Accounting for property in the UK: The legal and professional framework

Abstract

The paper proposes to outline the rules, regulations and generally accepted accounting principles that must be followed when recognising and valuing property in UK financial statements. Its aim is to give the professional surveyor or corporate real estate adviser a clear understanding of the underlying principles involved and also the rules and conventions that must be followed. A plethora of new regulations has led to a range of new practices that must be understood by those advising upon corporate property matters. Not least of the reasons are the direct effects property matters now have upon balance sheets and profit and loss accounts. The aim of this paper is to offer corporate real estate managers an overview of the accounting framework in which they must offer advice to businesses. Traditionally, non‐property companies have tended to relegate property matters to advisers, who found themselves excluded from the key strategic decision‐making processes of the company, despite the large amounts of capit...