Comparison of different methods for the valuation of forest-assets.

摘要

Currently there are more and more German public forest enterprises (state and municipal) that are beginning to value their forest assets (soils and stands) for the balance sheet. This development is above all triggered by the ongoing introduction of the double-entry-bookkeeping by the state and municipal forest enterprises, which until now was not usual. Until recently however, due to German federalism, no common conventions on the best valuation method exist and therefore the applied valuation-methods differ significantly. The consequence is that valuation results are not comparable and - which is probably more derogatory - the meaning of the results are very different. For this reason an investigation was carried out to compare the following different valuation-methods, which are applied in Germany: (1) the Net-Asset-Value-Method (NAVM), which values the stands by the contribution margins of the existing timber stocks; (2) the Age-Related-Value-Method, based on BLUME'S formula; and (3) the Company-Net-Present-Value, calculated with the company's net return. The different valuation variants had been performed using the silvicultural and financial data of an existing municipal forest. As the theoretical bases of the tested methods are quite different it is not surprising that also the results vary within a wide range. Thus this investigation confirms the urgent need for an agreement on the objectives and the methodological conditions for the valuation of forest assets if comparable results are to be desired.