Abstract

Banks’ Cost and Revenue Accounting as a Market Problem

The first part throws some light on the theoretical foundations of the ‘market interest method’. Compared with the attempts hitherto made at theoretically justifying decision-oriented cost and revenue accounting by banks, this contribution does not seek to evidence one or more bottlenecks, but choses the bank selling and the financial market theories as its approach. The credit institutions’ customer business is part of the totality of the financial markets; characteristic of it are the divergent modes of access and distribution channels it entails. The basic problem is to identify portfolios, comparable with customer business transactions, which are composed of money and capital market papers. In the technical literature, various “congruence criteria” have been developed for forming such portfolios. The comparable transactions made on the basis of such portfolios are examined by way of example as to whether and, if so, to what extent they are really appropriate, from the point of view of cash-basis accounting, for adequately reflecting the successes that result from transacting customer business. It has turned out in particular that using a portfolio with a congruent capital structure does not of itself result in the successes obtained being adequately represented also in accounting. The compatibility of banks’ cost and revenue accounting with financial or general accounting, which has been cited as an important argument in favour of this approach, can only be ensured under certain conditions