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International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) provide intriguing and controversial issues for accounting theory. The article analyses rules for impairment test (IFRS 36) and intangibles (IFRS 38) from a theoretical viewpoint, renewing the old-fashioned distinction between static (market-based) and dynamic (process-based) accounting, that is fair value or accruals. It concludes that, concerned with non financial assets, the IASB rule for impairment is more closely related to accommodating « lower of cost or market value » than to advancing fair value revolution. Further developing the theoretical distinction, two different bases for notion of asset are discussed, either as (economic) actualization of future cash inflows or as (accrual) capitalization of actual cash outflows. As consequence, accrual accounting is contrasted both with fair value and actualization. Its informational content, indeed, may be complementary to financial market valuations, especially if equity interest calculation is provided on accrual basis.