2016 Industry Titans

Academic Thought Leaders

Dr. Ashok Abbott made significant theoretical and applied contributions in developing a clearer understanding of the concept of liquidity and its impact on valuation conclusions.  He articulated underlying assumptions for alternative models of costs of liquidity and identified the fact patterns matching these assumptions for appropriate usage of the models.  Dr. Abbott also developed measures of anticipated holding periods and trading costs for publicly traded securities.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Find a mentor in the specific knowledge area you are interested in.  Specialization will be necessary to survive and prosper.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Commoditization of professional services.  An illusion of precision is created by mass providers lacking an understanding of the fundamentals.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Dispute consulting is increasing at a rapid pace.

Pioneers of the Profession

Mel H. Abraham is the 2010 recipient of the “Thomas R. Porter Lifetime Achievement” award for his character, leadership and achievements professionally and civically.  He is one of the primary instructors of the NACVA's National Training Team as well as an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Diego Law School.  He has been a guest lecturer for Tax Court Judge, the Honorable David Laro, at his LLM program at the University of San Diego Law School on valuation issues.  Mr. Abraham has been a featured presenter at numerous State Tax Institutes around the country, Internal Revenue Service Continuing Education Conferences, the NACVA and the CTI’s Annual Consultants’ Conferences, and the AICPA Annual Business Valuation Conference in 2001 through 2005.  Further, he is the recipient of NACVA's 1998 “Circle of Light” award (NACVA’s highest instructor distinction); “Instructor of Exceptional Distinction” (thirteen consecutive years, 1997–2009); 1997 “Instructor of the Year” award; and the 1996 “Outstanding Member” award.  Mr. Abraham was awarded “Volunteer of the Year” in 2005 by the AICPA and voted one of the “Top 25 CPAs” by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.  He was the chairman of the 2003 and 2005 AICPA Valuation Conference.

Pioneers of the Profession

R. James Alerding has been a supporter of the IBA for his entire career.  Over the years, he contributed many articles to Business Appraisal Practice, and served as its editor in 2011 and 2012.  He was on the national conference committee in 2010, and served as co-chair in 2011.  For the past three years, Mr. Alerding has served on the Board of Governors, until rotating off in June.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Learn as much as you can and never stop.  You should always be reading journals, attending classes and conferences, and speaking.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Lack of agreement on best practices.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Mergers & Acquisitions and Litigation.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Since 1996, Neil J. Beaton has focused on valuing early-stage, venture backed companies.  Generally, such companies do not lend themselves to traditional valuation techniques, so he began exploring other valuation techniques that could be used to value companies that often do not have revenue or positive cash flow at the time of valuation.  His exploration led to a number of new techniques that have now been published, peer reviewed, and continually updated as new financing strategies or situations have arisen or new valuation techniques have been introduced.  Mr. Beaton was an integral part of the valuation section of the AICPA’s first publication on valuing private equity securities used as compensation after which he published two independent books and then led a complete overhaul of the second AICPA practice aid on valuing private equity securities issued as compensation.  With the valuation techniques laid out, Mr. Beaton then extended that knowledge into the litigation world and has been successful in introducing new techniques of assessing damages to “new businesses” that have been subject to Daubert motions and rigorous cross-examination.  Many of these techniques are now recognized in various courts in which they have been introduced.  Finally, he has continually updated his research and insights, recently adding thought leadership to secondary transactions and hybrid methodologies that address the intricacies of these special situations involving early-stage companies.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Specialize!  Find a niche and go deep.  It is still important to have a broad, general knowledge of business valuation, but in order to set yourself apart in a very crowded field, you need to be “known” for something.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Too many neophytes providing services that they are not adequately trained to perform.  When such an individual presents “half-baked” ideas, it reflects poorly on the entire profession.  I would like to see a more rigorous education environment so that “part-timers” realize that just having a financial designation does not necessarily translate into valuation knowledge.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Litigation for sure.  There are a lot of very knowledgeable business valuation professionals, but translating that knowledge into courtroom testimony is a unique skill that can expand revenue-generating opportunities for any practitioner.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Marc Bello’s contribution to our profession is comprised of instructing, speaking, writing, and board involvement.  Over the past 10 years, he has actively participated in the business valuation education curriculum for NACVA.  His involvement began with reviewing material and writing questions for all courses within the five-day Business Valuation Training Center (BVTC).  Mr. Bello joined the instructor team for Current Updates in Valuation in 2007.  Since then, he has taken a lead role in the course and has continued to rebrand this annually.  As a member of the NACVA instructor team, he has contributed to NACVA’s BVTC, the intermediate courses, and in the BV Accelerator Program.  For six years, he was recognized as an instructor of exceptional distinction.  For three years, he was co-editor of Around the Valuation World.  This included the development of a morning broadcast which has become a fixture of NACVA and the CTI’s Annual Consultant’s Conference.

For the past seven years, Mr. Bello been an active member and chaired the following four boards for NACVA: the Executive Advisory Board, Valuation Credentialing Board, Education Quality Assurance Board, and the Litigation Forensics Board.  

He has spoken across the country on various valuation topics, including: Cost of Capital, Standards of Value, Valuation Adjustments, Practice Management, Valuation Case Law, and Discounts for Lack of Control and Marketability.  Over the past three years, he has published numerous articles which take an in-depth look at topics such as stock options, forensic accounting, damages, and impact of valuation case law.  

Mr. Bello has contributed to the Massachusetts Family Law Community and currently sits on the Curriculum Advisory Committee for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education.  He has developed and chaired various programs for the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Massachusetts Bar Association, Boston Bar Association, Massachusetts Chapter of the AAML, and Inns of Court.  Topics include: business valuation, taxation, compensation, forensic analysis, and alimony and child support issues.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Listen before you speak, read before you write, but be vocal and visible.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Losing sight of the art of valuation with an abundance of science.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Unlocking the benefit of business valuation to closely held business Owners who want to grow, plan, or transition.

Academic Thought Leaders

Christine Ann Botosan earned her PhD in business administration from the University of Michigan in 1995.  Her research examines the determinants and market consequences of corporate reporting strategy.  A particularly important focus of her research is the association between disclosure and cost of equity capital.  Her research in this area earned the 1996 American Accounting Association (AAA) “Competitive Manuscript” award and the 2001 AAA “Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature” award. 

Professor Botosan has over 20 publications in top academic journals and practitioner oriented venues.  She teaches Financial Reporting and Analysis and has received several awards for teaching excellence.  The Board of Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation announced in February 2016 the appointment of Christine Ann Botosan, Professor of Accounting at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, to the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Adopt an attitude of commitment to lifelong learning and professional development, and grant yourself the time to stay current.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Keeping up with rapidly changing business models and technology.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Valuation for financial reporting; use of big data analysis techniques in forensic accounting services.

Industry Architects

For 25 years, Enrique Brito has helped clients design and implement strategies involving corporate finance, M&A, and operation improvements to maximize and monetize the value of their businesses.  It has been a rewarding journey of assisting clients with practical advice based on hard-earned lessons and remarkable guidance from outstanding mentors.  In turn, he feels a great responsibility to give back to the profession by helping other professionals who strive to constantly improve themselves and their M&A careers.  Being an instructor has provided him that privilege and opportunity.

For the past 10 years, Mr. Brito has trained professionals (investment bankers, CPA's lawyers, and M&A advisors) on the process, techniques, and best practices of middle market M&A transactions. He has also developed a methodology to link objectively and quantifiably seller and buyer objectives in M&A transactions to assist in the negotiation of deal structures, terms, and conditions.  Mr. Brito developed a methodology to deconstruct M&A valuation multiples into their main components of risk, growth, and leverage which provides a better understanding of M&A transaction prices and how to negotiate them.  In addition, he developed a three-day training program on Transaction Advisory Services to help practitioners expand their skills set in middle market M&A beyond the traditional accounting due diligence roles.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Never lose sight that M&A transactions (sell-side, buy-side, and capital raises) are means to an end; not the end itself.  In most situations, the ultimate goal is maximizing shareholder value, so it is critically important to be aware of how a particular transaction fits in the client's overall corporate strategy.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Ongoing changes in the regulation of middle market M&A transactions.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Transaction advisory services (beyond the traditional due diligence services).

Pioneers of the Profession

Rod Burkert has been an active teacher and mentor in the valuation community.  He has helped countless individuals with his teachings and assistance in making us all better at valuation.  He continues to write, teach, and practice, developing the IPCPL tool and starting Practice Builder Academy.

Mr. Burkert has always been willing to assist others in the valuation community; through his weekly blog and other resources he has provided to those in the valuation community. 

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now?

• Specialize.  Pick a practice area or industry niche that you want to be known for and dedicate your time, effort, and resources to mastering it.  None of our industry titans got to where they are today because they were generalists.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• The development and advocacy of valuation methods and procedures (primarily for fair value/GAAP valuations) that imply a higher level of precision than exists in our work and not devoting enough attention to helping practitioners value the really small businesses that make up the bulk of our profession's engagements.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Litigation support (because there will always be disputes needing resolution) and assisting owners with the financial and emotional drama and trauma that accompanies transition planning and business sales.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Peter Butler invented and co-developed (Keith Pinkerton) a technique which quantifies company-specific risk (for publicly traded guidelines).  He led the national/international introduction of the technique; aka the Butler Pinkerton CalculatorTM (BPC).  Prior to this advancement, the profession resorted to an educated guess for the appropriate company-specific risk premium (CSRP).  The BPC is commercially available at www.bvmarketdata.com. This introduction has allowed him to write more than 30 articles for all the major valuation journals.  The BPC has also provided him the opportunity to speak at more than 25 state, regional, national, and international conferences/webinars.

