The Chinese asset valuation industry is currently undergoing a period of comprehensive integration and development between the new economy and the traditional economy. The vitality of asset valuation practice stems from the sustained, intrinsic demand in the market economy for accurately measuring enterprise value. Asset valuation practice serves enterprises by helping them discover value, verify value, and realize value.

     Under the new normal, the development of new economic models is driving the appraisal industry to shift from serving traditional enterprises toward providing services for new business formats and emerging enterprises that arise from the integration of information, technology, and networks. This, in turn, is fostering new trends in the development and evolution of the appraisal market.

     Economic transformation creates new opportunities.

     In the process of economic transformation, enterprises are the main players. As value drivers shift during enterprise transformation, production factors flow, and ownership rights change hands, there is a growing need for professional valuation services to assess metrics, counter-values, and transactions. The transforming economy has created substantial demand for valuation services.

     State-owned enterprises are phasing out outdated production capacity, thereby slimming down their balance sheets. The impairment of outdated production lines, the disposal of decommissioned equipment, and other value assessments all rely on professional appraisal services. Asset appraisals play a crucial role in helping state-owned enterprises achieve their goals of “being able to transition smoothly and successfully.” The transformation of enterprises operating in capital-intensive sectors—including power, coal, cement, metallurgy, and chemicals—requires the support of professional appraisal services to ensure a smooth transition.

     In the process of economic transformation, high-tech and e-commerce technologies are integrated with traditional industries, driving the interactive flow of talent, technology, and capital. The valuation of these flows—of talent, technology, and capital—and the measurement of the value they create and exchange require the professional expertise of asset valuation.

     In addition, on the “Internet” + In this era, a wave of enterprises is emerging—driven by mergers and acquisitions as well as innovation—that are leveraging the internet to transform and upgrade traditional industries. Consequently, how to apply internet-based thinking to evaluate the value of companies with inherent internet DNA has become a key direction for professional assessment practitioners to explore and put into practice.

     Industrial upgrading opens up new space.

     The asset valuation industry should closely focus on the regional structural upgrade strategy that drives the development of the new economy, and intensify efforts to enhance corporate valuation services in high-end sectors, thereby building momentum and fostering growth. It should also deepen its practice in developing an appraisal market that provides specialized services tailored to regional industrial upgrades, open up new structures for the industry market, and create new business models for professional services.

     In the face of industrial upgrading, appraisers need to explore the application value of high-tech markets. They should study and quantify the promotional and application value of major achievements such as fourth-generation mobile communications, next-generation internet, and big data resources; identify the specific value of implementing a number of major high-tech industrialization projects in areas like biomedicine and new materials; and verify the value of advanced, sophisticated, and cutting-edge equipment in high-end manufacturing sectors, including major machinery and CNC machine tools.

     In the face of industrial upgrading, appraisers should vigorously provide value consulting services for the upgrading of traditional industries, analyze the value characteristics of enterprises clustered in and led by national high-tech development zones, and identify opportunities to leverage advanced and suitable technologies to transform and upgrade manufacturing, thereby enhancing the value of independent intellectual property rights, domestically developed products, and national brands. Additionally, they should guide and explore the value inherent in the upgrading, mergers, and restructuring of enterprises in sectors such as steel and cement.

     Conduct case studies on various innovative technology valuation practices developed by the appraisal industry to upgrade industrial sectors. It is crucial to promptly dissect, analyze, standardize, and promote exemplary technology valuation practices, thereby meeting the demand for cutting-edge technical value consulting from enterprises, markets, and projects. China’s appraisal practice cases are rich and diverse. By thoroughly examining these cases, we can drive theoretical research, refine professional ethics, and improve industry guidelines, ultimately enhancing the influence of the appraisal profession and opening up new market opportunities for appraisal services tailored to emerging enterprises.

     Corporate innovation raises new challenges.

