The word ‘asset’ was originally taken into the English language, from the Latin ‘ad satis’ and French ‘asez’, as a term used at law meaning sufficient estate or effects to discharge debts. It later came to be used in the sense of property available for the payment of debts. Assets were understood to be property (objects owned and rights of ownership) that could be exchanged for cash. The importance of factual knowledge of the money equivalents of property and debts, in managing mercantile affairs, was emphasised in accounting manuals during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The rights of investors and creditors to factual up-to-date information about the financial state of affairs of companies, given the advent of limited liability, underscored the early company legislation that required the preparation and auditing of statements of property and debts. During the latter part of the nineteenth century the emphasis in accounting moved away from assets as exchangeable property to assets as deferred costs. Expectations took the place of observables. The abstract (expectational) notion of assets as ‘future economic benefits’ was embraced by accountants in the absence of rigorous definitions of the elements and functions of dated statements of financial position and performance. Assets are quantified financially by a heterogeneous mass of potentially inconsistent rules that, by and large, have no regard for the empirical nature of measurement. Consequently, accountants have failed to provide the community with up-to-date factual information about the financial state of affairs and performance of business entities - and, hence, with an informative basis for financial action.

This thesis is concerned with accounting for the brand management function. Two distinct perspectives are taken: the first derives from aspects of organisational and behavioural accounting research, and the second concerns organisational implications of brand valuation. Both perspectives were initially approached by means of exploratory interviews and a literature review. Hypotheses pertaining to the first perspective were analysed via survey data collected in nine strongly-branded, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies. Propositions concerned with the implications of brand valuation were developed and used as the basis for measuring attitudes to brand valuation. A questionnaire concerned with brand valuation attitudes was administered to senior-ranking officials in strongly-branded, FMCG companies. The final methodological phase, for both perspectives, involved a case study conducted in a strongly-branded, FMCG company. Significant findings arising from this study include: 1) Managers who see their company as being short-termist, hold more positive attitudes to brand valuation. 2) Marketing-orientated managers are more favourably disposed to brand valuation than accounting-orientated managers. 3) Organisational benefits arising from brand valuation are more strategically, than operationally, orientated. 4) Brand manager budget participation is significantly negatively-related to job-related tension, and positivelyrelated to trust in superior and attitude to reliance on accounting performance measures. 5) Budget participation is more effective in reducing jobrelated tension in situations of high, compared to low, task uncertainty situations. 6) Reliance on a brand manager's accounting performance is positively related to brand manager performance and motivation, and negatively associated with job-related tension.

This thesis is concerned with accounting for the brand management function. Two distinct perspectives are taken: the first derives from aspects of organisational and behavioural accounting research, and the second concerns organisational implications of brand valuation. Both perspectives were initially approached by means of exploratory interviews and a literature review. Hypotheses pertaining to the first perspective were analysed via survey data collected in nine strongly-branded, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies. Propositions concerned with the implications of brand valuation were developed and used as the basis for measuring attitudes to brand valuation. A questionnaire concerned with brand valuation attitudes was administered to senior-ranking officials in strongly-branded, FMCG companies. The final methodological phase, for both perspectives, involved a case study conducted in a strongly-branded, FMCG company. Significant findings arising from this study include: 1) Managers who see their company as being short-termist, hold more positive attitudes to brand valuation. 2) Marketing-orientated managers are more favourably disposed to brand valuation than accounting-orientated managers. 3) Organisational benefits arising from brand valuation are more strategically, than operationally, orientated. 4) Brand manager budget participation is significantly negatively-related to job-related tension, and positivelyrelated to trust in superior and attitude to reliance on accounting performance measures. 5) Budget participation is more effective in reducing jobrelated tension in situations of high, compared to low, task uncertainty situations. 6) Reliance on a brand manager's accounting performance is positively related to brand manager performance and motivation, and negatively associated with job-related tension.

La gestion du patrimoine est un concept récemment adopté par le secteur public qui consiste d'une manière générale à prendre les décisions, jugées optimales, concernant l'acquisition, la maintenance, le fonctionnement et la disposition des immobilisations. Pour pouvoir prendre ces décisions, plusieurs outils peuvent être retrouvés à l'exemple de la comptabilité des immobilisations. Ces outils forment le système de gestion du patrimoine ou la chaîne de gestion patrimoniale. C'est ce qui est affirmé dans la littérature. Notre étude est accès sur la manière dont ces décisions se prennent au niveau de deux communes malgaches : la commune suburbaine d'Ambohimanga Rova et la commune rurale de Mahabo. L'analyse de plusieurs décisions patrimoniales a permis de déduire par la suite la place potentielle des outils qui ne s'arrête pas seulement à l'aide à la décision mais peuvent constituer également des éléments de légitimation des décisions politiques. / The public asset management which recently adopted by public sector, consists in making decision, considered as optimal, about the acquisition, the maintenance, the operating and the disposition of fixed assets. To make those decisions, several management tools can be found like the fixed assets accounting. Those tools constitute the asset management system. It is what is marked on the research about the asset management. Our study is about the way in which those decisions are made on the level of two malagasy's municipalities: the suburban municipality of Ambohimanga Rova and the rural municipality of Mahabo. The analysis of several decisions implies the potential roles of those tools which does not stop only with the decision-making process but can also constitute elements of legitimation of political decisions.

Värderingsproblematik för materiella anläggningstillgångar har identifierats av författare och företag vilka har belyst avsaknaden av bättre värderingsmöjligheter då vi idag främst använder oss av värdering till anskaffningsvärde som. Problematiken grundar sig i att redovisningen inte helt avspeglar värdet för företags materiella anläggningstillgångar vilket gör att jämförbarheten och trovärdigheten kan ifrågasättas. Syftet med studien är att undersöka olika tillämpningar av värderingsmodeller som finns samt belysa varför företag väljer en viss värderingsmodell. Metodiskt kommer den genomföras som en fallstudie. Detta då uppsatsen bygger på ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt för styrkandet av studiens verklighetsförankring. Studien innefattar ett huvudobjekt som fungerar som vetenskapligt fält, Mölndals industriprodukter AB där mer djupgående granskning skett samt kontinuerlig kontakt etablerats. Erhållna resultat som fältarbetet genererat kommer jämföras mot tre ytligt granskade företag vilka kommer fungera som reflektion av övriga marknaden för analys och vidare resonemang. Efter att teoretiska studier genomförts har det empiriska materialet analyserats.Erhållna resultat har påvisat att problematiken med att värdera ett företags materiella anläggningstillgångar delvis bygger på otillräckliga standarder och principer. Vilket gör att det krävs vidare utveckling av värderingsverktygen för att hantera vår alltmer komplexa verklighet. Detta då vi i vår värdering i vissa lägen blir alltför ålderdomliga medan de nya metoderna i vissa lägen visat sig alltför osäkra och opålitliga. / Program: Civilekonomprogrammet