2. Institutional background
In Australia, the manager of a firm has discretion in the use of asset revaluations. Asset revaluation refers to the act of recognising a reassessment of the carrying amount of a non-current asset to its fair value as at a particular date. Prior to 2005, the accounting standard for revaluation of assets was Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) 1041 Revaluation of Non-Current Assets. Now there are three accounting standards, AASB 116 Property, Plant and Equipment, AASB 138 Intangible Assets, and AASB 140 Investment Properties.