Conference season is upon us: Key takeaways from the ASA/USC Fair Value Conference in Los Angeles

The valuation profession is officially gearing up for conference season. BVR was proud to partner with the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and the University of Southern California (USC) to webcast their May 10 Fair Value Conference, held at KPMG in Los Angeles.

The growing importance of fair value for financial reporting and the ongoing efforts to improve the quality in this area of practice triggered a sell-out for the live ASA/USC 13th Annual Fair Value Conference. For those not able to attend in person or tune into the webcast, BVR’s own executive editor, Andy Dzamba, was there and shares his key takeaways from the event.

Eight key takeaways from the Fair Value Conference:

1. So far, 100 individuals have earned the Certified in Entity and Intangibles Valuation (CEIV) credential with another 750 in the pipeline; a panel of large audit firms said they are ready to certify their staffs as soon as the inspection and quality control process is ironed out;
   
   
2. This summer, the AICPA will issue a final version of its best practices framework for its new Certified in Valuation of Financial Instruments (CVFI) credential;
   
   
3. The Federal Reserve’s QExit strategy will progressively lead to an increase in the cost of equity;
   
   
4. An ASA task force on tax reform’s impact on business valuation will soon present a third in a series of webinars on its findings;
   
   
5. Personal goodwill in a PTE could spell trouble for the firm’s ability to take the new tax law’s QBI deduction, which doesn’t apply if a firm’s principal asset is the “reputation or skill” of one or more people;
   
   
6. A working draft of the AICPA accounting and valuation guide to private equity/venture capital is now available (comments are due August 15); the next guide is business combinations, to be issued in 2019;
   
   
7. There are no fundamental changes to The Appraisal Foundation’s draft of its contingent consideration guidance; the next draft (or final) will be out this fall; and
   
   
8. The levels of fair value audit deficiencies have improved, but there’s still room for improvement.

If you’re interested in listening to the complete sessions from the Fair Value Conference, a recorded webcast is available from BVR. A detailed recap of the conference will also be included in the June Business Valuation Update issue.

BVR now heads to New York City on May 21 for the annual business valuation conference hosted by the New York State Society of CPAs and then to Las Vegas on June 19 for the NACVA/CTI 2018 Annual Consultants’ Conference. We hope to see you!