Mr. Butler has also co-developed (Bob Dohmeyer and Rod Burkert) a second advancement—the Implied Private Company Pricing Line/Model.  This free advancement allows an appraiser to calibrate their cost of capital determined from publicly traded benchmarks with data obtained from private company transactions—another first for the industry, which mitigates many “leaps of faith” of using publicly traded benchmarks (particularly if still guessing at CSRP) to develop a cost of capital for smaller, privately held companies. 

Mr. Butler has written about other topics (ESOPs, Market Approach, non-competes), participated as a reviewer for submissions to Business Valuation Review, been a judge for Seattle Pacific University/BVR’s BV Challenge, and co-chaired NACVA’s 2014 Advanced BV Symposium.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Always be learning (reading, asking questions, attending webinars and conferences, writing, teaching/instructing) and intellectually curious with an open mind to new and different ideas and perspectives.  Even if after your own research and review you do not agree with a new method or approach, you will be a much better appraiser having gone through the intellectual debate.  Moreover, you may just come up with a better “mousetrap” yourself after being exposed to other creative thought.  

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• The disruption being created by technology and automation.  Whether the technological advancement is an online business valuation calculator or a robo-wealth planning advisor, the consultant must find ways to accept and possibly even embrace the inevitable, while advocating for his or her position in the supply chain by bringing the all-important human touch and judgment to the issue at hand and to the interaction with the client.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• As far as the business valuation industry is concerned, I believe the baby boom generation (born between 1946–1964; currently age 52–70) will likely create a need (or increased need) for exit planning strategists, business valuators (for mergers and acquisitions), business brokers, and wealth advisors/planners/portfolio managers as the Boomers sell their businesses over the next 20 years or so.     

Pioneers of the Profession

Robert James Cimasi is a widely-acknowledged thought leader and educator, and has made significant contributions to the healthcare valuation profession over the past 35 years.  He is a nationally known lecturer on healthcare industry topics, and the author of several acclaimed books, the latest of which include: The Adviser's Guide to Healthcare, Second Edition (2015; AICPA); Healthcare Valuation: The Financial Appraisal of Enterprises, Assets, and Services (2014; Wiley); Accountable Care Organizations: Value Metrics and Capital Formation (2013; Taylor & Francis); and, The U.S. Healthcare Certificate of Need Sourcebook (2005; Beard Books); as well as numerous association course texts.

Additionally, Mr. Cimasi has authored numerous chapters in legal treatises and professional anthologies; published articles in peer reviewed professional journals and industry trade publications; and, is often quoted by the healthcare industry press.  His volunteer efforts have included a wide array of association and society volunteer board and committee positions.

In 2006, Mr. Cimasi was honored with the prestigious IBA “Shannon Pratt Award in Business Valuation”.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors  and of the IBA.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• The one tip I would give to those entering the profession right now is to emphasize the pursuit of lifelong research and education, as well as dedication to the discipline of process in the ethical pursuit of establishing and maintaining your credibility in an increasingly crowded and competitive marketplace.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• I would consider the most important current issue facing the consulting profession to be the lack of unified standards, as well as the continuing challenges faced by consulting professionals in meeting increasingly heightened regulatory pronouncements and post-Daubert judicial uncertainty.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• The healthcare industry will approach 20% of the U.S. gross domestic product over the next decade, providing myriad opportunities for consulting professionals, by way of an increasing need for fair market value reports, as well as for commercial reasonableness.

Pioneers of the Profession

Andreas Creutzmann founded the European Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (EACVA) in 2005.  There were no designations for business valuation analysts in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland when he started to establish the credential Certified Valuation Analyst in 2005.  Eleven years later—in 2016—EACVA is still the only association offering a designation for business valuation analysts in Europe.  They have over 500 members now and are still growing.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now?  

• Qualification and education are the basis to build up a valuation practice.  The right strategy is much more important.  You have to find a niche where you become a leader in your area.  If you do not try to be the best in your area, you will always be average.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession?  

• Being independent, qualified, and focused on business valuation.  If you offer your clients too many services, you will never be recognized as an expert in business valuation.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• In Germany, business valuation in regard to tax issues will be one of the growth areas. 

Pioneers of the Profession

As a teacher, author, writer, consultant, and expert witness, Dr. D. Larry Crumbley is probably the best known Forensic Accountant in the United States (and possibly the world).  Dr. Crumbley helped develop the CFD certificate, was on the editorial advisory board of The Value Examiner, and on the NACVA’s Fraud Deterrence Board.  He created, and is editor of, the open access Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting, which is now affiliated with the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (18 issues), and he was the creator and editor of the Journal of Forensic Accounting (2009–2014).  Dr. Crumbley has published more than 360 articles, many about fraud and forensic accounting.  He is co-author or author of more than 65 books, including the best-selling Forensic & Investigative Accounting (Seventh Edition) by Commerce Clearing House (First Edition in 2003).  He is the major co-author of Case Studies in Forensic Accounting and Fraud Auditing, Commerce Clearing House, 2014.  He has published 13 educational novels, many have a forensic accountant as the main character (e.g., The Big R: A Forensic Accounting Action Adventure and Dangerous Hoops: A Forensic Marketing Action Adventure).  His novels have been reviewed or written about in more than 100 magazines and newspapers.  An unofficial historian of forensic accounting, Professor Crumbley created and was the first president of the AAA Forensic & Investigative Accounting section.  He also created and was the first president of the American Taxation Association section, president of the Teaching, Learning & Curriculum section, and current president of the Gender Issues & Workplace Balance section of AAA.  Dr. Crumbley has taught a Fraud and Forensic Accounting seminar in many places in the United States, as well as around the world.  He has taught or visited more than 138 countries, spreading the gospel of the benefits of forensic accounting techniques.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• To be a great accountant or auditor, you must be a detective.  You must be skeptical and inquisitive as a forensic accountant (or valuator).

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• As big data, continuous auditing, and digital analysis become cheaper and cheaper, many accountants will be replaced by computers.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• The two major growth areas in financial forensics are governmental fraud and computer forensics.  There is still a great deal of fraud and abuse in governmental units (federal, state, and local).  Use of the computer and electronic data will become much more necessary.

Academic Thought Leaders

In under 200 words, describe ways you have made extraordinary advances to our profession and deserves to be recognized: Aswath Damodaran states, “This is a loaded question, since it presumes that I have contributed to advances in valuation and that they are extraordinary.  Since neither presumption is right, let me set the record straight.  Valuation is a discipline full of experts, gurus, and luminaries, but one where common sense often is abandoned.  Thus, my only contribution has to be to challenge the way we think about, not just the parameters in valuation (risk free rates, risk premiums, growth), but the way in which valuation is practiced.  As a teacher, first, I believe that I have succeeded if I can get people to ask ‘why’ and not just ‘how’”.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Do not listen to the experts, do not do stuff just because everyone else does it, and think for yourself.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Facing up the bias that is part of every valuation exercise, especially where money is involved, and being honest about it.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• My hope is that it stops growing; financial consulting often does more damage than good.

Chiefs of Publishing and Data

John DeRemigis is a results-driven editorial executive with over 30 years publishing experience, specializing in acquiring high-value content for professional audiences in business, finance and accounting, and published in multimedia (print, digital, e-books, e-learning).  His areas of expertise include: product acquisition, creative development, exploring new international market opportunities, partnerships, and licensing negotiation.

As executive editor at John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Wiley), Mr. DeRemigis’ publishing programs included the Wiley CPA Exam Review group of test prep and certification products, accounting and auditing annuals, business valuations, and public accounting.  He expanded the Wiley generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) program by creating a derivative suite and launched the Wiley International Financial Reporting Standards product line.  Mr. DeRemigis established new partnerships with professional associations and grew business by influencing markets in the Middle East and India.

At Harcourt Brace Professional Publishing, Mr. DeRemigis managed and expanded the flagship Miller GAAP subscription series and update services, and created accounting and management newsletter subscription products.  At AICPA’s Continuing Professional Education Division, Mr. DeRemigis managed a team of editors developing and publishing self-study accounting, auditing as well as management print and video products, and negotiated licensing of third-party CPE courses and content for the 350,000 AICPA members.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

In 1993, Darrell D. Dorrell inaugurated the financial forensics profession by registering the name in Oregon and codifying the definition, i.e., “The Art & Science of Investigating People & Money©”.  In the mid-1990s, he conceptualized and created the only civil/criminal financial forensics methodology known to exist today, i.e., Forensic Accounting Investigation Methodology© (FAIM©).  The methodology contains 300+/- financial forensics tools, techniques, methods, and methodologies, many of which his firm developed.  During late 2001, Mr. Dorrell launched FAIM through his firm commensurate with 9/11, following his training FBI Special Agents at their National Academy in Quantico, VA.  During 2004–2005, he authored two United States Attorneys' Bulletins for the United States Department of Justice that explained how to apply financial forensics as a counterterrorism tool.  In, 2007, he launched FAIM via the Financial Forensics Academy courtesy of NACVA, demonstrating ubiquitous application to all things financial.  Mr. Dorrell published the Financial Forensics Body of Knowledge (FFBOK), the only text addressing the profession that is known to exist.  All others focus only on fraud.

Mr. Dorrell also trained thousands of attorneys, CPAs, investigators, judges, professors, regulators, valuators, and law enforcement in FAIM and its application.  His tangible professional contributions comprise FFBOK, authored nearly 80 articles in professional journals; and testified in about 150 civil/criminal matters.   

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Obtain legitimate financial forensics training in the 300+/- tools, techniques, methods, and methodologies ranging from behavior detection to digital analysis and forensic lexicology.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Ubiquitous application of financial forensics to all things financial.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Financial forensics is still in its infancy and anyone demonstrating its mastery has no limits in the financial world.

