To advance to Accredited Member (AM) and Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) under the educational program of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA), one of the requirements is that you must complete four 27-hour Principles of Valuation (POV) courses. Plus, you have to take a three-hour exam at the end of each course. However, many experienced BV professionals have already mastered the competencies taught in the POV courses. Fortunately, these individuals may qualify for advancement without taking the POV courses.

Alternative route: The ASA has relaunched the Business Valuation Challenge Exam for accreditation. It is geared toward those professionals who have more than 10,000 hours (five years) of BV engagement experience who have already mastered the competencies covered in the POV courses and who otherwise would qualify for advancement to AM or ASA. The Challenge Exam has 260 questions and is administered in two four-hour modules to be taken on the same day.

To register or learn more about the Challenge Exam, click here.