Corporate valuation: approaches and methods to use

Company characteristics, information base and estimation purposes

It is not objectively possible to determine only a unique measure as "fair" value of a firm because each value is always and in any case the result of an estimate and - therefore - of an approximation.

This principle is contained in the Italian Principle of Evaluation (Piv) I.1.1 and consider a concept taken up several times by the various manuals on valuation, also at an international level.

This means that valuing a firm requires an effort, an appreciation of the valuer to understand the future benefits and utilities that a firm will be able to guarantee to those who own it.

However, the valuation effort required of a valuer is subject to a range of criticals and many factors of uncertainty. Think the approaches and methods elaborated over the years by the doctrine. Think the degree of subjectivity of the choices made by the evaluator, which lead to different estimates for the same company if drafted by different valuers. Think the global economy in which firms have to operate, characterized by volatile conditions.

This means that the valuer must operate trying to orient himself in order to calculate the final result. Therefore, there will be three elements that will guide the choice of approaches and methods:

• the characteristic...