<i>Book Review</i>: Understanding Standards of Value In Depth

Standards of Value leaves valuation approaches and techniques to the well-recognized treatises that have come before it, including several by the authors themselves, such as Valuing a Business and the PPC Guide to Business Valuation. After an exhaustive discussion of the definitional aspects of both fair value and fair market value, the book moves forward with a detailed discussion on the origins of fair market and fair value reaching back to the early 1800s and progressing to the current accepted definitions for each of the standards discussed within the book.

Separate chapters focus on standards of value concepts related to:

• Common Standards and Premises of Value;
• Fair Market Value in Estate and Gift Tax;
• Fair Value in Shareholder Dissent and Oppression;
• Standard of Value in Divorce; and
• Fair Value in Financial Reporting

Using as its two fundamental premises 'Value to the Holder' and 'Value in Exchange,' the book provides a scaffold for incisively discussing the attributes and nuances of the full spectrum of standard measures. The book goes on to provide an in-depth analysis of each of the five recognized standards: fair market value, investment value, intrinsic value, fair value as applied to state actions and fair value for financial reporting purposes.