Pioneers of the Profession

Nancy Fannon is the partner in charge of Litigation Services at Meyers, Harrison & Pia Valuation and Litigation Support, LLC.  Ms. Fannon has nearly 30 years of experience, and is frequently retained to provide expert witness services regarding valuation or financial damages.  She has often been appointed as a jointly retained appraiser in valuation disputes.  Ms. Fannon has written, contributed to, and technically reviewed several valuation and commercial damages textbooks.  Her text on the valuation of pass-through entities, Taxes and Value, was published in April 2015.  The fourth edition of her text on damages, The Comprehensive Guide to Economic Damages, was published in 2016.  She is a frequent speaker at peer, legal, and judicial conferences on the topics of valuation and damages, and has been a contributing author and editorial board member for several national valuation and financial expert journals.  Ms. Fannon was inducted into the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ “Business Valuation Hall of Fame” for “lifetime achievement and contributions that have significantly advanced the valuation discipline.”  She was awarded “Volunteer of the Year” by the Institute of Business Appraisers in 2011, for her efforts to unify the standards of the valuation profession nationally.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• It is a wonderful career choice!  But to do it well and get the most challenging, interesting, and rewarding work means making this your full-time career.  Those who choose this as a part-time gig do so at their peril.  It requires a lot of time devoted to education and reading.  (Read!  Everything you can get your hands on.)  I have often said that valuation is simple on its face, but the more you know and the longer you do it, the more you learn how complex it really is.  I have been doing valuations for 30 years (full-time for over half that) and find that the work continues to grow in complexity as the data gets more refined, and the courts (and the experts opposite you) get more sophisticated. 

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• The aging of the practitioners in this field, and the lack of smart, driven young professionals who want to make this their career.  There is a huge opportunity here for people entering the profession!

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• In all economic cycles, there is a need for valuation work and an abundance of opportunities for highly qualified appraisers.  I see growth continuing perhaps most notably in intellectual property matters.

Chiefs of Publishing and Data

Over the past 30 years, ValuSource has become the leading provider of business valuation and damages calculation data and software.  ValuSource provides three exclusive valuation databases, including: IBA Market Data, RMA Valuation Edition, and PLURIS DLOM.  ValuSource worked closely with Microsoft to develop state-of-the-art financial products built around Microsoft Office.  This gives ValuSource clients the best of both worlds—a comprehensive stand-alone application that incorporates everything needed to perform business valuations, as well as the power and flexibility to customize formats, formulas, and documents in Excel and Word.  As NACVA’s technology partner, ValuSource provides all of NACVA’s data and software as well.

Academic Thought Leaders

Pablo Fernández's career at IESE started in 1985.  Today, he is professor of Finance and holder of IESE's PwC Corporate Finance Chair.  He is also visiting professor at the Piura (Peru), INALDE (Colombia), IAE (Argentina), and IPADE (Mexico) Business Schools.  In addition, he carries out extensive consultancy work for numerous firms and banks.  Prof. Fernández was awarded his PhD in business economics from Harvard University.  He also holds an MBA from IESE and a degree in industrial engineering from the University of Navarra. 

Before embarking on a career in academia, Prof. Fernández was the financial analyst and financial coordinator of Pepsi Cola for the south of Europe.  In 2004, he received the IESE award for outstanding research.  Earlier in his career, he received the BARRA award for a project he undertook under the aegis of the Institute for Quantitative Investment Research (INQUIRE) titled, “Convertible Bonds in Spain: a Different Security” (1991). 

Prof. Fernández is a widely published author with an impressive list of book chapters, working and research papers, case studies, technical notes, and journal articles on his curriculum.  Peer-reviewed articles include, “The Value of Tax Shields is NOT Equal to the Present Value of Tax Shields” in the Journal of Financial Economics.  His book, Valuation and Common Sense may be downloaded from www.ssrn.com

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Think about all you do; do not learn recipes.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Improve credibility in front of the clients.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Expert in arbitrage procedures, expert in trials, sensible and easy to follow explanations to general managers and boards

Pioneers of the Profession

Mr. Fishman has been actively engaged in the appraisal profession since 1974.  He has been qualified as an expert witness on business valuation matters in eleven states, and frequently serves as a court appointed expert.  In addition, he has taught courses on business valuation for the IRS, the AICPA, and the National Judicial College.  Mr. Fishman is the past chair of the American Society of Appraisers’ Business Valuation Committee.  He is co-author with Shannon Pratt, of the Guide to Business Valuation, and co-author, with Shannon Pratt and William Morrison of Standards of Value: Theory and Applications.  He is also a member of the Appraisal Standards Board.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Find a mentor.  Our profession is getting more and more complicated so it is better to have someone to bounce ideas off of.  This person may be in your firm or someone you met at a conference who is in another market.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• There is too much information out there that is misleading; and a tendency to rely on automated models without an understanding of the underlying assumptions.  Learn more about the business you are appraising and make sure your assumptions are based on a thorough understanding of the business.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Financial reporting is a major growth area as well as the valuation of intangible assets.  As we change from a smokestack to service economy, the major assets of many companies are relying more on intellectual property.  Valuation advice concerning intellectual property and intangible assets will become more and more important.  

Chiefs of Publishing and Data

David L. Foster is the CEO of Business Valuation Resources (BVR), Portland, an information-industry company he acquired in October 2005.  BVR has the leading database of private company financials and sale prices, and is the premier provider of education and research for the business valuation and related professions. 

In Mr. Foster’s first six years, BVR grew 210%.  Prior to BVR, he was the president of IOMA, the specialized management how-to publisher.  He founded IOMA in 1982, and sold it to the Bureau of National Affairs in 1998, staying on as president though 2005.  He has served on the boards of nine publishing companies in the past or currently, including publicly traded BNA, Kennedy Information, Business Publishers Inc., BNA International, North American Publishing, Pike & Fischer, and FDA News.  Mr. Foster is a past president of the Specialized Information Publishers Association (SIPA), and served on its board from 1989–2001.  He won SIPA’s highest honor, the “Hall of Fame” award for lifetime achievement, in 2000.  He is still active in SIIA/SIPA/ABM.   

Mr. Foster speaks extensively on the changing information market, and particularly the opportunities for publishers to create material revenue streams and growth with new content distribution channels that build direct contact with customers.  He is also on the board of Copyright Clearance Center, the world's largest rights management organization.  Mr. Foster’s prime philanthropic interest has been Bates College, where he served on the investment, academic affairs, and development committees, and as chair of the honorary-degree committee.  He is a Board Member of Symphony Space in New York.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• This is one of the most generous professions.  Reach out to the business valuation leaders you respect—they are willing and able to help you as mentors, professional friends, and business consultants.   

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Like many professions, business valuation continues to struggle to define consistent standards of excellence.  For appraisers, this is compounded by the lack of a single voice—both U.S.-based and international groups are all contributing guidance at different levels.  Unfortunately, very little of this guidance helps directly with the hundreds of judgment calls that are required of all but the most basic valuation engagements.  Instead, appraisers can follow work practices, often under intense pressure from either the client or opposing parties, and discover later that other methods and approaches and applications were required.  The antidote to this confusion is training, business knowledge, and a strong sense of objective judgment.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Currently, the SEC and international regulators are all focused on the valuation work applied to all aspects of financial reporting, so this work is expanding.  Much of it goes to the valuation departments at the Big 4 accounting firms, but there is market share for even smaller practitioners with specific market knowledge.  Meanwhile, the core valuation activities related to selling businesses, partnership agreements, and business conflict are growing and becoming more specialized, providing further growth opportunities.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Carla Glass is a principal with HSSK.  She has over 25 years of experience in the valuation of businesses, partnerships, employee stock ownership plans, debt, derivative securities, intellectual property, and other intangibles in a wide range of industries.  Having spent more than half of those 25 years in Texas, a large part of her work has been in the energy industry.  Other industry focus includes healthcare, telecommunications, and manufacturing/distribution.  Her valuation expertise includes: financial reporting, gift and estate tax, corporate and partnership reorganizations, minority shareholder rights, bankruptcy proceedings, merger and acquisition analysis, and litigation, among others.

She has served as chair of the Business Valuation Committee of the American Society of Appraisers and also as chair of the Standards Committee of the Appraisal Foundation—the organization which promulgates the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.  Ms. Glass is also a Fellow in ASA College of Fellows, which is awarded in recognition of exceptional appraisal proficiency, as well as notable contributions to the valuation profession.  She was one of only nine valuation professionals who served on the Valuation Resource Group of the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Pioneers of the Profession

Roger J. Grabowski is a managing director with Duff & Phelps, LLC and an Accredited Senior Appraiser and Fellow (FASA) of the American Society of Appraisers (their highest designation), Business Valuation.  He was formerly managing director of the Standard & Poor’s Corporate Value Consulting practice, a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and one of its predecessor firms, Price Waterhouse (where he founded its U.S. Valuation Services practice and managed the real estate appraisal practice).  He has directed valuations of businesses, interests in businesses, intellectual property, intangible assets, real property, and machinery and equipment.  Mr. Grabowski has been recognized in various courts as an expert on matters of solvency, the value of closely held businesses and business interests, valuation and amortization of intangible assets, and other valuation issues.  His testimony in U.S. District Court was referenced in the U.S. Supreme Court opinion decided in his client’s favor in the landmark Newark Morning Ledger case.  He testified in the U.S. Tax Court in the Northern Trust case, the first Tax Court decision that accepted the discounted cash flow method for valuing a closely held business.  Mr. Grabowski is co-author with Shannon Pratt of Cost of Capital: Applications and Examples, Fifth Edition, (2014; John Wiley & Sons); and The Lawyer’s Guide to Cost of Capital (2014, ABA).  He is co-author of the Duff & Phelps annual resources for cost of capital data: Valuation Handbook—Guide to Cost of Capital; Valuation Handbook—Industry Cost of Capital; International Valuation Handbook—Guide to Cost of Capital; and International Valuation Handbook—Industry Cost of Capital (John Wiley & Sons).  He has authored many articles.  Mr. Grabowski teaches courses for the American Society of Appraisers including Cost of Capital, a course he developed.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Find a great mentor who will get you involved in the many aspects of valuation.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Difficulty clients have differentiating quality versus fees.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Commercial litigation.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Richard Gray has more than 20 years of professional experience in valuation and litigation support services.  Beginning his career 29 years ago in public accounting, he has earned certifications in valuation from each of the three main certifying organizations: the Certified Valuation Analyst  from the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA), the Accredited in Business Valuation from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Accredited Senior Appraiser from the American Society of Appraisers.

