One of the big concerns in the business valuation profession is future talent. Where will the next generation of qualified valuation professionals come from? One logical answer is college campuses. Of course, some campuses will have more to offer than others in terms of talent. For example, at the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University, fledgling valuation analysts are part of a Business Valuation Club formed in August 2014 that now has 15 members.

Serious study: “Our club objective is to prepare students for the ASA's first and possibly the second exam, the BV201 and BV202 respectively,” says Justin Myers, a student member of the club who also serves as its secretary. “We have the student manuals and meet twice a week to go over the material. Last semester, we had four students take BV201 and three of them passed. This semester, we hope to have approximately 10 sit for it and possibly one for the BV202 exam.”

The student members also go off campus to see what’s going on in the field. “In February, we took eight members and our faculty advisor to a meeting of the ASA Dallas chapter,” says Myers. “We had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with some of the members. All of us came back with new information on the industry and were more fired up than ever. The professionals were extremely thrilled that young students were interested in this field. Since that meeting, we have continued networking with them and some students have garnered a site visit to a mid-market CPA firm in Dallas.”

What to do: BVWire urges valuation practices to become involved with their local colleges to help nurture student interest in business valuation. For example: sponsor a club like the one at Texas Tech, host some site visits, give some presentations to classes, or hire an intern. Also, consider sponsoring a college team to the Private Business Valuation Challenge, an annual competition between colleges from across the country.

BVWire wishes the members of the BV Club at Texas Tech the best of luck!