Some business valuation clients are “dangerous,” and valuers need to say “no” to them, advises Dana Ababei, who is the former president of the National Association of Authorized Romanian Valuers, Romania (ANEVAR) and has been a leader with organisations such as IVSC and the International Institute of Business Valuers (iiBV).

She reminds all business valuers to avoid the type of client who already may be familiar to BVWire—UK readers (or may already be on your client roster). These risky clients “put pressure on valuers, do not care about anyone, avoid paying for the services when the value is not what they expect and rather look for another valuer whom they subject to the same pressure,” she writes in the 2021 edition of VALUE: Wherever It Is, a publication from ANEVAR.

For the good of the valuation profession, valuers should say “no” to these clients and tell them why, she argues. “I believe trust is built on the truth that we tell people, not on what they want to hear,” Ababei says.