One For The Ages—Third Quarter 2025
NACVA is taking pre-orders on the March 2026 release of our new book to be published by Wiley Publishing entitled Business Valuations: Fundamentals, Techniques, and Theory. This book was three-years in the making, involved the support of dozens of members, and is the most definitive text on the process of preparing a thorough and comprehensive business valuation ever written. It will replace our training materials used in our Business Valuation Certification Training Center. The book will retail for $185 and NACVA members who pre-order get a special price of $175. To learn more and order, click here. The book foreword is below.
One For The Ages
Parnell Black, MBA, CPA, CVA
NACVA's Chief Executive OfficerParnell Black, MBA, CPA, CVA
Thirty-five years ago, NACVA’s subsequent founders created and launched a business valuation training course entitled Business Valuations: Fundamentals, Techniques, and Theory. Initially, their training was promoted to the CPA community, believing this community was underserved in this discipline. They were right and the course was an instant success. Shortly thereafter, they started the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA), which also gained traction very quickly given its focus and support was also targeted to the CPA community. In the late ‘90s, NACVA opened its doors to non-CPAs, recognizing that the pursuit of business valuations was of interest to practitioners in many areas of expertise, not just accounting. This included people from finance, economics, and business management. Subsequently, we saw interest from people in engineering disciplines and, more recently, from the sciences.
Over the years, NACVA has trained over 40,000 professionals and certified over 11,000 with their Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) credential, which is dually accredited by the internationally recognized National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), a division of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE), and the American National Standards Institute National Accreditation Board (ANAB). NACVA has flourished over the years, and the cornerstone of its success can be attributed to its foundational training course. I can say that because I am a co-founder of NACVA and co-creator of this course. What makes this course so special and unique is very simple—it teaches a step-by-step process of performing a thorough and professional business valuation as outlined by the Valuation Pyramid included at the beginning of each chapter. Attendees to NACVA’s five-day Business Valuation Certification and Training Center, whether in-person, live virtually, or through self-study, with little to no knowledge of business valuations, will leave capable of performing one. Seasoned analysts will appreciate this book as it provides a comprehensive and current update to valuation theory, approaches, methodologies, models, and practices. Surprisingly, at the time the course was first created, no training existed that walked through the steps of this process. Yes, books and training existed, but all had the same deficiency—they taught theory and concepts but did not teach the process. That was left for the reader or participant to figure out on their own. To this day, I am not aware of another training program that takes this approach to teaching business valuation.
Three years ago, we decided to convert our extensive training curriculum into a book and partnered with Wiley Publishing to bring it to life. But doing so turned out to be a much larger undertaking than originally anticipated. In great part it was because, as a book, we wanted to not only teach readers the step-by-step process of doing a business valuation, we wanted to create a book that served as the profession’s primary reference guide; meaning we had to go way beyond what had been presented in the training materials. Our goal was, if you have only one book on business valuation, regardless of your level of experience, that one book should be Business Valuations: Fundamentals, Techniques, and Theory. I believe, and I think you will too once you read this book, that we achieved and maybe even exceeded our goal.
Writing this book was no small feat. To pull it together, NACVA initially contracted with more than two dozen authors, each having a different chapter or chapters they were responsible for, with many working in teams to produce a rough draft of the manuscript. This was completed in late 2024. But when working with this many authors, what you end up with is a manuscript that has many voices, and often contrary opinions, which you will learn is a characteristic within the business valuation profession because not everything is black and white. There are many gray areas, which we address herein, giving the reader all sides to an issue and providing advice and direction to help the reader find the best solution. In the end, readers of this book will learn how to prepare a proper and professional business valuation with confidence, and have in their library a resource to help them through any challenge encountered in business valuation endeavors. This is the one book everyone interested in this discipline must have.
To our team of contributing authors, I want to express my deep, deep appreciation and thanks for your incredible support in writing this book. It was a long time coming and you persevered. I must also express my special thanks and gratitude, gratitude that no words can properly express, to the four-person Technical Authors team and Senior Editor that convened in early 2025 and spent 1,400 hours between them going through sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page, to bring one voice to this manuscript, put perspective on varying opinions, eliminate redundancies, add useful and proper references, add practice pointers, and to make sure that every sentence made sense, that every thought and every concept connected to the next, and that this book was as perfect as any technical treatise could be. They put a lot of pride and heart and soul into this effort.
To our Technical Authors team and Senior Editor, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Lari Masten, MSA, CPA, ABV, CFF, CVA, MAFF, ABAR
Richard Gray, CPA, ABV, CVA, ASA
Janae Castell, CVA, MAFF
Pasquale Rafanelli, CPA, ABV, ASA, CVA, CBA, MAFF, CFE, CDFA, AEP
Daniel Shiffrin, JD, Senior Editor
To our contributors, with heartfelt appreciation, thank you for your support in making this book happen.
Peter Agrapides, MBA, CVA
Rod Burkert
Robert Carter, CPA, CVA, ABV, CFEW, CEPA, CFF
David Fein, MBA
Trisch Garthoeffner, ABV, CVA, MAFF, EA, MAcc
Robert Grossman, CPA, ABV, ASA, CVA, CBA
Sherry Jordan Voithofer, CPA, CVA, CFF, PM
Michael Kowler, CPA (inactive), CVA-Honorary (non-practicing), ABV (inactive)
Mark Kucik, CPA, CFF, CVA, CPVA, CM&AA
Karen Lascelle, CPA, CVA, CFE
Nick Mears, MBA, CVA, MAFF
C. Zachary Meyers, CPA, CVA
Dave Miles, CPA, CVA, CGMA
Jason Pierce, CPA, CFM, CVA, MAFF
Ron Rudich, CPA, MS, MCBA, CVA, ABAR, MAFF, CM&AA, CMEA, BCA
Carl Steffen, CPA, ABV, CFF, CVA, ASA, CBA, ABAR
Garth Tebay, CPA, CVA, MAFF, CM&AA
Frank Wisehart, MBA, CPA, ABV, CFE, CVA, MAFF
I also want to give my special thanks to Brien Jones, NACVA’s Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President who spearheaded the creation of this book from beginning to end. Without his determination and special talent for corralling many people for one purpose, this book would never have come into being.
