Brand Finance became the first brand valuation consultancy to join the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC). David Haigh, the firm’s CEO, notes in an IVSC interview that, ‘when Sir David Tweedie valued the Smirnoff brand in 1987, and other brands were put on balance sheets for the first time in the late 1980s, it caused an uproar … many claiming it was creative accounting.’ Many local GAAP and international financial reporting standards have changed as a result, including IFRS 3 (business combinations), IAS 38 (intangible assets), and IAS 36 (impairment reviews), Haigh comments. ISO 10668, the international standard in monetary brand valuation that was published in 2010, is being supplemented by ISO 20671 (available here as of last month). ‘All of these are professionalising the industry, and we at Brand Finance feel it is important for anyone involved in this area to support these initiatives for the benefit of all businesses as well as the valuation profession.’