Valuation of Intangible Assets: The Value of Voluntary Certifications

Abstract

Among the intangible assets acquired by companies, voluntary certifications have gained increasing importance. The most notable of these is the certification of quality management systems, but demands by citizens and social groups have brought about the introduction of other voluntary certifications in diverse areas such as the environment or corporate social responsibility. In this paper, we present a tool to facilitate their valuation. The methodology proposed is based on discounted cash flows in fuzzy environments. However, given its voluntary nature, one of the features of certification is that every organisation can choose to discontinue if they wish to do so. This option to discontinue certification will be valued using fuzzy real options. In order to calibrate the real possibility of a company opting to discontinue, expert opinion will be included and aggregated by using Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA). Finally, the proposed valuation model will be applied to a case study.