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Derivatives have become more and more sophisticated since the early 1990s. They represent a large portion of the balance sheet today. It has become very important to know the exposure of firms both for the purpose of firm management and for stakeholders and market actors (rating agencies, financial analysts, shareholders, and so on). New international accounting standards have emerged to satisfy the need for more transparency. The primary purpose is to guarantee a true and fair view of the balance sheet of every firm in order to encourage them to implement a better management of risks. We show that solutions offered by IFRS (including hedge accounting) go against this objective because of an excessive volatility of earnings. Furthermore, this volatility is disconnected from the real exposure of firms. Equally, our analysis deals with the impact of accounting choices made by the IASB concerning the accounting of hedge positions, the perception of risks across financial statements, and consequences for financial management. We review academic and empirical papers and highlight three issues. First, research proves that accounting volatility (earning variability)-although not correlated with economic volatility and thus the risk exposure of the firm-seems to change the perception of risk. Secondly, the artificial increase of risk has an impact on firms- behavior. Lastly, the financial management consequences of the IAS 39 are not optimal from a finance point of view, and are in contradiction with the IASB-s objectives.