Handbook

This course seeks to understand the intangible resources of a business from a management, accounting, and audit perspective. The gap between the market value of firms and the capitalisation of assets in the balance sheet highlights the value that investors are prepared to attribute to the "intangible resources" of many organisations (such as financial service, consulting, software development and e-commerce companies). The value generating potential of such organisations is often attributed to intangible resources, and competencies in managing such resources. 

The traditional accounting system is often however both unable and unwilling to represent in explicit financial terms the value of intangible resources. Based on the premise that long term value creation is best achieved by leveraging from intangible resources, this course aims to identify what these intangible resources are and to examine their role in achieving a competitive advantage.  

The course explores performance measurement frameworks that seek to credibly represent intangible resources. For example, the Balanced Scorecard and other methodologies that seek to meaningfully measure and evaluate intangibles. The intangible resources captured within such frameworks and how they are meaningfully measured is examined.