Accounting information and investment properties: economic and financial stakes for listed groups

This paper aims to study the impact of IFRS on the measurement of investment properties. Since January 1st 2005, consolidated financial statements of European listed companies have to be published under IFRS standards (European Regulation CE 1606.02 of July 19th 2002). In this new accounting framework based on the American accounting system ,fair value is seen as a key concept. Until recently (January 1st 2013), the fair value concept was disseminated in several IFRS standards including IAS 40 related to investment properties . This latter standard offers to the preparer of accounts a choice of different measurement methods: using either historical cost or fair value model. This accounting choice is not without any consequence on the reading and the interpretation of listed companies' consolidated financial statements.In this article, we propose to depict the link between this accounting choice and the business model of European companies quoted on SBF 120 index which have investment properties on the assets side of their balance sheet. A qualitative analysis of the content of each company's annual report is combined with a set of quantitative variables describing their intrinsic characteristics and performance coming from financial and economic databases. This analysis enables us to estimate the role and impact of their measurement choice related to investment properties on their business model and their economic and financial disclosures.