Financialisation of global markets: the role of private sector accounting standard setting

Financial reporting often creates new realities rather than merely reflecting reality. How, then, would the globalization of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as a specific mode of presenting reality, affect our markets? Drawing on fair value accounting instead of traditional historical cost accounting, IFRS makes the business realm and society amenable to financialisation. This process of converting real markets into tradable components, particularly by the private sector, may not contribute to sustainable market growth. This paper introduces three case studies to illustrate the significant impact IFRS makes on real sector markets. These consequences would in turn affect financial markets in the long term.