Mark Boulanger (Raiche and Co.) was recently reviewing an “opinion of value” by an individual with a credential that Boulanger had never come across before. “Can anyone point me to a website for the National Society of Business Opportunity Appraisers?” he asked members of the BV Professionals discussion group on LinkedIn (membership required). “What is that organization? How does it compare to the IBA, NACVA and ASA?”

Replied Ray Springer (Springer Appraisal & Consulting): the National Society of Business Opportunity Appraisers, in association with American Business Consultants Inc.(ABC), may grant the Certified Business Opportunity Appraiser (CBOA) credential. In fact, ABC appears to be more a private business than a professional membership society, pointed out Ed Heben (Citrin Cooperman & Co.). A quick Google search turns up the CVs of several individuals boasting the CBOA credential. There’s also a web site that posts a certificate along with a web page that touts the use of a valuation method “based on the one used by the Society of Certified Business Opportunity Appraisers,” which has been “refined, fine-tuned, database-driven, computerized, and extensively tested to insure that the results are ‘Real World’ not just a number based on a ‘Rule of Thumb’ or some financial index or ratio.” 

“Not sure how much weight the CBOA holds in relation to the others,” Boulanger remarked, in closing. Other continuing discussions by the BV Professionals group include a query by Ashok Abbot (Univ. W. Va.) asking for current economic inputs, and a thread on valuing and allocating professional goodwill using MUM. Tax affecting is another topic, along with an article posted by Lari Masten (Masten Valuation) on how BV report writing may be suffering from an “epidemic” of “expertese.”