Need for disclosure regarding property valuations in financial reports according to IFRS

Purpose – The purpose of the article is to discuss how the demand for disclosure regarding property valuation in financial reports can be fulfilled. Design/methodology/approach – The starting point is the generally established methods for property valuation and the different types of data that they need. From this it is deduced what kind of information that it is necessary to supply. Findings – 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. Practical implications – 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 imply 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. Originality/value – The detailed discussion about what information that should be disclosed concerning property valuation is an original contribution of the paper.