FAS 133 Option Fair Value Hedges

Abstract

The attempt of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to provide consistent and logical accounting treatment for hedging transactions, in the form of FAS 133, continues to generate controversy. Under the new rules, many kinds of hedges do not cause problems, but a variety of difficulties still remain. One of the more significant ones involves how the changes in the current value of an option used in a hedge are to be treated. In some cases, changes in an option's time value are supposed to enter into earnings, which can produce spurious earnings volatility during the period of a hedge. Bodurtha and Thornton describe the situation under FAS 133 and then propose two possible solutions. One is to suggest a change in the rule that would remove the problem. Their “financial engineering solution” would not depend on a rule change, but would introduce new types of derivatives whose contingent cash flows could be organized in such a way as to qualify for hedge treatment under the current rules, but would remove the artificial earnings volatility that would otherwise occur with a standard option hedge.