After all the debate on the proliferation of professional BV standards, a new article by Martin Lieberman and David Anderson called “Will the Real Business Valuation Standards Please Stand up?” is among the first to clarify where the competing standards are consistent—and where they are not.  Published in a recent CPA Journal (Jan. 2008), the article begins with a comprehensive overview, from IRS Rev. Ruling 59-60 to the Uniform Standards of Appraisal Practice (USPAP) to last year’s issuance of SSVS 1 from the AICPA.  In particular, a chart displays each standard from the five major professional organizations and itemizes the type of valuation reports that each permits.  A second “Report Standards Comparison Chart” lists nearly sixty report items—from client engagements to limiting conditions to conclusions of value—and then identifies the minimum report requirements that each professional standard requires.  These charts alone are “worth their weight in gold,” says Noreen Dornenburg, former member of the Appraisal Standards Board.  To access the full article, click here.

Sources for industry data—an updated overview

“Where to Find the Competitive Data You Need,” a new article by Jane Hodges for BNET.com, is geared toward business owners who want to find “juicy tidbits” on their competitors.  It also provides business appraisers with an excellent guide to gathering industry intelligence for a subject company—or for a client prospect.  Included among the standard sources (SEC’s EDGAR for public companies, Dun and Bradstreet for private, LexisNexis for corporate legal filings, Moody’s for debt), are some new and not-so-obvious ones, such as:

• Patent and trademark websites
• KnowX, a fee-based site providing corporate “background checks”
• Internet domain-name registration sites
• Media clipping and analysis services
• Free news feeds

To get the complete guide, click Please let us know if you have any comments about this article or enhancements you would like to see.