Clarifying the measurement objective

BC27 IFRS 13 defines fair value as:

The price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.

BC28 IFRS 13 also provides a framework that is based on an objective to estimate the price at which an orderly transaction to sell the asset or to transfer the liability would take place between market participants at the measurement date under current market conditions (ie an exit price from the perspective of a market participant that holds the asset or owes the liability at the measurement date).

BC29 That definition of fair value retains the exchange notion contained in the previous definition of fair value in IFRSs:

The amount for which an asset could be exchanged, or a liability settled, between knowledgeable, willing parties in an arm’s length transaction.

BC30 Like the previous definition of fair value, the revised definition assumes a hypothetical and orderly exchange transaction (ie it is not an actual sale or a forced transaction or distress sale). However, the previous definition of fair value:

(a) did not specify whether an entity is buying or selling the asset;

(b) was unclear about what is meant by settling a liability because it did not refer to the creditor, but to knowledgeable, willing parties; and