The past few years may have been witness to the most demand, the best growth, and the highest profitability the business valuation profession has ever seen, according to the executive summary for the 2023 BVR Benchmarking Survey. All respondents to the survey will soon receive the full executive summary.

Business valuation, forensics, and litigation services (BVFLS) practice management expert Rod Burkert (Burkert Valuation Advisors) helped design the survey and is adding his insights to the final report on the survey. A few more observations:

• About two-thirds of partners and owners saw their 2022 compensation increase over 2021;
• Eighty-four percent of firms increased their billing rates from the prior year;
• The average and median profit margin for all reporting firms was 50%;
• With business surging, it’s not surprising that new client development is no longer the most pressing challenge—quality control is now the top concern; and
• A hidden opportunity may exist in developing an industry niche—very few practitioners claim or rely on that expertise.

This is just scratching the surface in terms of data and metrics collected from the survey, which included responses from almost 200 business valuation firms and practices. Most of the respondents (60%) have business valuation as their primary business, while 23% say public accounting is their main business, with BV as a practice area. In terms of volume of engagements, there was a good mix of small and large practices, with about half of the respondents doing more than 50 engagements this past year and about a third doing one to 20 engagements.