There has been a requirement for companies to disaggregate the amount paid for goodwill into other intangible assets. This has led to the valuation of certain of the relational intellectual capital items such as customer lists. Research indicates that there is a variety of structural, human and relational capital components which are considered by a representative cross-section of preparers to be significantly more important than others and these key components should be a focus for future research. The researchers raise the need to investigate whether a set of industry-specific standardised metrics can be developed and their disclosure regulated and recommend that IASB include the intangibles project on its active agenda.

Discuss the argument that potentially the future of the accounting profession and its role as the key reporting function could depend on addressing this issue effectively.