One of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis is that a coherent narrative is more important than ever in business valuation, says Dr. Aswath Damodaran, of New York University Stern School of Business, who gave the keynote address at the CBV Congress 2021. A valuation needs a marriage of narrative and numbers, Damodaran says. In a good valuation, the numbers are “bound together” by a coherent narrative, and storytelling is kept grounded with numbers. Too much emphasis on numbers can make valuations mere “plug-and-point exercises” that may be perceived to be sales pitches or a confirmation of preconceived values. Read more >>

It’s always very informative and helpful to listen to judges talk about the valuation cases they hear. At its annual conferences, NACVA regularly presents sessions with judges. At its Business Valuation and Financial Litigation Super Conference in June, a session included a panel of four judges and one moderator. The panelists shared their views of when they detect potential problems with appraisers when they are on the witness stand. Read more >>