BVWire was in Las Vegas last week at the annual conference of the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA). Many excellent sessions covered topics such as impacts of the new tax law, cost of capital, lost profits/damages, expert witnessing, building your practice, and more. Here are just a few takeaways from some of the sessions:

• If you have a valuation date between the dates President Trump was elected (Nov. 8, 2016) and when the new tax law was passed (Dec. 27, 2017), should you factor in “pre-enactment expectation” into your valuation? There’s no definite answer, but it’s something to think about.
• Duff & Phelps says all of the backup material from the Valuation Handbook Guide to Cost of Capital is now viewable—and printable—in the Cost of Capital Navigator, which is replacing the hardcover version.
• How can two highly qualified valuation experts come up with such different conclusions? Different legitimate assumptions, for one thing. We point out that another is inadvertently falling into an advocacy role if a client or attorney led the expert astray.
• A case study illustrated the nightmare of an ambiguous buy-sell agreement—a good opportunity out there for valuators to help craft these and also do an annual valuation.
• WACC is the most widely used discount rate for valuing a business, said one speaker, but not many in the audience said they use it.
• The most important piece of advice when calculating the value of business interruption is to read the policy—including the fine print. What the policy says will dictate what you do from a valuation standpoint.
• Valuing a cannabis firm? Examine the “four L’s”: license rights, lease, location, and legislative environment.
• Don’t get blindsided by the opposing expert doing a forensic analysis and making large normalization adjustments—include forensics in your own analysis.
• In some states, financial expert witnesses are required to turn over their personal financial information to determine whether or not they are a “professional witness”—check your state’s rules on this.

As for organizational news, NACVA unveiled a number of initiatives to enhance the profession and benefit its members. One is an arrangement with the Expert Witness Exchange, which matches up experts with attorneys. NACVA has also set up a program in which members can offer their services to attorneys doing pro bono work who are looking for an expert willing to do the same. In conjunction with this initiative, a mentoring program has been set up for fledgling valuation analysts who may need support with the pro bono work.

We’ll have more coverage in the next issue. Next year’s NACVA conference will be in Salt Lake City.