Sacred Heart University CVA Program Experience—Third Quarter 2023
Sacred Heart University CVA Program Experience
By: "Siva" Sivalaiphon Sasitorn-Ferine, Student
The business valuation course offered as part of the forensics concentration of the Master of Science in Accounting (MSA) degree was such an interesting experience that I truly appreciated. It gave insight into an area that I did not know very much about within the accounting field; it focused more on the business and financial side of accounting versus the debits and credits. It was fascinating to take a course that has its roots in and also offered by the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) because it was like being given the opportunity to learn about an accounting niche. I was very interested and excited to go through the materials. The course was structured so that we as students were set up for the NACVA university program. Once we purchased our textbook materials from NACVA, we were given access to the Consultants' Training Institute (CTI) online campus. Through this portal, we had access to materials in our library and were instructed to view preparatory videos prior to starting the course; such as, “Essentials of Business Valuation”, which was a five-part webinar series designed to help students prepare for our training/class. This series was very helpful. Part one, “Introduction to Business Valuation and Understanding the Engagement”, was the so-called hooking video for me. After watching this video, I was pretty excited to learn more. The other videos in the webinar series went on to provide an in-depth overview of the “Core Body of Knowledge for Business Valuations” and explain the foundation. Part two covered the analysis phases, part three went into the income approach, part four covered the asset approach and the market approach, and part five covered valuation discounts, premiums, and value. The objective was to introduce us to the business valuation process so that we can "choose the fundamental steps to valuing a business from beginning to end", as quoted from the course description. Upon finishing the five-part webinar series prior to class, we were given access to the primary materials. Business Valuations Fundamentals, Techniques and Theory was our main text we referred to for this course.
Although I found the topic of business valuation to be new and exciting, I also at times found it to be "A Lot". A lot of stuff and vocabulary that was so new, a lot of intricacies, a lot of areas that interconnect with topics like the economy, financial formulas, different incidences to use different approaches (most of them being not clear to me), a lot of definitions, a lot of new rules, and a lot of new material. Even so, all of this new knowledge was still very exciting to learn about. There are many terms to remember, but the most memorable take-away phrase I learned was from one of the NACVA videos posted by my professor to assist us in our learning: "It always Depends, in this business", quoted from Lorenzo Carver, one of the instructors on the valuation videos. Prior to this immersion, the closest knowledge to valuation I had was having previously done real estate market analyses and finding comparable properties for clients.
How I Got Here to be Able to Take These Classes
When COVID-19 unexpectedly hit and everyone was stuck at home due to the shut-down, I started to give more and more thought to things I would like to do. This process led me back to Sacred Heart University (SHU) as a MSA student. I bunch of years ago, I was enrolled as a MBA student at SHU. I left the program unfinished when I decided to take time off to have my child and be a full-time mom for several years. The pandemic got me thinking about finishing things I had started. I applied and asked the admissions department to switch my program from the MBA to the MSA and to please transfer as many credits as they could. Luckily, they agreed and I was able to continue and finish my journey at SHU where I felt I received the balance I needed of learning and support. I wanted a degree that was more targeted and less broad. Already having a bachelor degree in business, the MSA would give me more specialized knowledge as well as balance things out. I saw it as more of a portable degree that could be of use in a corporate setting, a public accounting stint, for gig work, and entrepreneurially. Mainly, the MSA gives you the education credits required to sit for the CPA and other accounting certifications. What I did not expect was to be introduced to an area of accounting that I would truly consider specializing in in the future.
The Capstone and Final Class
Fast forward to the last and final make-or-break class of the program: the capstone. This too was a real-world taste of a case study that was actually given to NACVA certification applicants previously. The differences were: we were put into teams that were chosen for us, we only had six weeks combined to learn what we had to do, do it as a team, submit a detailed report, and fashion an oral presentation which would also be judged by a panel. I remember thinking, OMG, I really only got the gist of the whole business valuation thing from that class I really liked. Now we would try it on our own and use all of the knowledge we had gained from being in the program and past experience to help us get it done. Aside from our previous knowledge though, this course also gave us access to the "CVA Case Study Online Report Writing Clinic" as part of our curriculum to assist with and give guidance on the approximately 100-page report that was expected as one of the final workpieces to be turned in.
Another opportunity we had as students going through this capstone course, was the choice to either use Excel to create worksheets for our case study or learn and use the business valuation software that NACVA would give us as a free trial. The professors had informed us that the use of the business valuation software could save us close to 20 or so hours of work. Upon hearing that, I decided I would use the trial and learn how to use the software from the get-go for the team. A tool that would make our work smoother (and learning and execution more efficient) just seemed like it was the smart thing to do. The first couple of weeks for me was spent reviewing current class materials and prior class materials, along with the case and learning how to use the software. There was a whole page of training video links and, as students, we were able to contact the software company, ValuSource, for extra training on the Business Valuation Manager Pro software; they were a big help in lessening the learning curve.
It was then time to get together as a group and discuss the case and what to do. We worked together and separately getting different parts of the case and report done, and then the presentation. One crucial point we all agreed on from the first meeting was to make sure that we each reviewed the critical elements of the “NACVA Business Valuation Scenario Experience Requirement Scoring Key” and each verify that we had every one of those requirements to ensure, at the very least, we did not automatically “fail”. Another requirement of the course was that we all must attend the first and last class; others were made optional. The two extra classes offered for the capstone course were opt-in classes where students were afforded time with the professors to go in and ask them questions. Taking advantage of both of these sessions was a tremendous help (crucial for our success). Although the purpose of the sessions was for questions, the discussions we had with the professors was, in hindsight, also a learning experience. For the students that had questions while they were in the process of working toward completing the case-study, these extra sessions gave clarity as to whether we were grasping necessary processes and concepts of the project. At one point, our group needed to step back and reassess how we would calculate our adjustment for excess cash on the books. All our other adjustments were done; it was just this one hiccup we had. I recalled that during the “CVA Report Writing Clinic” videos, the speakers had mentioned that the case study, as well as many business valuations, would be a circuitous process; and it was!
At our wrap-up phase, we all agreed to meet several times a week. We also made use of our group’s chat app to ask each other questions and stay on track. The presentation was put together, the report was printed, our deliverables were sent to the professors, and now the last thing we had to do was present our case to the panel. The panel was the two professors and a special guest panelist who was asked to be a judge during our case study presentations. The room felt a bit tense throughout all of the presentations and we were the last group to go. Each group had a time limit to follow. When it was our turn, we found that instead of having too little to present (as we had initially anticipated), we had more than we needed for our allotted time. So cut, cut, cut, answer the panelists questions they threw at us, and done. Now breathe. Phew!
After having gone through the course at SHU (and especially the classes that directly supported the concentration, the business valuation classes, and capstone), I feel grateful for having had such a robust experience and am also ready to learn even more. I truly hope SHU continues to offer business valuation courses with NACVA well into the future.
