RICS standards framework tasks professionals on integrity, responsibility

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) framework on professional and ethical standards have tasked members of the institute on acting with integrity, providing high standard of service; acting in a way that promotes the profession, treating others with respect, and   taking responsibility.

The framework was published by the institute to assist its members in their observance of RICS rules as they are bound to the institute’s Rules of Conduct.

“RICS recognizes the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) as the setter of International Valuation Standards (IVS), which comprise internationally accepted high level valuation principles and definitions”, said Jimmy Omotosho, Portfolio Executive, Broll Nigeria, at a training forum for the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Lagos State Branch.

Omotosho, who presented a paper on ‘Valuation Reporting Standards in Compliance with IFRS and IVSC’ at the forum, noted that RICS professional standards (PS), valuation practice statements (VPS), and valuation practice guidance-applications (VPGA) required members to adopt and comply with the IVS, and set out specific requirements for, together with additional guidance on, their practical implementation.

International Valuation Standards (IVS) requires valuations that are conducted for inclusion in a financial statement to be provided to meet the requirements of Financial Reporting Standards while IVS says valuations for accounting purposes should include measurement of the value of an asset or liability for inclusion on the statement of financial position.

This should also include allocation of the purchase price of an acquired business, impaired testing, lease classification and valuation inputs to the calculation of depreciation charges in profit and loss account even as the variations must conform with the financial reporting standards that are applicable by the Financial Reporting Standards (FRS).

Omotosho hinted that these variations must conform with the financial reporting standards that were applicable by the FRS, adding that FRS were the recognized or adopted reporting standards for the preparation of periodic statements of an entity’s financial position while International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) were adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

He told his audience was not only useful but also important for as surveyors and valuers, explaining that valuations were widely used and relied upon in financial and other markets, whether for inclusion in financial statements, for regulatory compliance or to support secured lending and transactional activity.

“The International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) is an independent, not-for-profit, private sector organization that has a remit to serve the public interest”, he said, pointing out that the council’s objective was to build confidence and public trust in the valuation process by creating a framework for the delivery of credible valuation opinions by suitably trained valuation professionals acting in an ethical manner.

According to him, the International Valuation Standards (IVSs) contain procedures for undertaking valuation assignments using generally recognized concepts and principles, with supporting guidance to assist the consistent application of those principles, adding that the council also promotes standards for the conduct and competency of professional valuers.