When the fair-value standard took effect in the first quarter, "fair" wasn't a word on the lips of most finance executives. Flummoxed by FAS 157′s complexity and vagaries and with little in the way of automated tools to guide them, many muddled through using time-consuming and error-prone manual processes.

The main quandary was that while a consensus had been reached on when to include nonperformance risk, no clear guidance was offered on how to determine nonperformance risk. Enter Reval. The Web-based derivative solution provider's 157 Solution was greeted with enthusiasm by many companies as the answer to that problem. The tool automates manual processes around credit adjusting derivative valuations and categorizes those valuations into hierarchies.

Reval clients can now calculate credit adjustments to their derivative portfolios using either credit default swap spreads or bond-equivalent spreads over Libor, while also including these 'credit-adjusted' valuations in their FAS 133 assessment and measurement of ineffectiveness. The credit adjustment must be applied to any derivative fair value, not just interest rate swaps, but also FX and commodity derivatives.