bonds

sir as far as calculating the Market Value of a bond(at which it is to be floated or just finding the fair value of any existing bond in issue) is concerned the most accurate way of calculating it it is by using annual spot yield curve and adding required credit spread.

But we often times use YTM to do that. So, YTM is just a shortcut method, right? Otherwise preferably Annual spot tile curve should be used for discounting each yrs cash flows separately?