair value, historical cost, mark-to-market, equity method, and hedge accounting.

Measurement, Valuation, and Investment Accounting covers fair value, historical cost, mark-to-market, equity method, and hedge accounting.

Use these pages when an accounting method or principle changes how transactions are recognized, measured, compared, or interpreted in finance work. It sits inside Accounting Principles and Methods, so readers can move up when the broader accounting context matters.

Use the table below to choose the narrower accounting branch before applying a term to a statement line, model input, audit trail, tax schedule, covenant test, or management report.

What This Branch Covers

AreaUse it for
Equity AccountingEquity accounting records an investor’s share of an investee’s profit or loss when the investor has influence but does not control the entity.
Equity Method of AccountingInvestment-accounting method that records the investor share of investee earnings and adjusts the investment carrying amount.
Fair Value AccountingMeasurement approach that reports assets or liabilities at current market-based or model-based values rather than historical cost alone.
Hedge AccountingAccounting treatment that aligns hedging instruments with hedged items to reduce artificial income-statement volatility.
Historical-Cost AccountingAccounting measurement basis that records assets and transactions at original cost rather than current market value.
Mark-to-Market AccountingFair-value approach that updates carrying amounts to current market prices or observable valuation inputs.

What to Check

  • Accounting policy, method choice, recognition basis, measurement attribute, estimate, disclosure, and management judgment.
  • Whether the issue affects accrual versus cash treatment, fair value, historical cost, conservatism, matching, or reporting quality.
  • Effect on earnings quality, comparability, cash-flow timing, risk assessment, tax timing, and valuation assumptions.
  • Applicable GAAP, IFRS, management-accounting, or tax context when it changes the conclusion.
  • Consistency across periods, entities, and related statement lines.

Common Mistakes

  • Treating a principle as a mechanical rule with no judgment.
  • Ignoring method changes and estimate changes.
  • Comparing companies without checking policy choices.
  • Using accounting principles as standalone investment, tax, audit, or legal conclusions.

Accounting-principles content is educational and does not provide accounting, tax, audit, legal, investment, or valuation advice.

In this section

Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.

Equity Accounting

Equity accounting records an investor's share of an investee's profit or loss when the investor has influence but does not control the entity.

Equity Method of Accounting

Equity Method of Accounting is an accounting method used to measure transactions, allocate costs, and support comparable reporting.

Fair Value Accounting

Fair Value Accounting is an accounting method used to measure transactions, allocate costs, and support comparable reporting.

Hedge Accounting

Accounting treatment that aligns hedging instruments with hedged items to reduce artificial income-statement volatility.

Historical-Cost Accounting

Accounting measurement basis that records assets and transactions at original cost rather than current market value.

Mark-to-Market Accounting

Mark-to-Market Accounting is an accounting method used to measure transactions, allocate costs, and support comparable reporting.

Revised on Sunday, June 21, 2026