This document was developed by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership from the book Contabilidad simultánea. Valoración y control de los intangibles en la gestión integral (Simultaneous accounting. Intangible value assessment and control in integral management) written by Salvador Guasch, Head of the Institute of Intangibles and international expert on financial and nonfinancial accounting in collaboration with professor Antonio Márquez and Esteve Sitges and published by ACCID and Accounting Economists from the Consejo General de Economistas.

1. Until now, organizations have only focused on
the assets and resources that brought economic
growth. Nowadays, organizations also rely on
other assets which may lack a set value but which
contribute to the good running of the organization.
This integral and systematic approach is explained
in the book Contabilidad simultánea. Valoración
y control de los intangibles en la gestión integral
(Simultaneous accounting. Intangible value
assessment and control in integral management)
written by Salvador Guasch, Head of the Institute
of Intangibles and international expert on financial
and nonfinancial accounting in collaboration with
Professor Antonio Márquez and Esteve Sitges.
According to the authors, companies need to
manage their tangible and intangible values and
include them in their strategy. Moreover, they state
that a good value system is the one that maximises
the assets and resources, which provide economic
as well as human, social and environmental profits.
“Anything that contributes to the fulfilment of an
established objective will have a value within that
system and will be part of an specific value frame”.
Intangible values have a value of some sort; it
doesn’t need to be a price. These values may not
be physical, but they are perceptible: working
environment, innovation levels, knowledge and
management ability are some examples.
In this manual, Guasch presents his methodology
aiming to meet the demands to capture, quantify
and integrate intangible values along with tangible
ones in the same system, through a series of units
and value coefficients.
Financial accounting covers anything that has a monetary value. However, there
are some assets, which do no have an established countable value but an identity of
their own and can substantially influence the general economic outcome.
Strategy documents
L18/2015
Simultaneous Accounting:
Intangible Value Assessment
and Control in Integral
Management
Metrics
Book Summaries
This document was developed by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership from the book Contabilidad simultánea. Valoración
y control de los intangibles en la gestión integral (Simultaneous accounting. Intangible value assessment and control in integral management) writen by
Salvador Guasch, Head of the Institute of Intangibles and international expert on financial and nonfinancial accounting in collaboration with
professor Antonio Márquez and Esteve Sitges and published by ACCID and Accounting Economists from the Consejo General de Economistas.

2. Book Summaries 2
Simultaneous
accounting.
Intangible value
assessment and
control in integral
management
Self-generated and emerging values
In the authors’ words, intangibility must be
regarded as “A profound dimension shaped by
invisible things, which we might not be able to
quantify in currency units but which nonetheless
deserves a proper management, due to its strategic
importance in order to reach the objectives that
have been set”. When a company is well managed
and thanks to its good running, it self-generates
intangible values. Although these values cannot
be regarded as economic assets, they might be
considered as practical values, they have not been
financially capitalised, they are the result of the
right operative innovation, corporate knowledge,
management culture, consumer loyalty, staff
satisfaction, ethics and social responsibility.
Variables such as corporate reputation, working
environment or social responsibility must only
be registered on the accounting of estimated
intangibles.
A new business model
Many companies are reorienting their behaviour,
leadership and philosophy in order to define
their identity, purpose and their corporate values.
Over the last decades, focusing on objectives
and estimations wasn’t enough for management
strategies to successfully lead in the new business
environment. This is why, nowadays, a new way
of understanding and running companies is
emerging, a model based on values management and
also on the role that companies play as committed
social actors within the environments where they
operate and participate. . The goal of the values
management is for a company to lead according
to its defining principles and to the characteristics
that make it unique, so apart from maximizing
the benefits the company also creates a shared
appreciation of itself. This managing model tries
to quantify tangible and intangible assets in order
to study their mutual implications and synergies.
In short, the aim is to launch a Balance Scorecard
(balanced matrix in the authors’ words) to consider
all the possible value variables, which occur inside
a company.
Integral Accounting
Integral accounting is what value management
uses to monitor the right implementation of
intangible values. Thus, it needs to understand the
global and complex reality of internal and external
relationships in a company. According to Guasch,
this is the only way “to realise that we need to pay
attention to profits and power but also feelings,
people and environment. We cannot take anything
into consideration if we are not considerate. And
this is what integral accounting tries to do”.
Integral accounting has been labelled as the new
business conscience because it deals with other
relevant attributes beyond financial data or profits
maximization. This new approach to business aims
to introduce financial and nonfinancial indicators
in the general information system at all levels,
aiming to build/establish a long-term view when it
comes to decision-making processes.
Quantifying intangible assets
Introducing tools to monitor and manage the
values of a company, it is important to first
define which values and targets have to be kept
and strengthen. Integral goals are the ones
that stand for the systematic perception of the
company. Indeed, the objectives define the values
of a company. If a company aims to get global
simultaneous results (economic, social, human,
relations, environment…), an ambitious frame –
of intangible values focused on the most strategic
ones so that the business structure stays healthy,
productive and consistently functional- ought to
be designed.
Values can be classified and encoded within three
major groups (human, structural, relational)
quantified with unity values from 1 to 10 (1
being the lowest and 10 the highest/ excellence).
There are suggested matrixes to present and easily
compare and manage value units (v.u.). Finally,
monetary units (m.u.) are used to register financial
accounting.
Surveys are carried out in order to assess intangible
values as well as to gather information on how
the company sees itself and how others see the
company. Then, intangible values are quantified,
both provided and self generated, following the
value matrix, which includes:
• Code
• Value
• Definition of ‘value’, so that everybody taking
part in the survey has the same understanding.
• Value units (v. u) assigned to each value.
These matrixes compare simultaneously all the
different values in a company. But to obtain
the most of this process, each organization
has to establish sensibly which are the most
significant and relevant values that should be
assessed, controlled and managed, according to
the actual business context. The authors believe
that assessing intangible values following this
methodology provides a company with the
following advantages:
“Over the
last decades,
focusing on
objectives and
estimations
wasn’t enough
for management
strategies to
successfully
lead in the
new business
environment”

