Zur Geschichte der Zeitwertbilanzierung in Deutschland

It is widely regarded that current value or fair value accounting has been «fuelling» the recent financial crisis. Nevertheless, it was during this self-same financial crisis that it was (re-)introduced for banks by the modernised German Commercial Code in 2009. Ironically, current value accounting was abolished by the German legislature in 1884 on account of the «Gruenderkrise ». The reasons given by the German legislature 128 years ago, which are entirely apposite to the current crisis, should have been taken into consideration before modernisation of the German Commercial Code was effected. In this paper the history of current value accounting in Germany will be discussed against the background of these contradictions.