ABSTRACT
What Abraham Maslow said for the scientists is also applicable to accountants. Accounting for tangible assets in valuing businesses has evolved over centuries. This antiquity gives it a mask of certainty. In the 1990s as the market value of companies surpassed their tangible asset value on a sustained basis, the focus of accountants, investors, company management and academicians turned to examining this gap. In doing this, they started valuing intangible assets. Efforts in this direction are of less than four decades. Valuing intangible assets on an ongoing basis is yet to becom.e a routine activity. But when companies need to take major decisions for acquisition or merger and when taking investment decisions, the value of intangible assets do play an important role. This chapter traces the developments in valuing the major intangible assets: human resource, brand, customer base, and the process and structural capital in business.