From early on in his valuation career, Mr. Gray’s advance to our profession has been his commitment to educate those interested in providing these services.  He serves as an instructor and mentor within NACVA for others seeking to enter this specialization.  He expanded his role with NACVA by serving on a number of the organization’s boards, ultimately assuming the role of chairperson.  He has spent over 10 years as a grader for the Case Study Report required for certification by NACVA.  In this role as grader, he has had the opportunity to connect with many candidates, assisting them in the successful completion of their reports.  It is this commitment to grow our profession—and its network of professionals—that he has made his priority.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now?

• Get involved in the profession at some level in order to develop professional relationships, expand your knowledge, increase your visibility, and enhance your marketing.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession?

• The most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession is being able to advise their clients on issues related to global expansion and companies being able to manage operations on an international level.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• I see the continuing expansion of the “global economy” being a major growth area in financial consulting; domestic companies expanding their operations internationally and goods and services being offered and sold around the globe.  Also, the use of technology to transact business (i.e., digital transformation) continues to grow and with that, the need to manage additional business.  

Pioneers of the Profession

Robert L. Green is the co-founder and primary impedes behind instituting the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (currently, National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts [NACVA]).  He created the Association’s pre-amble, standards, educational materials, and examinations.  He was also the sole instructor at all of the initial training centers that NACVA offered in its CVA certification program.  When NACVA started to grow, and the demand for its certification program grew, it was necessary to develop more instructors to cover this growth and demand.  This unprecedented growth resulted in Mr. Green being called upon to train others to assist him in carrying the load.  To Mr. Green’s credit, many of the instructors that went through Mr. Green’s training are now also being recognized as Titans in the Industry.

Mr. Green designed valuation software programs to assist the analyst in performing their valuation services.  He was instrumental in instituting the Government Valuation Analyst (GVA) program that was offered initially to Internal Revenue Service engineers and tax attorneys.  The GVA program was later expanded to include, but was not limited to, employees of the Small Business Administration who performed business valuation applications.  To assist valuation analysts to remain current on valuation topics, Mr. Green was a frequent lecturer at various AICPA and state CPA association sponsored valuation and tax conferences and educational programs, IRS regional valuation conferences, and international associations of CPA firm’s management advisory services conferences.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Stay abreast of the changes in the profession.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• I see a lack of independence growing in the profession again today, similar to what it was like in the early 90s.  The professional needs to maintain their independence.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Consulting owner/managers in increasing the value of their company as part of their exit strategy.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

After a 28-year career at the IRS, Michael Gregory retired as a territory manager heading up business valuation nationally in which he initiated numerous job aids at the IRS (including three that have since been made public on DLOMs, non-controlling S corps, and reasonable compensation), he has joined the private sector and has continued to assist the profession.  Since joining the private sector, Mr. Gregory has given over 200 presentations, written 10 books, 18 articles, and offers 14 videos to assist valuators.  As a consultant, he works with business valuators to review appraisals, works with attorneys, and identifies areas to focus on issue resolution.  Just as there are three sides to a coin (heads, tails, and the side of the coin), there are three sides to every issue.  These are: your side, my side, and the truth.  Mr. Gregory works with the parties as a true neutral mediator or as part of a negotiation team to help the parties work towards an agreement, saving clients millions of dollars.  Working on issues with the IRS, or in other areas of conflict, he has continued to help the profession explore not only technical areas, but also conflict resolution approaches to resolve issues.  

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Listen to your client, understand your role, develop your valuation technically, educate your client to your conclusion, and go beyond the valuation to assist your client.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• With the advent of artificial intelligence and advances in technology, expand beyond business valuation and look for ways to add value to your clients related to planning, improving performance, and exploring profitability of business segments given your business valuation experience.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Providing value added services, international valuation issues associated with transfer pricing, and litigation related to not only being a business valuation expert, but assisting in conflict resolution.

Pioneers of the Profession

With over 35 years of involvement in the business valuation profession, Robert J. Grossman has served in many capacities that have led to advances in the profession.  Those advances include participation and leadership in the development of standards of professional practice for the NACVA and the reconciliation among differing professional standards proffered by other organizations within the profession.  The overall contribution encompassed the creation and assurance of a required minimum level of professional quality in each engagement, thereby enhancing user confidence in the profession’s services and work product.  He has been at the cutting edge of the education process for nearly three decades, and over 20 years for the NACVA.  Mr. Grossman served as the chair of the Education Committee for the NACVA, aiding in the 1990s in the design and structure of the NACVA program offerings.  In addition, he has either alone, or through a team, developed numerous courses for the NACVA, as well as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) on a number of advanced business valuation topics.  Finally, he has provided education services for over two decades to both the NACVA and AICPA membership, teaching many different classes and educational programs to literally thousands of participants.  Mr. Grossman developed and taught business valuation and litigation support programs for attorneys, meeting various state Continuing Legal Education requirements.  Attendance at these sessions have numbered more than 5,000 attorneys in his region, helping to enhance the legal profession’s understanding of the work undertaken within our profession.  He has also authored more than 25 articles included in the profession’s national publications.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• The best advice I can offer would be for any professional new to business valuation is to try to maintain a thirst for learning and a natural curiosity as to the inter-workings of any specific project or fact pattern.  These two attributes, in confluence, will most certainly lead to success in the profession.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• To me, the most important issue is the need to develop the profession’s leaders of tomorrow.  Much improvement and technical development has occurred over the last several decades in both education and application of business valuation principles.  However, experienced valuators will note that many questions remain and in many ways, we have just scratched the surface of what might be possible in “proving” value in the future.  A base of new leaders is sure to add challenges to old theory and advance new theory to take all of us, and the profession, to the next level.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• The major growth area for consultants in business valuation will evolve from within the management and ownership groups within companies to better understand that the valuation of those companies is the most important and meaningful performance metric.  Helping to speed this understanding, business valuators can then move from professionals that can assist in the measurement of value to professionals that aid business owners in the creation and protection of value.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Mr. Lance Hall is co-founder and president of FMV Opinions, and chairman of FMV Capital Markets, the firm’s investment banking affiliate.  Mr. Hall is the nation’s leading expert regarding the impact of illiquidity on asset prices.  Mr. Hall’s innovation has established The FMV Restricted Stock Study™ as the premier data source for DLOM determination.  Over 50 percent of all valuation experts utilize The FMV Restricted Stock Study and/or the Discount Calculator.  It is through Mr. Hall’s research on restricted stock that the valuation profession became aware of the considerable impact that asset volatility has on the magnitude of the discount for lack of marketability.  Mr. Hall is also a leading expert in valuation issues related to estate and gift tax valuation and writes and speaks frequently on these issues.  His articles have been published in many prominent industry publications, including: Estate Planning Magazine, Valuation Strategies, and Business Valuation Resources, and he is currently a member of the “Panel of Experts” of Financial Valuation and Litigation Expert.  His media coverage includes: The New York Times, Fox Business, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Week.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Follow your passion and do not sacrifice quality for income.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• I believe too many professionals want to codify and mandate certain methods, approaches, and analytics.  I believe this push for valuation “consistency,” in the long-run, will stifle debate and innovation in the valuation profession.  Finance is the never-ending search for the better answer.  Accounting has square pegs and square holes for obvious reasons, finance does not.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• There is no material future growth—only cost reduction (outsourcing).  Growth will come from individual specialization—the healthcare industry offers some growth, but not much.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Chris Hamilton is a principal of Arxis Financial, Inc., Arxis Technology, Inc., and Arxis Wealth Management, LLC.  These firms are involved in tax and accounting consulting, business valuation, litigation consulting, technology consulting, and financial planning/asset management.  Mr. Hamilton is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, and a Certified Valuation Analyst.  Most of his professional time is spent in the areas of business valuation, forensic accounting, and litigation related engagements.  He has served as an expert in civil, criminal, probate, and family court matters. 

Mr. Hamilton has presented courses at national conferences, training institutes, and seminars around the country.  He is regularly asked by civic and business groups to speak on a variety of topics related to his experience and expertise.  He is a past recipient of NACVA’s “Circle of Light” award for teaching excellence.

Mr. Hamilton has published valuation related articles in several publications, including: The Forensic Examiner, Los Angeles Lawyer, The Value Examiner, Valuation Strategies, and the Journal of Forensic Accounting.  He has authored and co-authored several courses for NACVA.  Mr. Hamilton is also a co-author of Financial Valuation—Application and Models.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Read, write, and speak.  Study the fundamentals and theory, start to write about it, and speak to as many audiences as you can.  The preparation to speak publicly about valuation and forensics will force a mastery of the material, and public speaking will enhance the ability to communicate and, of course, get more business.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• We live in an increasingly regulated environment and that is happening because people understandably like the comfort and perceived security of rules and regulations.  However, the danger of increasing rules and regulations (“Standards” and required certifications) is that they tend to stifle new thinking and innovative approaches.  For example, requiring a unique certification to do fair value work presents a barrier to those who are up-and-coming who would necessarily have brought fresh perspective and energy to some of the more difficult areas of valuation but will choose to just avoid that area of work.  Many advocate that professionals specialize in a narrow range.  Over regulation will force that and the benefit of broad-based experience will be lost.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Fair value for financial reporting will continue to grow as GAAP continues to move away from historical cost basis accounting.

