The Tools of Stewardship of a Transaction Transition Advisor
To move beyond superficial financial reviews, a Transaction Transition Advisor must possess the right tools, the correct perspective, and a mindset rooted in true stewardship.
The Reality of Value: Beyond the Balance Sheet
For decades, the true worth of an organization has lived in its “intangible operating system”—the invisible architecture of leadership alignment, cultural stability, and execution discipline. While traditional accounting focuses on what has already happened, these intangibles dictate what will happen.
Modern research now confirms what experienced practitioners have long known: nearly 90% of enterprise value is found off the balance sheet. Yet, many still attempt to navigate transitions using only financial mirrors. To bridge this gap, an advisor requires more than just a spreadsheet; they require a stewardship mindset—a commitment to honest dealings and functional transitions that protect the legacy of the Seller and the future of the Buyer.
Success in acquisition or transformation isn’t found in “financial optimization” alone. It is found in the disciplined measurement of the human and structural drivers that produce those financial results. Without objective diagnostic tools to make the invisible visible, leadership is simply guessing.
The 90% figure (and the specific 92% mention for 2025) comes primarily from Ocean Tomo, an intellectual property advisory firm that has tracked the “Intangible Asset Market Value” (IAMV) of the S&P 500 for 50 years.
Their most recent 2025 Intangible Asset Market Value Study, released in February 2026, confirms that the “economic inversion”—where thought-based assets outweigh touch-based assets—has reached a historic peak of approximately 92%.
The Evolution of Value (S&P 500)
The data shows that what we’ve been practicing for 30 years wasn’t a “shift” that happened yesterday; it has been a steady, relentless inversion of how markets price companies.
| Year | Tangible Assets (Physical) | Intangible Assets (Knowledge/Culture) |
| 1975 | 83% | 17% |
| 1995 | 32% | 68% |
| 2015 | 16% | 84% |
| 2020 | 10% | 90% |
| 2025 | 8% | 92% |
Export to Sheets
Key Sources and Supporting Research
If you are looking for the “receipts” to back up your 30 years of experience, these are the three most credible pillars of research:
- Ocean Tomo IAMV Study (1975–2025): This is the definitive source cited by almost every major financial outlet. They calculate “Intangible Value” by subtracting a company’s net tangible asset value (book value) from its total market capitalization.
- Aon & Ponemon Institute (2024–2025): Their Intangible vs. Tangible Risks Comparison Report highlights the “protection gap”—noting that while intangibles now represent the vast majority of value, most companies still only insure their physical property, leaving the “intangible operating system” vulnerable.
- WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) 2025 Reports: Their latest “World Intangible Investment Highlights” show that investment in intangibles (R&D, software, and “organizational capital”) grew 3x faster than physical investment over the last 15 years.
Why this matters for your Transition Training
The research confirms exactly what you’ve seen on the ground: Traditional accounting is lagging behind reality. When we use the Stewardship Transition Guide to protect a business, you aren’t just looking for “missing data”—we are measuring the 92% of the company that the CFO’s standard balance sheet literally cannot see. Contact us today and start on your path as a Transaction Transition Specialist.