In a recent BVWire, we reported that Professor Aswath Damodaran (New York University Stern School of Business) recently wrote in his blog that he tells his students that he considers valuation to be neither art nor science, but a craft.

Rings a bell: This same point was made in an article in the winter 2008 edition of the ASA’s Business Valuation Review, “From the Practitioner’s Perspective: Valuation as Craft,” written by Warren D. Miller (Beckmill Research LLC). In the article, Miller offered eight steps the valuation membership organizations should take to elevate the credential. He wrote: “These suggestions have one goal only: to protect clients by raising the probability that the valuation professional they retain will be competent and knowledgeable. If we don’t do that, the federal government will step in and make matters far worse.”