A pair of recent surveys suggests surprising support for fair value accounting standards, at least if such standards are used in addition to the current methodology that relies on amortized cost. The results of the two surveys, one conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and one by Grant Thornton, could bolster the drive by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to require fair value reporting for all financial instruments.

The Grant Thornton survey of CFOS and senior controllers at nearly 500 large public companies found that 63%, or almost two out of three, favor using fair value to account for assets on the balance sheet. Of that group, roughly 60% favor providing both fair value and amortized cost, while 40% say they'd go with fair value only. Just 37% of the finance executives say they favor using solely an amortized cost accounting methodology for the balance sheet.

Income statements were a different story, with only 5% of responding finance executives saying they favored the use of fair value.