How often do we hear well-known, veteran valuation experts “vehemently” disagreeing with each other over various issues? Here are some examples:

• “Use a normalized risk-free rate.” “No, use the spot rate.”
• “Yes, there’s a size effect.” “The size effect is fiction.”
• “Use the historical ERP.” “No, the implied ERP is better.”
• “Restricted stock studies are a good proxy for DLOM.” “Those studies are useless.”

The list of debatable topics goes on and on. Yes, healthy debate is good, but what is the average practitioner supposed to think when even the top people in the profession can’t agree? This was a discussion point during a recent AICPA podcast on marketability discounts. Especially for practitioners just starting out, who do you listen to when they disagree strongly about how to do something? While you may go with the view of the expert who you feel is more credible, you need to evolve your thinking, the speakers said. The bottom line is to go with an approach that you are comfortable with and that you feel is more supportable given the particular situation. Practitioners invite trouble if they are resistant to change because thinking on valuation issues continues to evolve.

The podcast was hosted by David Consigli, who was joined by speakers Brian McIntyre (Withum) and Natalya Abdrasilova (BDM). There are other recent podcasts in the series with different hosts and speakers, including discussions about ESG, personal and enterprise goodwill, human capital, and more.