Revision Of The Institution Of Surveyors Of Kenya (Isk) Valuation Standards ‘The Blue Book’

Delivery of quality and competent professional valuation services that meets the needs of government, financiers and the investing public has been at the center of valuation discourse in Kenya over the last two decades. While professional competence among practicing Valuers can be achieved through rigorous education, training and research, valuation standards play a critical role in ensuring a high degree of accuracy and hence quality in valuation practice. Valuation standards, over and above, providing standard definitions, procedures and bases of valuation, sets guidelines in valuation practice. The overall objective of standards is to protect the integrity of the valuation profession, protect the public and consumers of valuation services and generally to ensure high-quality valuation services from all those practicing as Valuers. The first attempt to provide valuation standards in Kenya was through the development of the Valuers and Estate Management Surveyors’ handbook commonly referred to as the ‘Blue Book’ which was a creation of the special taskforce incorporated in mid-1999 by the Valuers and Estate Management Surveyors (VEMS) Chapter of the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK). In 2018, ISK noted that the current valuation standards in Kenya (incorporated in the ISK Blue Book) have not been updated since then. Consequently, much has changed in the market and requires an update of the ISK Blue Book to ensure relevance. Furthermore, consumers of valuation services, especially the Financial Institutions continue to use obsolete valuation terminologies and standards and many times are not aware of existence of valuation standards; and some use standards borrowed from foreign professional bodies when issuing valuation instructions locally. The ISK through the VEMS chapter has made previous attempt to revise and update the valuation standards contained in the Blue Book. The aim of this paper is to highlight reasons that have propelled the need for revision of the ISK Valuation standards, document attempts made so far by ISK to revise and update valuation standards, challenges experienced, as well as the methodology employed in the development of new revised valuation standards for Kenya.