New faces, ideas highlight the AICPA FVS conference in Dallas

BVWireIssue #266-1
November 6, 2024

valuation profession news
AICPA, business valuation profession, conference, artificial intelligence

BVWire attended the AICPA and CIMA Forensics and Valuation Services Conference in Dallas last week, and we were impressed by the number of new and younger faces we saw—both attending the event and making presentations. There were also some new vendors in the Exhibit Hall, which added to the freshness of the event. Plus, there were some excellent networking events, which, of course, you could take advantage of only if you were on-site.

As a result, there was a healthy turnout—about 700 in total, with about half online and half in person. And it was a mix of valuation (ABV) and forensics (CFF) experts, which was also about half and half. Also, we noticed a fair number of valuation experts who were not CPAs. Several years ago, the AICPA uncoupled the CPA and ABV credentials so that non-CPAs could hold the ABV. We were told that 20% of ABVs are not CPAs and that 35% of new applicants for the ABV are not CPAs.

Old and new: One would expect to see the veteran thought leaders, and the event didn’t disappoint. For example, Jim Hitchner (Financial Valuation Advisors) was there with his great insight into all things BV and announcing that the new fifth edition of Financial Valuation: Applications and Models will be ready to ship very soon (available on Amazon). Carla Nunes and Jim Harrington, both with Kroll, did their ever-popular session on the current economy and the impacts on valuation and cost of capital. But then we saw some speakers who were new to us, such as Jenny Allen (Anthem Forensics), who did a very well-attended session on valuing a cash business (with co-presenter David Consigli of FAZCPAs) and Michael Dragiev, who recently became chief auditor at Armanino, doing a session on how auditors review IRC 409A and ASC 718 valuations (along with colleague Jason Woon and Greg Russ from Forvis Mazars).

Some sessions dealt with perennial topics, and you would think that nothing would be new—but not so. For example, Lisa Cribben (Hawkins Ash) took a fresh look at the market approach, urging attendees to use it more and showing how to expand the horizon when looking for comparable companies.

AI interest high: Among the most popular sessions were three breakouts dealing with artificial intelligence and how practitioners can use it to increase efficiency. We were happy to see two speakers from the academic world doing a session—Daniel Street and Joseph Wilck from Bucknell University, who have several papers out on the use of AI in accounting. They did a good overview session with some very solid advice. Rod Burkert (Burkert Valuation Advisors) took it a step further with his session on some specific use cases for AI (he’s got a new newsletter coming on AI for BV). And then Cristina Chen-Oster and Ronnie Shah, both with M2M Capital, did an advanced session on their firm’s AI-powered platform for private-company valuations.

That’s just a small sample of what we saw, and we’ll have more coverage in future BVWire issues and in Business Valuation Update. Next year’s event will be in Colorado—at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora. We urge you to attend and to do so in person. There is a great deal to learn outside the formal breakouts as there is sitting in a session.

Please let us know if you have any comments about this article or enhancements you would like to see.