In a recent interview, Ray Bratcher, a valuation analyst with Trugman Valuation Associates Inc., was asked: “What makes a good valuation report?” He replied that reports he works on tend to be long, but they are conversational and are not loaded with unnecessary information. “If we are using CAPM to arrive at a discount rate, we don’t go into the theoretical underpinnings of how you come up with a beta,” he says. “The report is geared toward making the reader understand the general concepts. I think one of the best skills for an analyst to have is the ability to distinguish between what information a reader needs to know and what a reader doesn’t need to be inundated with.”

Stuart Weiss, a CPA and a valuation practitioner in Portland, Ore., interviewed Bratcher. You can read the full interview in the August issue of Business Valuation Update.