It’s neck and neck when it comes to the business valuation credentials that exist at firms recently surveyed. Fifty firms responded to the survey that found the CVA credential exists in 65% of the firms, while the ABV is in 63%, and the ASA is present in 58% of the responding firms. These findings merely represent the existence of a credential at a firm, not the number of individuals with that credential. There are more than twice as many CVA credentials in the market as the ABV and ASA combined, so that proportion should play out in firms on average.

Other prominent credentials at the responding firms include the CPA (84%), CFA (53%), and CFE (38%), which is Certified Fraud Examiner. Other findings include:

• Forty percent of firms require staff to pursue credentials, while 46% “recommend” that they pursue them;
• Sixty-three percent have a “preferred” credential, which is the ASA for 51% of those firms that prefer one, while 22% favor the CVA, and 7% prefer the ABV; and
• In terms of covering the costs, almost all firms (96%) cover the cost of obtaining a credential, while 94% cover the costs of maintaining the credential (e.g., ongoing CPE).

The full results (including comments from respondents) will be posted in BVR’s Free Downloads web page at the end of this quarter. This survey is part of BVR’s ongoing BV Firm Benchmarking Study in collaboration with Rod Burkert (Burkert Valuation Advisors). We will have another one in next week’s issue. Thank you all for participating!