Valuation of Companies Providing Digital Platform Services in Iran

Intangible assets are defined as non-monetary assets that do not have physical substance but possess economic features that grant rights and advantages to their owner. The role of digital applications in this century can be compared with the function of oil in the past century with was the driving force for growth, wealth, and change. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the rapid growth of digital services in Iran, and many companies have included digital development in their plans. However, the valuation of these companies poses many difficulties, and introducing the national information network in Iran will add to the importance of evaluation even further.This may lead to an underestimating of the book value of enterprises with extensive intangible assets. Intangible assets are usually difficult to evaluate, and the International Valuation Standard 210 recommends three approaches: (a) an income approach; (b) a market approach; and (c) a cost approach. However, generating accurate results can be challenging. This study innovatively apply traditional approaches to digital intangible assets and combines them with a customer-perspective value to provide more precise results for decision-making and suggest new valuation pattern. To this end, one of the large companies providing digital services in Iran was selected for evaluation, and the results are presented. This pattern is practical and can be implemented for all companies providing digital services in Iran.