I wish you all the best in your business valuation pursuits. NACVA is always here to support you.
Over the years, NACVA has trained over 40,000 professionals and certified over 11,000 with their Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) credential, which is dually accredited by the internationally recognized National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), a division of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE), and the American National Standards Institute National Accreditation Board (ANAB). NACVA has flourished over the years, and the cornerstone of its success can be attributed to its foundational training course. I can say that because I am a co-founder of NACVA and co-creator of this course. What makes this course so special and unique is very simple—it teaches a step-by-step process of performing a thorough and professional business valuation as outlined by the Valuation Pyramid included at the beginning of each chapter. Attendees to NACVA’s five-day Business Valuation Certification and Training Center, whether in-person, live virtually, or through self-study, with little to no knowledge of business valuations, will leave capable of performing one. Seasoned analysts will appreciate this book as it provides a comprehensive and current update to valuation theory, approaches, methodologies, models, and practices. Surprisingly, at the time the course was first created, no training existed that walked through the steps of this process. Yes, books and training existed, but all had the same deficiency—they taught theory and concepts but did not teach the process. That was left for the reader or participant to figure out on their own. To this day, I am not aware of another training program that takes this approach to teaching business valuation.
Three years ago, we decided to convert our extensive training curriculum into a book and partnered with Wiley Publishing to bring it to life. But doing so turned out to be a much larger undertaking than originally anticipated. In great part it was because, as a book, we wanted to not only teach readers the step-by-step process of doing a business valuation, we wanted to create a book that served as the profession’s primary reference guide; meaning we had to go way beyond what had been presented in the training materials. Our goal was, if you have only one book on business valuation, regardless of your level of experience, that one book should be Business Valuations: Fundamentals, Techniques, and Theory. I believe, and I think you will too once you read this book, that we achieved and maybe even exceeded our goal.
Writing this book was no small feat. To pull it together, NACVA initially contracted with more than two dozen authors, each having a different chapter or chapters they were responsible for, with many working in teams to produce a rough draft of the manuscript. This was completed in late 2024. But when working with this many authors, what you end up with is a manuscript that has many voices, and often contrary opinions, which you will learn is a characteristic within the business valuation profession because not everything is black and white. There are many gray areas, which we address herein, giving the reader all sides to an issue and providing advice and direction to help the reader find the best solution. In the end, readers of this book will learn how to prepare a proper and professional business valuation with confidence, and have in their library a resource to help them through any challenge encountered in business valuation endeavors. This is the one book everyone interested in this discipline must have.
To our team of contributing authors, I want to express my deep, deep appreciation and thanks for your incredible support in writing this book. It was a long time coming and you persevered. I must also express my special thanks and gratitude, gratitude that no words can properly express, to the four-person Technical Authors team and Senior Editor that convened in early 2025 and spent 1,400 hours between them going through sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page, to bring one voice to this manuscript, put perspective on varying opinions, eliminate redundancies, add useful and proper references, add practice pointers, and to make sure that every sentence made sense, that every thought and every concept connected to the next, and that this book was as perfect as any technical treatise could be. They put a lot of pride and heart and soul into this effort.
To our Technical Authors team and Senior Editor, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Lari Masten, MSA, CPA, ABV, CFF, CVA, MAFF, ABAR
Richard Gray, CPA, ABV, CVA, ASA
Janae Castell, CVA, MAFF
Pasquale Rafanelli, CPA, ABV, ASA, CVA, CBA, MAFF, CFE, CDFA, AEP
Daniel Shiffrin, JD, Senior Editor
To our contributors, with heartfelt appreciation, thank you for your support in making this book happen.
Peter Agrapides, MBA, CVA
Rod Burkert
Robert Carter, CPA, CVA, ABV, CFEW, CEPA, CFF
David Fein, MBA
Trisch Garthoeffner, ABV, CVA, MAFF, EA, MAcc
Robert Grossman, CPA, ABV, ASA, CVA, CBA
Sherry Jordan Voithofer, CPA, CVA, CFF, PM
Michael Kowler, CPA (inactive), CVA-Honorary (non-practicing), ABV (inactive)
Mark Kucik, CPA, CFF, CVA, CPVA, CM&AA
Karen Lascelle, CPA, CVA, CFE
Nick Mears, MBA, CVA, MAFF
C. Zachary Meyers, CPA, CVA
Dave Miles, CPA, CVA, CGMA
Jason Pierce, CPA, CFM, CVA, MAFF
Ron Rudich, CPA, MS, MCBA, CVA, ABAR, MAFF, CM&AA, CMEA, BCA
Carl Steffen, CPA, ABV, CFF, CVA, ASA, CBA, ABAR
Garth Tebay, CPA, CVA, MAFF, CM&AA
Frank Wisehart, MBA, CPA, ABV, CFE, CVA, MAFF
I also want to give my special thanks to Brien Jones, NACVA’s Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President who spearheaded the creation of this book from beginning to end. Without his determination and special talent for corralling many people for one purpose, this book would never have come into being.
I wish you all the best in your business valuation pursuits. NACVA is always here to support you.
Parnell Black, MBA, CPA, CVA
Chief Executive Officer, NACVA
Chief Executive Officer, NACVA
