
The key issue, at the centre of the crisis of confidence that has driven the world’s financial slowdown, is clearly the present value of assets. Many of these assets are a mix of tangible and intangible component. For example, the value of a thirty year old business is its current and fixed assets plus its inventory less its liabilities, plus the intangible goodwill from customers that has accumulated over many years. Because of the goodwill and many other elusive values, which form significant parts of a balance sheet, an association of accounting and auditing professionals with worldwide recognition, set standards for valuating such assets.
Standard Accounting Practices are a set of rules which were developed and are constantly reviewed to ensure that comparisons can be made and understood. Regulators, such as tax collectors and securities and exchange commissions, are guided by these rules. Noting that the same highly trained and experienced accounting professional that is charged to set and enforce the rules also serve clients, whose objectives are to make profits even if it means breaking the rules, hence, the complexity to hide an asset’s true value.