Pioneers of the Profession

Mark Hanson taught for NACVA and the AICPA.  He sat on the Education Board, and Ethics Board, as well as served two terms on the EAB (and chair for one year).  He served on the standards committee since 1995.  Along with others, Mr. Hanson has promoted NACVA as well as unification of industry standards.  He is currently active in the business valuation resource panel of the appraisal foundation and chairs the committee that comments on USPAP standards.  He has represented NACVA for the IRS valuation policy council and the Appraisal Issues Task Force.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Jump into the profession early in your career and be active and contribute.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Public perception of the industry and experience level of individuals.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Business Valuation and Litigation support.

Chiefs of Publishing and Data

James Harrington’s expertise is business valuation/appraisal, but from the standpoint of creating the basic “ingredients” that go into any valuation recipe.  He created (along with colleagues Carla Nunes and Roger Grabowski) the risk premia, size premia, equity risk premia, industry risk premia, country-level equity risk premia, relative volatility factors, and country risk premia, and the accompanying methodological guidance, which are used by a very large number of valuation analysts worldwide to estimate cost of capital in the U.S., and globally.  Mr. Harrington is co-author of:  the Valuation Handbook—Guide to Cost of Capital; the Valuation Handbook—Industry Cost of Capital; the International Valuation Handbook—Guide to Cost of Capital; the International Valuation Handbook—Industry Cost of Capital; and a contributing author to, Cost of Capital: Applications and Examples, Fifth Edition (2014; John Wiley & Sons). 

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Study and understand the existing theories and models (and the data used within the frameworks of the existing theories and models) as much as possible.  It is imperative that the analyst be able to discuss his or her own analysis intelligently, and understand the weaknesses and strengths of the models used therein.
• Have an understanding of the history and evolution of finance, which will help the analyst understand (and accept) that nothing is written in stone—valuation is, after all, a forward-looking endeavor, and therefore imperfect—thus, the theories and tools we use are forever changing and evolving as we learn more.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• The most important issue facing the financial consulting profession, in my mind, is from a theory and data point of view: the theories and tools we use in valuation are forever changing and evolving as we learn more.  As a profession, we have to be open to criticisms of the existing theories and tools, and we have to be open to new theories and tools.  We should test these new theories and tools in practice to see what “swims” and what “sinks” over time.  “Over time” is important, since some models may work very well under certain conditions or at certain times, but not so well under different conditions or at another time.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• In the areas that I am intimately involved in (theory and usable data dissemination), I think that we are at a turning point at which some of the old theories and tools are beginning to fall by the wayside as others rise.  The thing that is exciting to me is that I sense a real willingness in the valuation community to question the old and kick the tires on the new.  I plan on continuing to contribute to the new and have many things cooking on the stove right now.

Pioneers of the Profession

In his 36 years in the valuation area, James R. Hitchner has co-authored over 20 courses, taught over 60 courses, published over 100 articles, and has made over 200 conference presentations.  He is also an inductee in the AICPA Business Valuation Hall of Fame and a two-time recipient of the AICPA’s “Business Valuation Volunteer of the Year” award.  He was also one of the four original members of the AICPA Business Valuation Standards Writing Task Force and served for the entire six years, up to the June 2007 official release of the standards.

Mr. Hitchner edited and/or co-authored the following books:

• Hitchner Pratt Fishman, A Consensus View Q&A Guide to Financial Valuation, 2016, Valuation Products and Services, LLC. 
• Editor and co-author of Financial Valuation: Applications and Models, Third Edition, 2011, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 
• Co-author of Financial Valuation Workbook, Third Edition, 2011, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Co-author of PPC’s Guide to Business Valuation, Twenty-Sixth Edition, 2016, Thomson Reuters
• Co-author of Valuation for Financial Reporting: Fair Value, Business Combinations, Intangible Assets, Goodwill, and Impairment Analysis, Third Edition, 2011, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.   

Many of these books are used for education classes; including NACVA and the AICPA.  He is also editor in chief of Financial Valuation and Litigation Expert, a bi-monthly journal featuring views and tools from experts in business valuation, litigation, and forensic/fraud services.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Specialize by service line, industry, or geography.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• The valuation profession needs to have greater cooperation amongst the valuation professional organizations to work toward best practices in valuation including many foundational areas.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Complex litigation is still a growth area in financial consulting.  This area will never become commoditized.

Pioneers of the Profession

Michael G. Kaplan’s professional career has been a tale of two passions.  His first professional passion is teaching and his second is litigation.  His university teaching experience spans more than 26 years; the most recent 18 being at the University of Southern California, his alma mater.  Mr. Kaplan discovered litigation accounting early in his career as a CPA and has since focused his professional practice in the litigation area.  He is co-founder of Kaplan, Abraham, Burkert Associates, Forensic Valuation Consultants, headquartered in Woodland Hills, CA.  His practice area includes pre-trial strategic services and expert witness services in matters involving economic damages, business disputes, business valuation, fraud and embezzlement, and employment law.  He is called upon regularly to serve as an expert witness in court.  Mr. Kaplan’s professional activities include an extensive amount of teaching; including graduate university programs in accounting and continuing education programs in litigation, communications, and forensics.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Find a mentor to guide and advise you.  Embrace the highest level of professional standards and ethics.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Integrity, transparency, and full disclosure.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Business Valuation Advisory, Computer Forensics, E Discovery, Intellectual Property Valuation, and related damages.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Karen J. Kaseno has been in expert witness/financial forensic services since 1989.  She started two educational programs for NACVA—including the Matrimonial Workshop.  She was one of the original authors and instructors on this workshop.  Ms. Kaseno was one of the original instructors that taught for the CFFA and MAFF program.  She was one of the authors of the courses and the materials for the CFF project that we did for the AICPA.  She has been an instructor for the AICPA, ACFE, and of course, NACVA for two decades.  Ms. Kaseno has taught thousands of CPAs about forensic accounting and providing consulting and expert witness services.  She has spent hundreds of hours on furthering the education and the careers of NACVA members, and of new people entering our profession.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Get the quality education on forensic accounting from organizations like NACVA.  Experience doing the work is also crucial but you need the specialized training and education.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• With the availability of information and materials on the internet, many people, including attorneys, think that they can do forensic accounting themselves without our assistance.  Many times attorneys are trying to do the work themselves and bring us in at the end of cases when they do not settle.  This can cause tighter deadlines and more cases actually going to trial.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• I would say that we will have to continue to differentiate ourselves from others by getting more education and being able to do more technical calculations.  I think the growth area is in the more technical parts of what we do—business valuations, calculation of damages, and specific technical areas.  Since more of our cases might be going to trial getting more on-the-stand experience and expert witness strategies.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Hubert Klein improved the financial forensics profession especially in matrimonial litigation.  He significantly contributed to the financial forensics practitioner industry with his involvement in both NACVA and AICPA.  As a result of the professional integrity in his practice, the practice of financial forensics in matrimonial litigation has improved in New Jersey and the Northeast.

Mr. Klein has been a major contributor to the profession's common body of knowledge in financial forensics, especially in the matrimonial area.  He has held leadership positions within the financial forensics area for NACVA and AICPA and made major contributions to the membership of both organizations.  As head of the NJ state chapter of NACVA, he has had made significant contributions to the knowledge of practitioners.  As a practitioner, he has contributed to upgrading matrimonial litigation professionals by the integrity of his processes and the development of his models to present results of those processes.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Make sure they have a broad background in accounting, finance, economics, etc., rather than a relatively narrow forensics background.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Integrity, objectivity, and credibility.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Financial consulting in the closely held small and middle market firms.

Pioneers of the Profession

The value of a company depends on the purpose of the valuation and the valuation situation.  Particularly in legal evaluation occasions, a country-specific understanding of the standards of values plays a prominent role.  Germany has a long tradition in the theoretical reprocessing of issues on business valuation.

This results, especially in legal valuation occasions, special assumptions in the application of the methods such as the Tax-CAPM in Germany as well as the importance of valuation methods in practical application (DCF vs. multiples).  The future orientation and uniform balance of opportunities and risks of business models is the absolute primacy.

On this, Wolfgang Kniest sees his profession in the combination of this country-specific German perspective and an international understanding.

Differences arise already from the different data availability.  So the transaction prices of small and mid-companies outside the United States are hardly available, which limits greatly the applicability of transaction multiples as a primary method or to the plausibility.

Mr. Kniest’s passion is to share his long-standing theoretical and practical knowledge as a good teacher to young people.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Base your profession on an excellent education.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• The most important current issue these days might be to deal with financial crises in your conclusion of value.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Valuation for accounting purposes and transfer pricing seems to me as the major growth areas.

Pioneers of the Profession

Mark Kucik has participated in the accounting/business valuation profession for over 32 years.  He served the business valuation profession for the last 20+ years.  During the last 20+ years, he has advanced the profession in partnership with leading professional business valuation organizations and colleagues.  He has dedicated his time and resources to the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA); serving on the Executive Advisory Board 2002–2016, member of Professional Standards Board 1995–present, member of NACVA’s Training and Development Team, and member of NACVA’s Advanced Training and Development Team, 2004–present.  He is also the recipient of the “Instructor of the Year” award 2002.  Multiple recipient of the “Instructor of Great Distinction”, “Instructor of Exceptional Distinction”, “Circle of Light”, and the “Tom Porter Lifetime Achievement”  awards. 

