A process of harmonisation of companies' financial reports has arisen as a consequence of the internationalisation of the economy, which has implications for the methodology and concepts of value used in the valuation of companies' real estate assets. This process has been highlighted by the recent process of stock market associations, like those from Lisbon, Paris and Milan or, more recently, London and Frankfurt. With the Fourth and Seventh Company Law Directive, EC78/660 and EC83/349, the EU made a first attempt to standardise company accounting and presentation of financial reports, but some exceptions were made, allowing countries to continue using their traditional system of accounting of certain items, one of these being property assets. Since then, in an attempt to create standards, a myriad of institutions, such as the EU Commission, governmental bodies and national and international professional bodies, have developed new rules concerning the presentation of companies' financial reports, including rules on the methodology and concepts of value used in the valuation of corporate assets. As a consequence of this dispersion it is possible to have conflicting rules and it is necessary to be careful and explicit about the precise basis of accounting and valuation. The present research programme aims to analyse the diversity of accountancy standards, lending practice and stock exchange rules across Europe in order to create a model relating investors' confidence to the different methodologies and concepts of value used in the valuation of corporate assets. The study will then proceed to analyse the consequences of the process of corporate asset valuations of Portuguese companies for their access to capital markets.

This item is no longer available.