3. Book Summaries 3
Simultaneous
accounting.
Intangible value
assessment and
control in integral
management
“A new model
of doing
business has
emerged,
based on value
management”
Table 2: Basic matrix for Human Values
Table 3: Basic matrix for organizational values
Source: Contabilidad Simultánea, 2015.
Source: Contabilidad Simultánea, 2015.
HV HUMAN VALUES V. U.
1 Abilities
2 Attributes
3 Moral values
4 Skills
5 Behaviour towards the environment
6 Knowledge
7 Experience
8 Improvement results
OV ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES V. U.
1 Products and Services
2 Conventional-formal Organization
3 Systems and Methods
4 Processes
5 Technology
6 Logistic
7 Creativity and Innovation
8 Research
9 Internal Working Terms
10 Business Knowledge
11 Acquired Experience
12 Training
13 Corporate Culture
14 Integrality
15 Internationality
16 Competitiveness
17 Purpose
18 Sustainability
19 Spirituality
20 Harmony
21 Management
22 Good Governance
23 Organizational results
Table 1: Quantified estimation
Source: Contabilidad Simultánea, 2015.
UNITS INITIALS VALUE
Monetary m. u. Economic
Values v. u. Functional

4. Book Summaries 4
Simultaneous
accounting.
Intangible value
assessment and
control in integral
management
1. Establish value units, to be able to actually
quantify intangible values.
2. Decode value units into specific coefficients, in
order to grade or not economic outcomes.
3. Set more efficient assessment and management
methods, as all intangible values are codified.
4. Gather data through research and surveys
about how the company’s intangible values are
perceived by its environment.
5. Value matrixes allow designing surveys based on
the most significant priorities of a company.
6. Data in these matrixes is arranged into files and
columns to include all the variables needed for
integral management.
Intangible values
Guasch, who was the first Accounting professor
at ESADE, outlines in this book the different
intangible values in every organization. He classifies
them in three big groups: human, structural, and
relational.
Human values (HV)
The Human Structure (HS) of a company is formed
by all the assets which have been developed by
people during their personal and professional
growth, and which might bring a significant value
to the company. People have skills and abilities
that evolve and can provide the company with first
hand functional value. It is through people that
companies can create and innovate and, therefore,
evolve and improve their quality. Some of these
human values are: new ideas, creativity, personal
skills, process innovation, planning, mental maps
and diagrams, etc.
Table 4: Basic matrix for relational values
Source: Contabilidad Simultánea, 2015.
RV RELATIONAL VALUES V. U.
1 Investors
2 Employees
3 Customers
4 Consumers
5 Suppliers
6 Hired companies
7 Supply chain
8 Local community
9 Global community
10 Environment
11 Banks
12 Public administrations
13 Public finance
14 Management body
15 Unions
16 Organized consumers
17 Community associations
18 Media
19 Competition
20 Educational institutions
21 Vulnerable groups
22 Next generations
23 Relational results
“Integral
accounting
tries to
include
relevant
data that
goes beyond
financial assets
and economic
profit”