He is also a member of the Illinois Society of Certified Valuation Analysts Member,  American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Illinois CPA Society Member,  U.S.P.A.P. Task Force as a NACVA representative, and the International Glossary of Valuation Terms (C.L.A.R.E.N.C.E.).

Mr. Kucik has also been asked to present on business valuations for the NACVA, the Internal Revenue Service, the Illinois CPA Society, Illinois Society of Certified Valuation Analysts, Chicago Bar Association, Alliance of Mergers and Acquisition Advisor, AICPA. 

Over the past 30+ years in the profession, he is dedicated to giving clients the highest level of service—as we set the example of what it means to be a professional inside the business valuation profession.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• The best advice I can offer would be for any professional new to business valuation is to try to get involved.  Learn and strive to be the very best you can be.  You owe that to your clients, the profession, and most of all, yourself.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• I believe the most important current issue facing the profession is the ability to maintain quality of work and service in a price driven society.  We need to hold standards high in a market where pricing may be an issue.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• The major growth area for consultants in business valuation will be helping small business owners grow their business to a new level.  Helping the owners of small businesses implement and understand value and value drivers.

Pioneers of the Profession

Senior Judge David Laro was appointed by George H.W. Bush to the U.S. Tax Court in November, 1992.  He formerly practiced tax law in Michigan for 24 years.  Judge Laro is a graduate of New York University Law School (LLM in Taxation, 1970), the University of Illinois Law School (JD, 1967), and the University of Michigan (BA, 1964).  He was a Regent of the University of Michigan, a member of the State Board of Education in Michigan, and chairman of the State Tenure Commission in Michigan.  In 1985, he co-founded a Michigan bank holding company.  He was the Chairman of the Board of Republic Bank, Ann Arbor.  Judge Laro teaches Business Planning at Georgetown Law School and Valuation at the University of San Diego School of Law.  He also lectured at Stanford Law School on tax policy matters and has had numerous articles published.  He is the co-author of Business Valuation and Taxes: Procedure, Law and Perspective, Second Edition in 2011, a 500-page text on tax valuation which is currently in use in various law schools around the country.  Among the noteworthy cases which Judge Laro has decided is Mandelbaum (lack of marketability discount).

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Understand that maintaining high ethics and independence are always important.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Learning how to be a credible expert witness.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Business Valuation and Federal Taxes (my book!).

Chiefs of Publishing and Data

Mr. Levin first developed an interest in evidentiary gatekeeping cases in 1999, shortly after founding MDEX Online, Inc., a full-service medical legal consulting firm and the holding company of the Daubert Tracker.  Himself a former testifying vocational expert and principal in a litigation consulting company, he became aware of the significance and implications that "gatekeeping" had for all participants in the litigation process—attorneys, experts, and judges alike. 

He came to realize, however, that there was no central repository of information and documents concerning these cases, despite the fact that "gatekeeping" activity was often a "linchpin" in successful or failed litigation.  After validating his concepts with the litigation and forensic community, he developed a team of database programmers, web developers, and legal researchers and launched the Daubert Tracker in August of 2002.  Since then, the product has been received very favorably and has received significant attention in state bar association journals, legal newspapers, and from attorney and expert associations.  

Mr. Levin holds a master degree from Northwestern University and a bachelor degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Pioneers of the Profession

Howard A. Lewis led the IRS Valuation Program from its inception in 2000 to 2008.  He worked with NACVA to offer the CVA credential to over 100 IRS valuators.  Mr. Lewis wrote the first valuation standards in the history of the IRS.  He also served as executive director of the Institute of Business Appraisers from 2008–2013 and served as executive director of the International Society of Business Appraisers from 2014–2016.

Mr. Lewis served as the chief executive of the IRS’ first formal valuation program for eight years.  His focus on quality, training, continuing professionalism, networking with the professional societies, and outreach to the community changed the face of government service immeasurably and permanently.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Link up with an experienced valuator and learn as much as you can from this person, preferably by helping them with some of their assignments.  Seek constructive criticism always.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Fee pressures.  Low fee providers give the entire profession a very bad name and reputation, and the trouble their work causes requires great remedial assistance later.  There is no free lunch.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Problem resolution at all levels, including mediation, arbitration, audit intervention, and assistance to the courts.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Michael J. Mard has been a full-time business appraiser and expert witness for over 30 years with a broad range of experience from small companies to very large billion dollar companies; both private and public.  He has developed analyses that have been reviewed and accepted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, major accounting firms, the IRS, and the courts.  Mr. Mard has provided expert testimony approximately 125 times, in both Federal and state courts, related to intangible assets, intellectual property, business damages, marital dissolution, shareholder disputes, and IRS matters.  Mr. Mard is lead author of eight books, most recently: Valuation for Financial Reporting: Fair Value, Business Combinations, Intangible Assets, Goodwill and Impairment Analysis, Third Edition, and co-author of four additional books, all published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  Mr. Mard has co-authored over 16 courses and published over 100 articles.  He has been a presenter, speaker, and instructor more than 100 times.  From 1995–1998, Mr. Mard served the AICPA BV subcommittee which established the Accreditation in Business Valuation (ABV) designation and contributed to the Statement on Standards for Valuation Services.  In 1998, Mr. Mard was asked by the AICPA to assist the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) staff in its research and development of procedures for valuing intangible assets including two educational presentations to the full board.  He has worked with various task forces of the FASB and served on the FASB Valuation Resource Group since inception in 2000; until completing his service in 2011.  He has been elected into the AICPA Business Valuation Hall of Fame and holds the AICPA’s ABV specialty designation.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• The profession is now highly commoditized due to the development of capable textbooks (beginning with Shannon Pratt’s 1981 polestar), new organizations (including NACVA), new designations (including the CVA and ABV) and standards over the last 35 years.  Importantly, efficiencies from technology and social networking have fostered additional competition by connecting the ultimate user with the practitioner.  The traditional counter to such economic efficiencies is creating a specialty and market niche.  This can be through trade associations or specialties such as math expertise to apply to Basel III and Dodd-Frank capital requirements and/or Solvency II insurance carrier capital requirements.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• The most important current issue is the delusional, incestuous echo chamber due to practitioners and leaders not reaching beyond normal boundaries of understanding; in short, a lack of thirst for new knowledge.  Empirical and academic research has now for the last 20+ years established improved techniques over cornerstone beliefs such as the CAPM and Black Scholes models.  It is sad to me that such research is continually rejected rather than embraced.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• The profession needs to reach beyond its old boundaries of tax compliance, fair value for reporting, and small litigation.  It should in fact reach to the banking and insurance industries to augment internal quants by offering opinions on Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review for Federal Reserve Board Stress Testing.  This is similar in stature to offering fair value for financial reporting, but significantly different in the basics of our Body of Knowledge.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Ms. Masten has been an instrumental educator in the development of the profession.  Through CTI training courses and her University of Denver classes, she has instructed generations of valuators on our profession.

Everyone who has influenced the business valuation profession over the past 15 years knows of or has consulted directly with Lari Masten on various subject matters.  She is a staunch supporter of business value and a reasonable application of the three approaches of value.  Her palmares are numerous, including:

• Seven advanced certifications in the field of business valuation
• Numerous positions of influence within the business valuation community, including being an elected member and chairman of the NACVA Executive Advisory Board
• Dozens of accepted opinions in Federal Court
• Over 100 cases settled pre-trial based on her opinions
• Hundreds and possibly thousands of business valuators taught

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Entering business valuation is a lifelong journey of learning and every engagement presents a new puzzle to solve—enjoy the process.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Advocacy—business valuators must never forget that they are advocates only for their own opinions.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Education for business sellers.  Every business owner recognizes the blood, sweat, and tears they have poured into their business and believe that these sacrifices must have value.  But the reality is, every business is built upon someone's blood, sweat, and tears and the market value is a negotiated, reasonable assessment of the accumulation of effort represented by the subject business.

Pioneers of the Profession

Z. Christopher Mercer is the founder and chief executive officer of Mercer Capital.  He began his valuation career in the late 1970s.  He has prepared, overseen, or contributed to hundreds of valuations for purposes related to tax, ESOPs, buy-sell agreements, and litigation, among others.  In addition, he has served on the boards of directors of several private companies and one public company.  He enjoys working with business owners to address ownership transition issues.

Mr. Mercer has extensive experience in litigation engagements including statutory fair value cases, divorce, and numerous other matters where valuation issues are in question.  He is also an expert in buy-sell agreement disputes.

He is a prolific author on valuation-related topics and a frequent speaker on business valuation issues for national professional associations and other business and professional groups.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Ground yourself with valuation theory as quickly and deeply as possible.  Remember that value is a function of expected cash flow, risk, and growth.  Keep that in mind and you will stay afloat a lot better.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• The key issue facing most valuation firms is a growing sense of commoditization.  I grew up professionally in the era of the generalist.  It is hard to be a generalist today.  Success will be found by entering one or more niches where your professionalism will be recognized.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Growth both for individuals, professionals, and for firms will come by going narrow rather than broad.  In a niche you can find clients and referral sources.  If you are selling everything to everyone it is very difficult to succeed.

Industry Architects

James C. Metzler is the founder of Metzler Advisory Group, LLC, a consulting firm that provides services for the CPA profession.  Previously, he was vice president of Small Firm Interests for the AICPA and member of its senior management team.  He led AICPA initiatives aimed at serving the needs of CPA firms including the development of the AICPA Private Companies Practice Section into a globally recognized source of practice management resources.  During his leadership of the Specialized Communities teams, the Certified in Financial Forensics credential was founded and the Statements of Standards for Valuation Services was issued.