     Emerging enterprises and new business models—such as dual “mass entrepreneurship and innovation,” innovation “factories,” and private equity “venture capital”—offer new research topics for valuation assessments.

     Before the valuation concepts and market value coordinate patterns for internet companies had yet been established, high valuations were seen even in the absence of profitability. PE In acquisitions, high growth projections based on low-profit-margin valuations have become the new norm in the industry. Unveiling the underlying value drivers of internet companies not only presents significant professional challenges for the valuation sector but also signals vast market potential ahead.

     Quantifying the value of human capital has become a new and challenging task in assessing enterprises during the era of innovation. Under the “new normal,” the value of human resources should be reflected in the intangible assets account under the category of human capital costs. The additional deduction for R&D expenses introduced by the state for technology-innovative enterprises represents an effective approach to measuring and highlighting the value of human capital. In the capital market, the innovative rule of human-capital partners—granting different voting rights for shares held by the same equity—represents another significant development.

     In the new economic era, investment business models such as technology innovation workshops have become a new focal point for valuation. These equity investments are characterized by large numbers, small scales, novel models, and rapid investment cycles. As a result, valuers are required to give full consideration to market-based valuation approaches in order to meet the specialized service demands of venture capital projects that feature light assets, advisory nature, and tight timelines.

     Deepened openness drives new development.

     In recent years, Chinese enterprises have experienced rapid overseas expansion. Whether in terms of investing entities, investment sectors, or the investment environment, there’s a growing trend toward diversification. As a result, these diversified investment transactions have created business opportunities for valuation firms to venture abroad.

     Going with the flow, the cross-border valuation market is entering a new strategic era. The overseas expansion of Chinese enterprises has effectively broadened the international scope for resource allocation and diversified their profit models, which will undoubtedly propel China’s valuation industry into a new stage of overseas development.

     As China’s opening-up policy continues to deepen and the national strategy of “going global and attracting investment” is steadily implemented, the Chinese valuation industry has no choice but to align itself with international development trends and proactively serve economic globalization, corporate internationalization, and professional integration. In response to the new context of China’s deepening external openness, Chinese valuation firms are promptly adjusting their cross-border development strategies to meet the international demand for increasingly internationalized assessment criteria, diversified assessment techniques, and higher-level assessment capabilities. They are also enhancing the professional competence of their valuers, thereby contributing to the overseas development of Chinese enterprises.

     High-frequency M&A sparks new vitality.

     With the development of the capital market, market-oriented mergers and acquisitions have become increasingly frequent. Among these, transaction valuation and consideration are central, and asset valuation plays an irreplaceable role as a professional service in assessment and value consulting.

     Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and restructuring in China’s vibrant domestic capital market have become a pivotal force driving China’s economic transformation and upgrading, a shining highlight in the growth of China’s capital market, and a key area where China’s valuation industry demonstrates its contribution to the market economy. In the current period and for the foreseeable future, the continuously rapid development of M&A and restructuring in the capital market will undoubtedly be the primary battleground for valuation firms, with each vivid transaction presenting new opportunities for appraisers to put their skills into practice.

     Assessing new market trends and emerging opportunities focuses on the depth and breadth of economic development. We must not only remain committed to guiding professional services toward market-oriented, internationalized, and integrated development under the “new normal” economy, thereby meeting market demands; we must also devote ourselves wholeheartedly to fulfilling the professional assessment requirements in government, society, culture, and ecological sectors under the new normal; and above all, we must concentrate on achieving the “strategic goals for the development of modern service industries” set forth in the 13th Five-Year Plan.

     The 13th Five-Year Plan represents a critical period for the development of China’s appraisal industry. The development of the appraisal market should be strategically planned and laid out around the “innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and shared benefits” principles outlined in the 13th Five-Year Plan, extending and expanding professional appraisal services to every sector both domestically and internationally. Furthermore, we must continue to innovate, enrich, and refine China’s professional practices in asset valuation.  ( This article was compiled by our reporter Wang Kai. )