Valuing human and social capital

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 2,3, European Business School - International University Schloß Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, course: Seminar Finance & Banking, language: English, abstract: Industries and countries experience a shift from manufacturing to service and techno logy based systems. Intangible assets like human and social capital become relatively important drivers of value. Furthermore, new accounting standards create a need for a standardized valuation of intangibles. The raise of hidden values develops into an important issue especially in business combinations. Financial statements provide very few information about human or social capital, but shareholders and stakeholders become more interested in these information. When a company acquires another, a single price is paid for a bundle of assets. The price reflects the firm value as a whole at a specific date, but the particular values of the individual assets are seldom transparent. Furthermore, intangibles receive 50% to 70% of an average firm's annual investments, but the possible achievements are not shown in the balance sheet. Thought, it is crucial to company success. This paper will analyze different methods for valuing human and social capital. Different approaches will be described and the suitability for valuation will be evaluated. The focus will be on a company's human and social capital, because the value of personnel human and social will not contribute to the problem solving.