This book presents the main valuation approaches that can be used to value financial institutions. By sketching 1) the different business models of banks (both commercial and investment banks) and insurance companies (life, property and casualty and reinsurance); 2) the structure and peculiarities of financial institutions’ reporting and financial statements; and 3) the main features of regulatory capital frameworks for banking and insurance (ie Basel III, Solvency II), the book addresses why such elements make the valuation of financial institutions different from the valuation of non-financial companies. The book then features the valuation models that can be used to determine the value of banks and insurance companies including the Discounted Cash Flow, Dividend Discount Model, and Residual Income Model (with the appropriate estimation techniques for the cost of capital and cash flow in financial industries). The main techniques to perform the relative valuation of financial institutions are then presented: along the traditional multiples (P/E, P/BV, P/TBV, P/NAV), the multiples based on industry-specific value drivers are discussed (for example, P/Pre Provision Profit, P/Deposits, P/Premiums, P/Number of branches). Further valuation tools such as the “Value Maps” or the “Warranted Equity Method” will be explained and discussed. The closing section of the book will briefly focus on the valuation of specific financial companies/vehicles such as closed-end funds, private equity funds, leasing companies, etc.

The concept of "fair value" marked a major departure from traditional cost accounting. In theory, under this approach a balance sheet that better reflects the current value of assets and liabilities. Critics of fair value argue that it is less useful over longer time frames and prone to distortion by market inefficiencies resulting in procyclicality in the financial system by exacerbating market swings. Comprising contributions from a unique mixture of academics, standard setters and practitioners, and edited by internationally recognized experts, this book, on a controversial and intensely debated topic, is a comprehensive reference source which: examines the use of fair value in international financial reporting standards and the US standard SFAS 157 Fair Value Measurement, setting out the case for and against looks at fair value from a number of different theoretical and practical perspectives, including a critical review of the merits and arguments against the use of fair value accounting explores fair value accounting in practice, involvement in the Great Financial Crisis, implications for managerial reporting discretion, compensation and investment This volume is an indispensable reference that is deserving of a place on the bookshelves of both libraries and all those working in, studying, or researching the areas of international accounting, financial accounting and reporting.