Recap of the IACVA/SECBA Atlanta conference

The Southeast Chapter of Business Appraisers (SECBA) and the International Association of Consultants, Valuators and Analysts (IACVA) co-sponsored Business Valuation in an Upside Down World in Atlanta. BVWire attended this excellent two-day event, and here are a few takeaways:

• In an economic update, John Robertson of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank noted that the U.S. has had solid growth in the overall workforce but not a corresponding growth in productivity. Possible reasons: a weak pace of capital spending, new hires that are less productive, or there’s a “statistical mirage,” meaning the output is now hard to measure.
• The most common error in valuing an international firm is mixing and matching currencies—using one currency for cash flow and another for the discount rate, according to Kevin Madden (Duff & Phelps).
• An exposure draft on peer review for valuation firms is in the works by IACVA, according to Bill Hanlin, the organization’s president.
• Mark Zyla (Acuitas) gave a fascinating presentation on social media valuation and told attendees that you can calculate the value of a “like” by plugging in a few metrics at valueofalike.com.
• Bill Johnston (Empire Valuation Consultants), who is head of the ASA BV committee, gave an update on the Fair Value Quality Initiative. He noted that some of the commenters are concerned about the 3,000 hours of fair value work experience needed to qualify for the new credential. He pointed out that this amount of time can represent any type of work on fair value, not just billable hours, over a five-year period.

We’ll have more coverage of this event in a future issue of BVWire.