Previously, Mr. Metzler spent 32 years as a partner with Gaines Metzler Kriner and Company CPAs in Buffalo, NY.  He also spent three years as co-founder of ConvergenceCoaching, LLC, a national CPA firm consulting practice.

Mr. Metzler’s contributions to the CPA profession include:

• Frequent and recognized lecturer and writer
• Listed as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Accounting” for 18 years running by Accounting Today
• Named to the Winning is Everything Advisory Board Hall of Fame, 2013
• Received the “On the Edge” award from Leading Edge Alliance
• U.S. Small Business Administration's NY District Office 2007 “Financial Services Champion of the Year” award
• 2012 Distinguished Alumni by Canisius College in Buffalo, NY

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now?

• Develop high-level leadership skills.  We lead our valued clients, our firms, and our profession, thus the ability to think strategically and have the vision and know how to turn strategy into reality, which is crucial to personal and professional success.  Other critical leadership skills include strengthening relationships and connecting with others at a deeper level.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession?

• Relevance.  Clients are changing dramatically as baby boomers retire.  Clients are younger, better educated, and savvier than those that preceded them.  Their expectations of professionals are greater and they realize their choices in financial consultants are not limited to their local geography.  High use of technology is a given along with knowledge of current regulatory and legislative trends and international business.  Therefore, our profession and firms must be well equipped with the proper knowledge and skills to be relevant to the changing client and awareness of the amazing creativity of the generational differences.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Data Analytics and Big Data.  Massive amounts of data are being accumulated every second on servers and computers all over the world.  The knowledge to be gained from this ocean of information is presently only at the tip of iceberg.  The financial professional that can master the skill to use todays tools and glean the new knowledge from big data and utilize it to serve their clients, will bring huge value.  Data analytics and big data also have significant impact to those in financial forensics, valuation, and fraud detection.

Academic Thought Leaders

Dr. John Paglia is a professor of finance and associate dean at Pepperdine University, private equity and venture capital research expert for the Library of Congress, public company director, and founder of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project (PPCMP); an ongoing study of business owners, capital providers, and financiers.  The PPCMP was launched in 2007 to provide insights into, and guidance for, cost of capital for privately held companies.  Dr. Paglia keynoted ASA and NACVA annual conferences; and spoke at several others, including the AICPA Annual Business Valuation conference.  His research on discounts for lack of marketability and private cost of capital has been published in industry publications, including: The Value Examiner, Business Valuation Review, and Journal of Business Valuation and Economic Loss Analysis.  He is a recognized small business financing expert and has been quoted in major media outlets, including: The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, CNBC, and others.  Dr. Paglia is a recipient of a “Middle Market Thought Leader of the Year” award from The Alliance for M&A Advisors and Grant Thornton, as well as the “Excellent in M&A” award from ACG.  He holds a PhD in finance and is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now?

• Learn as much as you can about what business owners face when they are trying to raise financing and capital and grow their businesses.  The profession needs to understand what sources of capital are available to businesses, advantages and disadvantages of each financing/capital source, how businesses locate capital providers, what businesses need to do to qualify, and the associated costs of capital for each.  Using public market data as a foundation for cost of capital development is no longer acceptable or necessary given the relatively recent proliferation of the private capital markets.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• The profession has been slow to innovate to meet the changing needs of business owners.  Add to that appraisers’ adoption of standardized formulaic valuation processes and a realization by business owners that appraisal reports are often irrelevant—and the result has been new non-certified “appraiser” entrants, increased competition, and fee compression.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Strategic valuations that include value-added insights for business owners that truly help them finance and grow their businesses.

Pioneers of the Profession

Dr. Shannon P. Pratt has authored 11 books, including the classic Valuing a Business, now in its Fifth Edition.  He also started Pratt's Stats.  He has had the most influence in creating a profession for others in valuation.  He synthesized financial theory and how it applies to the valuation of closely held businesses.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Read, read, read, and attend conferences.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Litigation.  Get accredited in Business Appraisal Review by both NACVA and the American Society of Appraisers; one of the most valuable services.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Litigation.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Espen Robak is president and founder of Pluris Valuation Advisors LLC and a nationally recognized expert on intellectual property and business valuation, restricted and illiquid securities, securities design, levels of value, and discounts for lack of liquidity.  Pluris’ practice includes portfolio valuations for investment funds and financial institutions, as well as a broad range of financial reporting and tax opinions for public and private companies.  Mr. Robak is a frequent contributor to books and professional journals on valuation, accounting, and taxation topics and his commentary has been quoted in: The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times, American Banker, Bloomberg, Absolute Return, and Accredited Investor, among others.  He is a columnist for Wealth Strategies Journal and an editorial advisory board member for Trusts & Estates.

Mr. Robak’s career has been focused on the valuation of, and research on, hard-to-value, illiquid, and distressed securities, primarily: structured finance, including auction-rate securities, restricted stock, warrants, convertible debentures, SPAC securities, and equity swap transactions.  Mr. Robak has provided valuation services for portfolio valuation, stock-based compensation and other financial reporting purposes, transaction fairness, estate and gift tax, corporate and personal income tax, employee stock ownership plans, litigation support, and other purposes.  Mr. Robak’s business valuation experience also encompasses intangible assets and intellectual property valuations, assignments involving the allocation of value between several classes of stock, and the valuation of derivative and hybrid securities. 

Prior to forming Pluris, Mr. Robak was senior vice president of FMV Opinions, a business valuation firm, and directed the firm’s restricted stock and blockage discount practices, including directing the FMV Restricted Stock Study, a published database of private placement transactions, as well as several publications on private placements, restricted stock, and marketability discounts.  Mr. Robak has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, a Master’s in Business Administration, and a bachelor of bcience degree from the University of Oregon. 

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Ronald D. Rudich is the senior director of Business Valuation and Litigation Support Services for Gorfine, Schiller & Gardyn, P.A., a 95 member Baltimore area CPA and business consulting firm.

He has written five white papers: “Multiple Uses of Comparative Industry Data”, published in IBA’s Business Appraisal Practice, Third/Fourth Quarter 2015; “Why Valuation Experts Should Not Use the Term 'Nonmarketable'”, published in Business Valuation Resources’ Business Valuation Update, September 2015; “Rudich DLOM Verification Formula”, published in Business Appraisal Practice, Third Quarter 2013; “Valuing the Difference Between Voting and Non-Voting Shares of Stock”, published in Business Valuation Update, November 2010; and “Analyzing the IBA Database Transactions Results”, published in Business Appraisal Practice, Winter 2006/2007.

Mr. Rudich is also the past chair of the Board of Governors for the Institute of Business Appraisers and on the Advisory Board of the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• To adhere to the most stringent standards and professionalism.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Government oversight; we should have peer review to assure better quality reports.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Consider the usefulness of the business valuation for consulting work thereafter to assist the business owner to realize increased growth, efficiency, and cash flow.

Chiefs of Publishing and Data

Jack Sanders is managing director of Spectrum Corporate Resources, LLC; president of Midmarket Corporate Services, Inc.; and president of Corporate M&A Advisors, Inc.  He joined Spectrum Corporate Resources as senior associate in 1997, specializing in middle-market mergers and acquisitions nationwide.  He was promoted to president/manager in 2001 and purchased the company in 2003.  He has personally handled over 130 business transfers and has appraised over 1,450 businesses.  His focus has been on manufacturing, wholesale/distribution, and business to business service businesses.

Mr. Sanders was president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Engineers’ Companies; primarily providing engineered facilities to local and federal governmental agencies.  He has spent 15 years with Page Olson Commercial Brokerage in San Diego, California, as a broker associate.  He developed the capability of providing certified business valuations for business owners and other authorities needing to place a value on the intangible assets of a business without an anticipated sale.  Mr. Sanders is the author of the BIZCOMPS® studies, a leading authority on the market value of small and medium business in the United States and Canada. 

Mr. Sanders is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth, the Institute of Business Appraisers, the NACVA, and the M&A Source.  He is a FINRA Registered Investment Advisor holding Series 79 and 63 designations.  He is a past member of the board of directors of the International Business Brokers Association.  He has a bachelor and a master degree in business administration.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Stephen J. Scherf began teaching for NACVA in the mid- to late-nineties, including courses in Determining the Appropriate Valuation Method and Advanced Valuation—Applications and Methods.  He was a member of the team of professionals that met in Chicago to develop NACVA’s first set of business valuation standards, and he has been active in the standards process ever since; currently serving on NACVA’s Standards Board.  He was also a member of NACVA’s first Education Board and chair of its first course review committee.   

Mr. Scherf is the president of Asterion, Inc., a financial and economic consulting firm specializing in forensic accounting, valuation, and intellectual property; with offices in Philadelphia and New York.  He provides a wide array of consulting services to clients and frequently testifies as an expert witness.  In addition to having served as a NACVA instructor, he has taught for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and other professional organizations.  He holds a BBA in Accounting from Temple University (1980), a master of science in finance (1986), and an Advanced Professional Certificate in Taxation (1987) from Drexel University. 

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Find a mentor.  The desire to constantly learn and improve are important, but developing a network of contacts is essential to success in the consulting business. 

