This paper presents the economic principles, strategies and finance that support the process required to determine the value of any organization. The results of a valuation of both the estimated and the real value of the main economic transactions of Colombian enterprises in 2006 will be examined. The evidence highlights a difference between the book value, and market value appears between two and three times greater in the transactions of the enterprises in question.The conclusion is that economic and strategic motivations add an important value to the process of valuation.