Nicholas Talbot
Strengthening Valuation Quality in Financial Reporting: A Global Call to Action
The IVSC is working closely with global regulators to strengthen valuation quality, consistency, and transparency in financial reporting. Building on the 2022 Statement of Cooperation between the IVSC and IOSCO, this collaboration has deepened over the past year, culminating in a high-level roundtable chaired by Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, IVSC Board of Trustees Chair, and Jean-Paul Servais, Chair of IOSCO. The discussion brought together leaders from the IFRS Foundation, IAASB, IESBA, IFIAR, major investor groups and global valuation providers to examine how valuation can be further strengthened in support of high-quality financial reporting.
In this article, Nick Talbot reflects on the progress achieved so far, the significance of IOSCO’s recent statement on valuation in financial reporting, and the compelling call to action it represents for the global valuation profession. He also outlines the IVSC’s next steps, including the creation of a new Financial Reporting Project Group and dedicated advisory groups that will help shape future enhancements to the International Valuation Standards and support greater alignment across the financial reporting ecosystem.
The role of valuation in financial reporting is undisputed. Valuations underpin some of the most critical aspects of financial statements, from fair value measurement and impairment testing to the recognition of assets and liabilities. Importantly, the significance of valuation quality is becoming more visible not only to valuation professionals but also to those who prepare, review, audit, regulate and rely on financial statements around the world.
Earlier this month, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) — the global body that brings together the world’s securities regulators — issued a significant statement highlighting the importance of high-quality valuation information in financial reporting. IOSCO’s message is clear: the integrity of financial markets depends, in part, on the rigour and consistency of the valuations that inform financial statements.
The IVSC has been in close dialogue with IOSCO over many years, and this collaboration has become increasingly focused since the signing of a formal Statement of Cooperation in 2022. Through this partnership, both organisations have sought to strengthen the governance, transparency, and public interest foundations of valuation standard setting. The initiative brings together prominent leaders from across the stakeholder community—including regulators, investors, auditors, valuation professionals, academics, and accounting standard setters—to address one of the most important areas of financial reporting today: the quality and consistency of valuations.
”IVSC is establishing a dedicated Financial Reporting Project Group to provide enhanced guidance for valuations that directly inform financial statements.
IOSCO’s latest statement recognises that improving coordination and application of the International Valuation Standards (IVS), alongside closer alignment with IFRS Accounting Standards, could enhance the efficiency, comparability, and reliability of financial statements globally. For the valuation profession, and indeed for the broader financial ecosystem, this represents a significant and encouraging step forward linked to standards used in over 130 jurisdictions.
It is immensely positive to see IOSCO shine a spotlight on the importance of valuation quality. This reinforces what the IVSC has been advocating for since its inception: that internationally consistent, principles-based standards are fundamental to ensuring that valuations are credible, comparable, and serve the public interest.
However, while this statement is an important milestone, the real test lies in how we act on IOSCO’s statement about improving coordination and application of IVS and IFRS Accounting Standards. We have had a strong relationship with the IFRS Foundation for many years, most recently exchanging views on important topics such as goodwill amortisation and intangible assets valuation. The challenge now is to take this momentum and, through collaboration, translate it into tangible outcomes. That means developing stronger connections between valuation and financial reporting standards and ensuring that practical guidance is in place to support valuers, auditors, and preparers in achieving the highest levels of quality.
A Step Change for Valuation
The IOSCO statement comes at a time when valuation is playing an increasingly visible and influential role across the financial and economic landscape. As private markets continue to grow and attract a broader range of investors, robust valuation standards and strong professional practices are essential to ensuring consistency, comparability, and confidence — particularly in less transparent environments. At the same time, as economies shift toward knowledge-based and innovation-driven models, valuation plays a vital role in identifying and understanding the value of intangible assets such as intellectual property, technology, data, and brand. Valuation is also evolving beyond its traditional technical function to become a strategic consideration in the boardroom — informing capital allocation, investment, and long-term value creation.
Together, these dynamics reinforce why high-quality valuation standards, the information underpinning valuations, and valuation professionalism matter — not only to support financial reporting and investment decisions, but also to sustain trust, transparency, and informed decision-making across markets and economies.
”Internationally consistent, principles-based valuation standards are fundamental to credible and comparable financial reporting.
Collaborating Across the Global Standard-Setting Community
In September 2025, the IVSC and IOSCO co-hosted a high-level valuation roundtable, jointly chaired by Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Chair of the IVSC Board of Trustees, and Mr Jean-Paul Servais, Chair of IOSCO. The session brought together the Chairs of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) and the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR), alongside leaders of major investor groups, valuation providers, auditors, academics and valuation professional organisations.
