We had the great pleasure of welcoming Nick Talbot, CEO of the International Valuation Standards Council, to the BVR offices last week. The IVSC has made incredible strides over the recent past, releasing a final version of IVS 2017 in its efforts to harmonize valuation standards for the global economy. The IVSC has also put in place a new infrastructure within which focused subject matter expertise boards will continuously revise and improve IVS to help ensure that they add value and can be implemented by valuation professional organizations (VPOs).

Take a look: At a recent BV conference BVWire attended in Los Angeles, a show of hands revealed that about half of the audience was not familiar with IVS. We asked Talbot for his perspective as to why a U.S.-based valuation expert should be concerned with IVS 2017. He pointed out that knowing IVS 2017 is important in order to attract business from firms with operations outside the U.S. If you want to restrict your practice to the U.S., that’s fine, but practitioners (especially the newer generation) increasingly want to learn global standards so they can offer their services anywhere in the world. One attendee at the Los Angeles conference pointed out that he knows IVS because the Big Four consider it when reviewing a valuator’s work, even if it doesn’t involve an entity outside the U.S.

The standards (which become mandatory this July) are now available in print or PDF format, and BVR has a new eLearning course on IVS 2017.

Talbot also pointed out that the IVSC is looking for input on several important matters:

• Your feedback is wanted by August 15 on an Agenda Consultation Paper on future revisions to IVS, which is part of the IVSC’s new efforts to continually evolve IVS instead of issuing completely revised standards every few years; and

• If you would like to serve as a member of the IVSC’s new board that will deal with the valuation of financial instruments, please fill out an application by July 1.

We also note that you can attend the IVSC’s annual general meeting, which will be in Mexico City October 1-4. At this event, there will also be meetings of the IVSC’s advisory forum, subject matter boards, and other associated groups.