From the Chair

Abstract

The last time I wrote this letter we were all hoping for an end in sight to this pandemic. We have had more than a life-time's share of historical events over the last 12 months. And here we are, almost exactly 1 year later still working from home, doing lots of virtual meetings and hoping for life at somewhat of a normal level. I hope that everyone has been healthy and safe and will stay that way until we get back to normal, whatever the new “normal” might look like.That all said, I have less than 6 months left as Chair of your Business Valuation Committee. I have spent a lot of time with our CEO, Johnnie White, and have seen progress as ASA adjusts and moves forward with great expectations for the future. I have personally worked with Johnnie on a series of strategic initiatives that have gained much traction. ASA's forward progress is not possible without the time and effort devoted to the members of the BVC, its subcommittees and ASA HQ. Thank you all for your valuable time.At a recent meeting, The BVC voted to change the credentialing requirement for BV candidates seeking the discipline's Accredited Member (AM) designation.Effective immediately, the requirements for the BV AM designation will no longer require the submission of an appraisal report for eligible valuation professionals.The business valuation space is constantly evolving. Looking forward, we are seeing a growing number of professionals performing valuation analysis for corporations who do not communicate their conclusions via traditional appraisal reports. These professionals still need and desire advanced education, credentialing and membership programs offered by professional organizations like ASA. The changes made seek to meet the needs of this new and emerging market. We are looking for creative ways to increase membership of the ASA with these types of qualified professionals without lessening the value of the Accredited Senior Appraiser designation in any way.Our CEO echoed these thoughts by adding, “I've talked to a number of such professionals at our past Fair Value Conferences, and the common response has been, ‘I value ASA's education and would like to join, but your requirements fall outside my scope of employment.' ”During the same meeting, the BVC also voted to combine these 2 courses to 1 dynamic intangibles course. A qualified professional can now get the intangibles credential assuming they have an ASA designation, pass the test for the combined course, and submit a report that doesn't have all of the checklist items but is a “fatal flaw” process, meaning if you show you know what you're doing, it's approved. More guidance on this new course and credentialing requirements will be coming out soon.Check out the ASA website for updates, news and links to other programs and course offerings.As you all know, on June 5th the ASA Educational Foundation signed a publishing agreement with McGraw Hill to publish Shannon Pratt's 6th edition of Valuing a Business with the American Society of Appraisers. As Chair of the BVC when this happened I formed a committee to carry out this project. I meet weekly with my VAB6 Committee which includes – Jay Fishman, Roger Grabowski, Jeff Tarbell, Matt Crow and Johnnie White. While we all have our day jobs, we have rarely not had full participation for these meetings which started almost exactly 1 year ago in person at my office in NYC. We are also working with a full-time intern, Grant Zindel, who has helped us organize all of the work that has been done to date.I am very happy to report that all chapters have now been updated/written and through the review process. We hope to have the entire manuscript delivered to McGraw Hill on time by March 31st.Over the decades, the book's unsurpassed explanations of all valuation issues have made Dr. Shannon Pratt's Valuing a Business the definitive text in the field, against which every other business valuation book is measured. ASA and its Business Valuation Committee are proud to have the opportunity to continue the legacy of such a world class text.The book is expected to be available in 2021.ASA is the gold standard in our profession. We need to continue doing the types of things described above in order to maintain that status. We also need to encourage all of our young professionals to get active in ASA to ensure the continuity of ASA into the future.I hope everyone has had a strong, healthy and safe start to 2021.Ken