Market value and depreciated replacement cost: contradictory or complementary?

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PurposeIn January 2005, the International Valuation Standards Committee (IVSC) published the International Valuation Guidance Note No. 8 entitled The Cost Approach for Financial Reporting – (DRC). This guidance note provides background to the use of depreciated replacement cost (DRC) in connection with International Valuation Application 1 (IVA 1), Valuation for Financial Reporting and suggests that the valuer reports the result of a DRC valuation as market value subject to the test of adequate profitability or service potential. This suggestion has caused a lot of debate and consternation in the UK where the DRC approach has always been considered as a method of last resort and not a market valuation. However, in continental Europe the cost approach (DRC) is often the principal method of valuation and has always been considered to produce market value. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of this change to valuation practice in the UK.Methodology/design/approachIn this paper, we discuss the concept of market value and its relationship to DRC in an attempt to identify the principal areas of concern in the UK and, through the use of an Italian case study, show how the DRC approach can be adopted as an appropriate method (not basis) for calculating Market Value.FindingsIt is probable that most valuers will still provide the DRC valuation using exactly the same calculation as they did before. They are likely to provide the same (relative to the valuation date) figure; the difference is that they will feel less easy about the robustness of that figureOriginality/valueIt is argued that the UK market has, for too long, hidden behind DRC being a basis of value that UK valuers now feel uncomfortable in reporting DRC as market value. They are uncertain with the valuation figure. However, this uncertainty can be addressed in other ways and a suggested “solution” to help the valuer overcome their discomfort with the market valuation is proffered.