Need for Disclosure Regarding Property Valuations in Financial Reports According to IFRS

Applying a historical cost accounting (HCA) concept in property companies led on many occasions to a situation where everyone knew that the figures in balance sheets and income statements were wrong from a market perspective, but the analysts knew how the figures had arisen. Applying a fair value accounting (FVA) concept has led to a situation, on many occasions, where almost everyone believes that the figures in balance sheets and income statements accurately and fairly reflect reality, whereas few have sufficient knowledge how these figures have arisen. Appraisal of property is a complex issue. An important conclusion from the research reported in this paper is that disclosure regarding applied methods, significant assumptions in property valuations and statements about the connections between appraised values and market evidence needs refinement in financial reports, according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). As the uncertainty in property valuations cannot be removed, it has to be managed. Providing explicit disclosure about valuations is one important way to manage this issue by reducing the gap of information asymmetry between those who perform valuations and those who are users of financial statements. Providing high quality disclosure on these issues would make analysis and the application of individual judgement by users of financial reports far easier. Findings reported in this paper implies that many companies have not so far found the right balance between cost and benefits regarding what amount of disclosure would be appropriate on this issue in financial reports.