Value Rating Model for Intangible Assets in Civil Engineering Consulting Firms in Korea

Abstract

The enterprise value of a company is the book value of equity plus undisclosed value, often referred to as the "premium to book value." A firm's book value comprises its equity and liabilities as stated on a balance sheet. A number of schemes for the classification of intangibles have been developed to identify a firm's overall intangible assets, which comprise disclosed intangible assets on a balance sheet and undisclosed value. The civil engineering consulting industry is a representative knowledge-based industry that features a large proportion of intangible assets among total company assets. No comprehensive classification scheme or evaluation method for overall intangible assets has yet been developed for Korean civil engineering consulting firms. To fill this gap, we develop a multifaceted value rating model of intangible assets with appropriate metric scales and indicators, which closely mirrors the metric scales used by Standard & Poor's and other reputable credit rating services. This study evaluates the intangible assets of Korean civil engineering consulting firms using the value rating model.