2 The directors of Aron，a public limited company，are worried about the challenging market conditions which the company is facing. The markets are volatile and illiquid. The central government is injecting liquidity into the economy. The directors are concerned about the significant shift towards the use of fair values in financial statements. IAS 39‘Financial Instruments：recognition and measurement’defines fair value and requires the initial measurement of financial instruments to be at fair value. The directors are uncertain of the relevance of fair value measurements in these current market conditions.
Required：
（a）Briefly discuss how the fair value of financial instruments is determined，commenting on the relevance of fair value measurements for financial instruments where markets are volatile and illiquid. （4 marks）
（b）Further they would like advice on accounting for the following transactions within the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2009：
（i） Aron issued one million convertible bonds on 1 June 2006. The bonds had a term of three years and were issued with a total fair value of $100 million which is also the par value. Interest is paid annually in arrears at a rate of 6% per annum and bonds，without the conversion option，attracted an interest rate of 9% per annum on 1 June 2006. The company incurred issue costs of $1 million. If the investor did not convert to shares they would have been redeemed at par. At maturity all of the bonds were converted into 25 million ordinary shares of $1 of Aron. No bonds could be converted before that date. The directors are uncertain how the bonds should have been accounted for up to the date of the conversion on 31 May 2009 and have been told that the impact of the issue costs is to increase the effective interest rate to 9·38%. （6 marks）
（ii）Aron held 3% holding of the shares in Smart，a public limited company. The investment was classified as available-for-sale and at 31 May 2009 was fair valued at $5 million. The cumulative gain recognised in equity relating to the available-for-sale investment was $400，000. On the same day，the whole of the share capital of Smart was acquired by Given，a public limited company，and as a result，Aron received shares in Given with a fair value of $5·5 million in exchange for its holding in Smart. The company wishes to know how the exchange of shares in Smart for the shares in Given should be accounted for in its financial records. （4 marks）
