The incorporation of data resources into the structure of corporate assets puts in question the financial accounting frame. In contrast to the empirical studies, this normative paper re-builds the logic of the measurement for the data asset from the point of view of the balance sheet (IAS 36) and income statement (IFRS 15). We show that the non-rivalrous, iterative nature of the data, voids the traditional discounted cash flow (DCF) model for the test of the impairment. At the same time the continuous service contract for the data creates a insurmountable ambiguity for the performance obligation and the transfer of control. The theoretical deduction of this study is grounded in the information asymmetry and not in the traditional utility functions. This shows how the elasity of the regulation is increasing the space of the professional judgment of the management which allows the opportunistic earnings management. This manipulation directly drives the inflation of the absolute discretionary accruals (|DA|). In this framework |DA| is used exclusively as the definitive dependent variable representing the quality of the accounting information, that captures the financial distortion in a different way from the independent variable of the disclosure of the data asset.