The message from that discussion was clear: valuation quality and consistency are fundamental to market confidence, and progress in this area requires genuine global collaboration. The roundtable also reinforced that this is not an issue that can be left to evolve organically — it demands coordinated action across the valuation, accounting, and audit communities.
As Tom Seidenstein, Chair of the IAASB, noted:
“Financial statements increasingly depend on valuations, and inconsistent approaches pose significant challenges for auditors as well as stakeholders. Valuations based upon a common platform of high-quality global standards, developed in close connection with global market regulators, should aid auditors in performing their engagements and ultimately improve trust in reported information.”
A New IVSC Initiative for Financial Reporting Valuations
To help translate this momentum into practical action, the IVSC will shortly establish a Financial Reporting Project Group, involving representatives from our standards boards and global leaders in valuation and financial reporting. The group will create a dedicated section within IVS for valuations undertaken for financial reporting purposes. This new section will not replace or alter IVS for other valuation purposes but will provide enhanced guidance and clarity for valuations that directly inform financial statements.
Valuation leaders, audit leaders, investor leaders and financial statement preparers already engaged as IVSC members will be given the opportunity to participate in advisory groupings, ensuring they remain up to date and able to contribute to this important initiative. To register to participate in one of these advisory groups (valuation, audit or investor), interested IVSC members and sponsors should complete the expression-of-interest form by clicking on the link below this article.
It is anticipated that this new section of IVS will help inform valuers, financial statement preparers, audit committees, auditors and regulators about the quality and consistency of valuations, with the aim of providing better information to Investors.
As Mary E. Barth, IVSC Trustee and former member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) observes, when valuers apply IVS they contribute directly to the quality and integrity of financial reporting, worldwide:
”High-quality financial reporting relies on high-quality valuations. International Valuation Standards provide a globally consistent framework that helps valuers produce fair value measurements that reflect the qualitative characteristics of decision-useful financial information — relevance, faithful representation, and comparability — as identified in the IFRS Conceptual Framework. Strengthening alignment between IVS and IFRS enhances confidence in reported amounts and supports the credibility and integrity of financial statements worldwide.
Professor Mary Barth
The Financial Reporting Project Group will continue to engage closely with IOSCO, the IFRS Foundation (including the IASB), IFIAR, IESBA and the IAASB, as well as with leaders from valuation, audit, and investor communities. It will focus on addressing the issues highlighted in IOSCO’s statement — including data quality, professional competence, documentation, and transparency — while reinforcing the principles of independence and professional judgement that are fundamental to IVS.
As Susan DuRoss, Chair of the IVSC Standards Review Board explains, this work is aimed at evolving the IVS in line with global financial reporting needs:
“High-quality valuation information is central to credible financial reporting. The Financial Reporting Project Group will help ensure that IVS continues to evolve in step with global financial reporting needs and supports valuers, preparers, and auditors in producing information that can be trusted by investors.”
The project group’s work will also be guided by ongoing engagement with valuation users — those who rely most directly on the outputs of this process.
”Advisory groups will bring together leaders from valuation, audit and investor communities to strengthen guidance for financial reporting valuations.
A need for consistent quality professionalism
Significantly, IOSCO has also called for better quality and consistency of the valuation profession, with an equivalent model to IFAC (in place for the audit profession) to address valuation professionalism globally in a similar way. IVSC has previously issued Professional Membership Obligations defining areas such as ethical requirements, continued education as well as the competencies which need to be demonstrated for a valuer to be considered qualified.
We call on all VPOs to make sure they are meeting these, and for countries with nascent professions to build a trusted valuation profession to give confidence to investors. The quality of the valuation profession in each country is fundamental to implementing IVS, and essential to the financial system.
This emphasis on professionalism, ethics and independent valuations is echoed widely across the international standard-setting community – something International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) Chair, Gabriela Figueiredo Dias points out:
“The IOSCO statement is an important step forward in strengthening both the connectivity between IVS and accounting standards such as IFRS, and the call for consistent global ethics and professionalism in valuation. For auditors, their valuation experts, and valuers providing valuations supporting financial statements, ethics remains a fundamental pillar and a foundation of market trust.”
Looking Ahead
The IOSCO statement, and its collaboration with the IVSC serves as a reminder that valuation quality is not a technical niche — it is a public interest imperative. Reliable valuations underpin trust in financial statements, inform investment decisions, and ultimately contribute to market stability.
The IVSC remains committed to working collaboratively with IOSCO, IFIAR and other international standard setters to ensure that valuation continues to serve this purpose: as a cornerstone of transparency, professionalism, and confidence in financial reporting and the global financial system.