National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA)

This course will cover the advantages of developing a specialized practice and will include ideas on becoming a more trusted advisor to business owners, attorneys, and other professionals.

Expand the Use of the CVA and MAFF Investment by Increasing your Business Through Value Growth Advisory and Management Consulting Services NACVA members can leverage the use of their Certified Valuation Analyst® (CVA®) and Master Analyst in Financial Forensics® (MAFF®) credentials by increasing their business through value growth and management consulting services designed to address the growing needs of small business with the assistance of PocketExperts.Solutions. You will learn how PocketExperts.Solutions, through its training under the Coaches Corner umbrella, will attract new business clients and expand current client services offerings using your NACVA credentials.

A claim for business damages may be calculated as either lost profits of the business or the lost value of the business. Courts have held that if a business is completely destroyed, the proper total measure of damages is the market value of the business on the date of loss. If the business is not completely destroyed, then the business may recover lost profits. But, a business may not recover lost profits and market value of the business. While this is the well known model for choosing which method to use in business damage litigation, many courts have also said that either methodology (lost profits or business valuation) may be used for assessing the damages to an ongoing business. This course will review the options for choosing one method or the other when determining the appropriate way for assessing business damages. The pros and cons for using each methodology when valuing a business' damages will be considered.

Business Valuation: A Practical Approach to Advanced Issues and Applications

The Profession's First and Only Business Valuation Report Peer Review The peer review of valuation reports offered through the Case Analysis In-Person (CAP) or Case Analysis by Webinar (CAW) sessions provides authors of valuation reports with perspectives from like-mined valuators. The valuation reports are reviewed and discussed in a round table format with particular emphasis centered on whether or not the critical elements of the valuation report are sufficiently addressed and meet professional standards guidelines, while also identifying strengths and weaknesses of the report relating to overall readability, credibility, and persuasiveness. These interactive sessions are ideal settings to engage in a discussion with your peers about the potential risks to a valuator’s credibility by issuing reports that do not meet professional standards and reporting requirements. Recommended Course: This recommended recertification course will waive $200 off the NACVA Credentialed member tri-annual recertification fee, in addition to course CPE.

Ensure Your Knowledge and Compliance with the Profession's Standards Recent developments within the professional organizations are moving toward the harmonization of industry standards. Senior representatives from the valuation industry will discuss the standards impacting the profession, including National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA), American Society of Appraisers (ASA), American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC). Recommended Course: This recommended recertification course will waive $200 off the NACVA Credentialed member tri-annual recertification fee, in addition to course CPE.

It is critical for valuation experts to understand that most business valuations are done in the context of legal issues. Mergers and acquisitions, marital dissolution, shareholder disputes, estate planning, succession planning, estate and gift tax, business litigation, bankruptcy and restructuring, and others are areas that have legal issues at their foundation and attorneys leading and managing the process. Most attorneys have much less of an understanding of business valuation and its dynamics than do the valuation experts. Concepts that are second nature to valuation analysts are typically foreign to the attorneys: “standard of value”, “levels of “value”, differentiating between “value”, “price” and “proceeds”, establishing the levels of “risk” and “marketability”, and the impact of the economy and industry, are concepts that are familiar to valuation analysts, but elusive to many, if not most, legal practitioners. Shannon Pratt’s The Lawyer’s Business Valuation Handbook 3rd ed., is a resource for attorneys to access at will to enable them to better understand the valuation expert’s work and work product, and facilitate more productive communication between attorney and valuation expert. This publication, edited by Roger J. Grabowski, FASA and Alina Niculita, ASA, ARM-BV, CFA, MBA, is a comprehensive guide for attorneys (and judges) to enable them to better understand the substance and basis of the valuation expert’s work. This book addresses the world of business valuation in a straightforward and understandable manner. It addresses the broad-brush concepts: the generally accepted approaches and methodologies, the process, the analysis, rules of thumb, the evidence and assumptions, the authoritative and non-authoritative sources, professional standards, credentials, and issues relating to legal proceedings. This work is not only a resource for attorneys to gain an understanding of the many dynamics and challenges involved in business valuation, but also just as likely to be a catalyst for ongoing productive and enlightening interaction between the retaining attorney and the valuation expert. This course will highlight important aspects of this handbook.

If you use discounts for lack of marketability (DLOM) in your work product, you need to understand the Pluris DLOM Database™. It is a set of restricted stock transactions that can be sorted and filtered to narrow the characteristics of the data to represent those of a subject company. The database also has methodology that can be followed to arrive at an appropriate magnitude of discount.

In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Connelly v. United States, a case that is already reshaping how valuation professionals approach estate planning, shareholder agreements, and the treatment of life insurance in business valuations. This course will provide an in-depth exploration of the Court’s ruling and its far-reaching implications for the valuation of closely held businesses. Through the lens of the Connelly case, attendees will examine the intersection of estate tax law, corporate structuring, and valuation standards. The course will begin with a clear summary of the facts: two brothers, a life insurance-funded buy-sell agreement, and a disagreement between the estate and the IRS over whether life insurance proceeds used to fund a stock redemption should be included in the company’s fair market value. The presentation will unpack the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that insurance proceeds payable to a corporation are assets; even when they are contractually earmarked for redeeming a deceased shareholder’s stock. We will discuss why the Court rejected the estate’s argument that the redemption obligation offset the insurance proceeds and explore the critical distinction between equity obligations and liabilities in the context of valuation. Valuation practitioners will gain practical tools for identifying and avoiding valuation errors when life insurance proceeds are involved. We will also explore several post-Connelly strategies for structuring buy-sell agreements, including cross-purchase arrangements, trust-owned insurance, and defined purchase prices. Attendees will walk away with a sharper understanding of how form affects substance in estate tax valuations and how to help clients mitigate risk through proactive planning. Whether you are a seasoned valuator or new to estate-related engagements, this course offers actionable takeaways to enhance your practice. Join us to deepen your expertise and learn how to guide clients through the complexities that arise when business value, life insurance, and estate taxes converge.

This course delves into the critical role of professional judgment in valuation and litigation contexts. Drawing insights from C. Zachary Meyers' article “Unimpeachably Neutral Professional Judgment,” participants will explore the balance between objectivity and advocacy, the challenges of maintaining neutrality, and the frameworks that support ethical decision-making. Through case studies and interactive discussions, attendees will enhance their ability to apply unimpeachable judgment in complex professional scenarios.