The conference next Tuesday at the annual MIPIM 2013 conference in Canes, France, will examine how international standards in valuation, property measurement and ethics could support international financial reporting standards in achieving greater global financial stability.
The keynote address will be given by Jan Engström, a board member of the IFRS Foundation and a panel of leading international property sector organisation heads will debate how the sector can work together to improve transparency and accuracy, and boost investor confidence, through agreed, high-level standards.
RICS believes the growth of vibrant and sustainable property markets around the world is hindered by imperfections in the quality and transparency of information. A critical ingredient for success is the ability to compare opportunities on a like for like basis, relying on transparent, high quality data, backed by independent professional analysis.
Accurate financial reports rely on accurate asset valuations, which in turn require uniform property measurement principles to be observed. All of this needs to be underpinned by high level ethical standards observed by the professionals who carry out these tasks.
But it points out that there is no single set of international standards for property measurement or ethical conduct in the sector; and international valuation standards, which do exist, are not widely enough adopted.
The conference in Cannes takes place ahead of a meeting hosted by the World Bank in Washington D.C. in May 2013, where RICS will convene a coalition of the leaders of some of the most highly respected professional bodies from around the world to plan the route to international property measurement standards.
‘This is a groundbreaking initiative which has the potential to deliver huge benefits, both to real estate markets and to the economies and the populations they support around the world, by creating a level playing field for the way property is measured, valued and ultimately reported in financial statements,’ said Ken Creighton, RICS director of professional standards.
