Value Drivers Register

Definition

The formal, auditable record of the intangible assets a business owns, with each asset individually named, described and classified against the Opagio 12 intangible value drivers. It is the output of Guided Asset Discovery, the first step of The Opagio Method, and it exists because the accounting standards leave most intangible value undocumented: IAS 38 and FRS 102 Section 18 prohibit recognising internally generated intangibles on the balance sheet, so brand, software, customer relationships, data and know-how built in-house appear nowhere in the filed accounts. The Register closes that documentation gap. Every entry carries the evidence that supports it, so the record can be examined by a valuer, a lender's credit team, an acquirer's diligence team or an auditor rather than taken on trust — the audit trail, not the assertion, is what gives the Register its standing. Once assets are on the Register they can be valued using recognised methods such as relief from royalty, multi-period excess earnings, with-and-without and cost, presented in a funding or lending conversation, and tracked over time as investment continues. Opagio's implementation is the Opagio Value Drivers Register™, which supersedes the earlier informal labels asset registry, growth asset register and intangible asset register.

Complementary Terms

Concepts that frequently appear alongside Value Drivers Register in practice.

Intangible Asset

A non-physical asset that derives value from intellectual or legal rights, or from the competitive advantage it provides. Examples include brands, patents, software, customer relationships, data, organisational know-how, and human capital.

Identified Intangible Asset

An intangible asset that meets the identifiability criteria under IFRS 3 or IAS 38, meaning it is either separable from the entity (can be sold, transferred, or licensed independently) or arises from contractual or legal rights. Identified intangible assets are recognised separately from goodwill in purchase price allocations.

Intangible Asset Evidence

The documented record that establishes an intangible asset exists, where it sits in the Opagio 12 framework, what it is worth, and how that value can be defended at a measurement date. Evidence comes in four forms: identification (the asset is named and classified), provenance (the source documents are attached), measurement (a valuation method has been applied with documented inputs), and persistence (the evidence is reviewed and updated on a defined cadence).

Audit Trail

A chronological record of system activities, transactions, or document changes that provides a verifiable history of who did what, when, and why. Audit trails are essential for regulatory compliance, fraud detection, and internal controls, and are required by standards including SOX, GDPR, and ISO 27001.

Value Driver Tree

A hierarchical diagram that breaks down a company's enterprise value into its component financial and operational drivers, mapping how inputs such as customer acquisition, pricing, retention, and productivity combine to produce revenue, profit, and cash flow. Value driver trees are essential for identifying where intangible asset investments create the greatest impact.

IAS 38 (Intangible Assets)

The International Accounting Standard governing the recognition, measurement, and disclosure of intangible assets. IAS 38 requires that an intangible asset be identifiable, controlled by the entity, and expected to generate future economic benefits.

Fair Value

The price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Under IFRS 13, fair value is an exit price judged from the perspective of market participants rather than the reporting entity, and is ranked on a three-level hierarchy according to how observable its inputs are.

Opagio Hallmark

The Opagio attestation that an asset, company, or practitioner meets a defined evidence-quality standard. Modelled on the hallmark on silver: the hallmark certifies that the metal has been tested by an independent assay office and meets a defined standard of purity — it does not certify that the silver is valuable, or that any particular price should be paid for it.

Further Reading

Discover: The First Step of The Opagio Method

How the Register is built, what it contains and who uses it.

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Opagio 12 Intangible Value Drivers

The twelve driver categories every asset on the Register is classified against.

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Put this knowledge to work

Use Opagio's free tools to measure and grow the intangible assets that drive your business value.