---
_id: '5191'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: This study examines the relevance of financial and non-financial information
    for the valuation of venture capital (VC) investments. Based on a hand-collected
    data set on venture-backed start-ups in Germany, we investigate the internal due
    diligence documents of over 200 investment rounds. We document that balance sheet
    and income statement items capture as much economic content as verifiable non-financial
    information (e.g. team experience or the number of patents) while controlling
    for several deal characteristics (e.g. industry, investment round, or yearly VC
    fund inflows). In addition, we show that valuations based on accounting and non-accounting
    information yield a level of valuation accuracy that is comparable to that of
    publicly traded firms. Further analyses show that the industry-specific total
    asset multiples outperform the popular revenue multiples but lead to significantly
    less accurate results than those obtained from the more comprehensive valuation
    models. Overall, our findings might inform researchers and standard-setters of
    the usefulness of accounting information for investment companies and provide
    additional evidence to gauge the overall valuation accuracy in VC settings.
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Sönke
  full_name: Sievers, Sönke
  id: '46447'
  last_name: Sievers
- first_name: Christopher F
  full_name: Mokwa, Christopher F
  last_name: Mokwa
- first_name: Georg
  full_name: Keienburg, Georg
  last_name: Keienburg
citation:
  ama: Sievers S, Mokwa CF, Keienburg G. The relevance of financial versus non-financial
    information for the valuation of venture capital-backed firms. <i>European Accounting
    Review (VHB-JOURQUAL 4 Ranking A)</i>. 2013;22(3):467-511. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2012.741051">10.1080/09638180.2012.741051</a>
  apa: Sievers, S., Mokwa, C. F., &#38; Keienburg, G. (2013). The relevance of financial
    versus non-financial information for the valuation of venture capital-backed firms.
    <i>European Accounting Review (VHB-JOURQUAL 4 Ranking A)</i>, <i>22</i>(3), 467–511.
    <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2012.741051">https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2012.741051</a>
  bibtex: '@article{Sievers_Mokwa_Keienburg_2013, title={The relevance of financial
    versus non-financial information for the valuation of venture capital-backed firms},
    volume={22}, DOI={<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2012.741051">10.1080/09638180.2012.741051</a>},
    number={3}, journal={European Accounting Review (VHB-JOURQUAL 4 Ranking A)}, publisher={Taylor
    \&#38; Francis}, author={Sievers, Sönke and Mokwa, Christopher F and Keienburg,
    Georg}, year={2013}, pages={467–511} }'
  chicago: 'Sievers, Sönke, Christopher F Mokwa, and Georg Keienburg. “The Relevance
    of Financial versus Non-Financial Information for the Valuation of Venture Capital-Backed
    Firms.” <i>European Accounting Review (VHB-JOURQUAL 4 Ranking A)</i> 22, no. 3
    (2013): 467–511. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2012.741051">https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2012.741051</a>.'
  ieee: 'S. Sievers, C. F. Mokwa, and G. Keienburg, “The relevance of financial versus
    non-financial information for the valuation of venture capital-backed firms,”
    <i>European Accounting Review (VHB-JOURQUAL 4 Ranking A)</i>, vol. 22, no. 3,
    pp. 467–511, 2013, doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2012.741051">10.1080/09638180.2012.741051</a>.'
  mla: Sievers, Sönke, et al. “The Relevance of Financial versus Non-Financial Information
    for the Valuation of Venture Capital-Backed Firms.” <i>European Accounting Review
    (VHB-JOURQUAL 4 Ranking A)</i>, vol. 22, no. 3, Taylor \&#38; Francis, 2013, pp.
    467–511, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180.2012.741051">10.1080/09638180.2012.741051</a>.
  short: S. Sievers, C.F. Mokwa, G. Keienburg, European Accounting Review (VHB-JOURQUAL
    4 Ranking A) 22 (2013) 467–511.
date_created: 2018-10-31T11:27:42Z
date_updated: 2026-04-09T07:59:17Z
department:
- _id: '275'
doi: 10.1080/09638180.2012.741051
extern: '1'
intvolume: '        22'
issue: '3'
jel:
- G24
- G32
- M41
keyword:
- value relevance
- equity valuation
- venture capital
- human capital
- start-ups
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- url: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638180.2012.741051
page: 467-511
publication: European Accounting Review (VHB-JOURQUAL 4 Ranking A)
publication_status: published
publisher: Taylor \& Francis
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
  link:
  - relation: earlier_version
    url: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1449740
status: public
title: The relevance of financial versus non-financial information for the valuation
  of venture capital-backed firms
type: journal_article
user_id: '115848'
volume: 22
year: '2013'
...