5. Book Summaries 5
Simultaneous
accounting.
Intangible value
assessment and
control in integral
management
It is important to take into consideration the values,
which employees bring to a company, as these
values play a role in the company’s formation and
development. The potential of adding value on a
regular basis might be an influential criterion when
it comes to internal recruitment processes.
Management skills are a good example of human
values. Managers are required to have a series of
features in order to lead efficiently and consciously,
both within the general system and within their
own field:
• Negotiate: being able to intercede in conflict
situations and to find solutions that are suitable
for all parts.
• Team Management: being able to manage a
group of people with different skills in order to
meet the set targets.
• Delegate: being able to hand over authority and
responsibilities to trained people in order to
accomplish specific objectives.
• Innovate: being able to do new things using
the available resources and the personal skill
potential as well as the skill potential of all the
team members.
• Lead: being able to inspire and motivate
everybody in an organization so that projects
are developed and implemented until they are
finished.
• Motivate: being able to instil a feeling of shared
purpose and also reasons to participate, which
will encourage others to reach the corporate
goals.
• Decide: being able to make the right decisions at
the right time.
• Team work: being able to work as a part of a
team.
• Perspective: being able to anticipate future
situations in order to react appropriately.
• Plan: being able to identify and define
beforehand which are the most suitable actions
according to the agreed programme.
Organizational values (OV)
The organizational infrastructure assembles all
the tangible and intangible assets that must fulfil
their role in the value chain. It depends mostly
on the organizational infrastructure if business
value is created or not. In fact, as it is portrayed in
“Contabilidad simultánea”, this is one of the most
decisive values and the less talked about. This value
allows creating value from other assets.
A quantified assessment on organizational structure
allows managing all the physical, technological and
human elements, which combined in a harmonious
way make the organization development possible.
This structure can be found in managing
programmes, databases, brands, communication
networks, staff selection and staff promotion, control
systems and continuous improvement systems, and
in other areas of the organization that support the
efficiency and productivity of the organization as a
whole. A company must evaluate its organizational
profile to be able to select and promote the most
important operative and strategic values.
Relational values (RV)
From a holistic point of view, companies need to
consider all the people they relate to. Sometimes,
organizations do not take into consideration all
groups of stakeholders. However, in order to build
long-lasting partnerships it is important to establish
a strong relation able to create mutual profit for all
the parts involved or interested.
When talking about “parts involved”, we are
referring to the stakeholders included in the
organization relational scheme; because they have
an identifiable and specific relationship with the
organization and because they are interested in
the organization’s operational results: consumers,
suppliers, stockholders, employees, etc. These
relationships may not be formal and both sides
do not need to admit the connection for the
relationship to exist. On occasions, there are
conflicts of interest between the stakeholders and
the company. Sometimes, stakeholders may be
related to the company but not directly or explicitly
interested in it. From time to time, stakeholders
go unnoticed due to their lack of organization,
especially when it comes to vulnerable groups. A
company can and should keep in mind the way its
activity affects the interests of the parties involved,
particularly when it concerns the interests of clients,
investors and employees.
Conclusion: integrate financial
and nonfinancial assets
The authors insist on the fact that companies need
to launch two different types of reports. On the
one hand, a traditional financial report gathered
through the usual method. On the other hand, a
report to quantify intangible assets. This last one is
a key task that enables an authentic consciousness
assessment of the company or institution. The
method suggested to monitor the intangible values
allows to quantify them using value units. Then,
according to the results, the company can change or
reshape their actions to improve the management,
as well as establishing specific action plans.

6. Leading by
reputation
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