The International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) and The Appraisal Foundation (TAF) recently released “A Bridge From USPAP to IVS,” which connects the two sets of standards to help make appraisals compliant with both the IVSC's International Valuation Standards (IVSs) and TAF's Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).

A statement on the website of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says that the bridge document “marks a major and crucial step towards establishing a set of globally accepted ethical and professional standards” for valuation. “The increasing flow of international capital and investment makes valuation standards even more critical,” says Ben Elder, global valuation director for RICS. “As an international professional body focused on property standards, RICS has supported the harmonization of USPAP and IVS to drive investor confidence in the valuation profession. It’s our responsibility to ensure that the market has confidence in the profession and adopts international standards to provide the public with assurance of transparency and consistency.”