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Intellectual property issues are the most important facing the profession, from understanding the value of intellectual property to the ability to safeguard such property from competitors, especially in light of increased cybercrime and changes in legislation.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Business Valuation has been the driving force of growth in my practice.  I anticipate continued growth in the BV area, with greater emphasis on the valuation of intellectual property assets.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

Sherry C. Smith has been a supporter of the IBA her entire career.  Over the years, she has contributed many articles to Business Appraisal Practice, and served as its editor in 2011 and 2012.  She was on the national conference committee in 2010, and served as co-chair in 2011.  For the past three years, she has served on the Board of Governors, until rotating off in June.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• Learn as much as you can and never stop.  You should always be reading journals, attending classes and conferences, and speaking.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Lack of agreement on best practices.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Mergers & Acquisitions and Litigation.

Industry Architects

Christopher M. Snider, CEPA, CEO and president of the Exit Planning Institute, creator of the Value Acceleration Methodology™, and managing partner of Snider Premier Growth, is recognized as a thought leader and trendsetter in the field of value acceleration and exit planning.  With a message that resonates with entrepreneurs across the country, Mr. Snider is a sought after speaker for many major companies and trade industries, and the associated organizations that are dedicated to serving the transition and growth needs of business owners.  He built his career as a key value growth integrator for major companies, including: the Sherwin Williams Company, FedEx Logistics, Nike, Dell, and Textron.

Finding passion in changing middle market business owners’ lives through rapid growth projects, Mr. Snider emerged a game-changer, noting a milestone project with a family-owned private company that he helped grow from $90 million to over $240 million in three years and successfully selling to a multi-national strategic buyer.  Now with a wealth of experience and a proven value acceleration system, he established a family investment company with his son, with ownership stakes in eight lower-middle market businesses.  Mr. Snider purchased the Exit Planning Institute and has grown it by more than three times over three years, utilizing the Value Acceleration Methodology in his own business.  He has been instrumental in putting exit planning on the map and in providing the tools and resources that arm advisors to serve the holistic needs of business owners.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• I am a strong advocate for professional advisors to break down silos and embrace collaboration to better serve business owners in a more holistic and satisfying way.  In order to change the outcome for those owners who are transitioning, advisors need to adopt a common framework and work together to address the personal, financial, and business goals of these entrepreneurs.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• The staggering number of middle market businesses set to transition over the next five to ten years due to the baby boomer age wave.  It represents 4.5 million businesses and over $10 trillion in wealth.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Exit planning is a major area of growth and the momentum is evident in the rapid growth seen in the EPI network.  More than ever, advisors come to CEPA training saying that they need to learn how to do exit planning because of the overwhelming number of clients they serve that ask for these services.  Exit planning is now.

Business Valuation and Financial Forensic Masters

In under 200 words, describe ways you have made extraordinary advances to our profession and deserves to be recognized: Carl Steffen states, “I do not know whether I would consider the following extraordinary advances to our profession because I never think of myself in that way.  I look at anything I have done as something that I enjoyed doing.”

He says the single most important contribution that he has helped with is work performed with respect to revisions and updates made to NACVA’s Professional Standards.  Mr. Steffen worked with seven other professionals in updating the NACVA Standards to coincide with the new adoption of the AICPA’s Statements on Standards for Valuation Services No. 1 when they were first published.  He also recently co-authored the new NACVA Business Valuation Review Standards. 

Mr. Steffen has taught business valuation training programs for NACVA and the Utah Association of CPAs.  Finally, he has written some articles published by NACVA, and provided Shannon Pratt with feedback to early drafts of one of his earlier business valuation publications.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• I would suggest any new person entering the profession to ask someone to help mentor him or her as they perform their initial assignments.  It is amazing how many senior business appraisers will volunteer their time to help train others in order to raise the level of our profession.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• I think business valuation generalists are giving way to the requirement of those entering the profession to become industry specialists or experts in a very specialized area of our professional practice.  I have seen this occur within the CPA profession over the 40 years I have been a CPA.  Business has become more and more complex requiring the use of business professionals with more specialized skills.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• In 2006, I started a project to gather statistical information about those individuals with accreditations from the NACVA, ASA, AICPA, and the IBA.  I found that the growing areas within our business valuation profession included forensic, damages, and exit planning strategies, as well as possibly mergers and acquisitions.  It is amazing how many different accreditations I obtained from those within our business valuation profession.  I found over 70 or 80 different designations that business valuation accredited individuals also obtained from my statistical study back in 2006.  Further, all you need to do is look at the current titans of the industry, what they were doing 10 or 15 years ago, and what they are doing now.

Chiefs of Publishing and Data

In 1997, Toby Tatum became a business broker and in 1999, he was awarded the Certified Business Appraiser credential from the Institute of Business Appraisers.  Today, he is also a Certified Valuation Analyst and a Master Analyst in Financial Forensics.  Additionally, he is a business broker trainer and has provided the required pre-licensing training for approximately half of all licensed business brokers in Nevada.  Mr. Tatum has published four books on business brokerage and business valuation topics, including Pricing a Small Business for Sale: A Practical Guide for Business Owners, Business Brokers, Buyers and Their Advisors.  This book was awarded “Best Publication of the Year” in 2009 by the Institute of Business Appraisers.  He has also published numerous articles on the valuation of small businesses in professional business valuation journals and arguably has published more on valuing a business via the BIZCOMPS database than anyone else in the country.  Mr. Tatum is formerly an Associate Professor of Management at Sonoma State University, a former instructor at the University of Phoenix’s Reno campus, and former Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at Sierra Nevada College.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now? 

• The craft of business valuation changes and evolves rapidly.  Therefore, it is very important to stay abreast of these changes via reading the latest books on the subject and attending seminars and webinars.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Insofar as business valuation goes, most small business owners view a business appraisal as a commodity and as such, tend to engage the appraiser with the lowest fee for the engagement.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Based on my recent experience, business valuations for small business owners pursuant to selling or buying a business.

Chiefs of Publishing and Data

Rick Telberg is a veteran analyst, advisor, commentator, editor, and publisher.  He brings a unique background and perspective to research and advisory services for the professional services community.

Mr. Telberg may well be the accounting profession's most widely-known commentator through his long associations with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Accounting Today magazine, and, CPA Trendlines.

As an expert in management, marketing, media, and e-commerce, he has served as senior editorial director of Pro2Net Corp., now www.smartpros.com, and as director of online content at CPA2Biz, www.cpa.com.

Previously, Mr. Telberg served as the early editor-in-chief of Accounting Today, and as vice president/group publisher at Thomson Financial (now SourceMedia), overseeing Practical Accountant, Accounting Technology, and what is now AccountingToday.com.

He was presented with a special citation by the National Society of Accountants for service to the profession and has served on a variety of boards and steering committees, including BKR International and the IBM Small Business Advisory Council.  He is a graduate of New York University.

At CPA Trendlines, Mr. Telberg has gathered an elite team of professionals, including Glenn Alan Cheney, Beth Bellor, and John Covaleski as senior editors and research analysts, Thomas Kothman as marketing director and strategic advisor, Jackson Whelan in digital strategies, and Rick Whelan of DittoDoesDesign.com as art director and brand guardian.

Industry Architects

Joseph T. Wells is founder and chairman of the board of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the world’s largest anti-fraud organization.

After graduating with honors from the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Wells spent two years on the audit staff of Coopers and Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers).

He then was appointed a Special Agent of the FBI.  Over the next ten years, Dr. Wells investigated thousands of fraud cases, ranging from nickel-and-dime con artists to former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell for his role in the Watergate case.  In 1982, he left the government to form Wells & Associates, a firm of criminologists specializing in fraud detection and deterrence.

Since founding the ACFE in 1988, Dr. Wells has lectured to tens of thousands of business professionals, written 22 books, and authored scores of articles and research projects.  His writing has won numerous awards, including the top articles of the year for both Internal Auditor Magazine and the Journal of Accountancy.

In addition to his duties as ACFE chairman, Dr. Wells served as a professor of fraud examination in the Graduate Business School at the University of Texas at Austin where his pioneering work was recognized by the American Accounting Association, which named him “Accounting Education Innovator of the Year” in 2002.  He is also chairman of the board of directors of the non-profit Institute for Fraud Prevention, an anti-fraud think tank.

Dr. Wells has served on various senior committees of the American Institute of CPAs and is a member of the AICPA’s Business and Industry Hall of Fame.  He was named to Accounting Today magazine’s annual list of the “Top 100 Most Influential People” in accounting nine times.  He holds a doctor of commercial science from York College of the City University of New York.

Pioneers of the Profession

Richard Wise is a partner specializing in business valuation and financial litigation in MNP’s Montreal office.  He has more than 40 years of experience performing valuations for corporate, litigation, and taxation purposes, as well as damage quantification.  Mr. Wise has presented more than 200 conference papers in Canada and the U.S. and authored more than 150 technical articles in both countries.

Mr. Wise was president of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators, international governor of the American Society of Appraisers, and chair of ASA’s BV Standards Subcommittee.  He served as valuation advisor to Justice Canada, Canada Revenue Agency, and Attorney General of Ontario.  He frequently gives expert court testimony and is recognized as an expert witness by Who’s Who Legal.

He was special assistant to Canada’s Revenue Minister and then partner-in-charge of valuation at Deloitte until founding his own firm in 1980, which merged with MNP in 2011.  He is principal co-author of the three-volume Guide to Canadian Business Valuations.

Mr. Wise serves on several professional boards and committees.  In 2006 he was inducted into the ASA College of Fellows, and in 2012 was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his 35 years of leadership in the Canadian valuation profession.

What one tip would you give those entering the profession right now?

• Ensure that you always have theoretical support for your analyses, and that they would pass a peer review.  Keep abreast of all developments in the profession as they relate to valuator qualifications and services provided.

What would you consider to be the most important current issue facing the financial consulting profession? 

• Potential professional exposure when acting as an expert witness in financial litigation.

What would you consider to be the major growth areas in the financial consulting profession?

• Expert witness engagements, international valuations, and fair value measurement for financial reporting.