From Mr Anthony Rayman.

Sir, Anson J. Glacy (Letters, August 12) repeats the conventional academic wisdom by denying the possibility that an increase in the value of an asset can make its owner "worse off". The fundamental flaw in this argument is exposed in the book Accounting Standards: True or False? Although a bigger value is better than a smaller value at any moment, it is a fallacy to assume that an increase in value over a period necessarily represents a gain.