In the latest e-update to members, Bob Morrison, vice chair of the ASA’s BV committee, admitted that his fellow members had “struggled” to identify the differentiators between the ASA and other BV accrediting organizations. “If we can’t verbalize them, how can we expect the public, especially the buyers of our services, to know and value them?” As a result, its Strategic Planning Task Force recently identified several distinctions, among them:

• The ASA has been around for 75 years, the oldest multidisciplinary organization in the country.
• ASA members include the pioneers of the BV profession and the country’s most respected thought leaders.
• ASA members are the only BV professionals who must comply with USPAP, the only standards that have received Congressional recognition.
• Members complete “the most rigorous qualification requirements in the [BV] profession,” including attaining five years of experience and submitting a valuation report for peer review as part of the accreditation process.

Despite these differences, ASA members seemed to have stalled at a certain level of accreditation. A recent member survey revealed that lack of funds to pay for further education and the ease with which other organizations offer credentials may be the culprit, as was the stringency of the report and expertise requirements. To help clarify recent changes to these requirements, Trey Stevens, the BVC’s vice chair of the board of examiners, is rewriting the ASA BV candidate submission guidelines and will soon publish an article that describes common flaws and errors found in submitted reports. As part of its strategic plan, the ASA will still hold “world class conferences.” Take advantage of early bird pricing for the ASA 2012 Advanced BV Conference in Phoenix from October 8 to 10; for more information, click here.