CEO's Message—Second Quarter 2015

CEO's Thank You Message
"See and You Will Believe"

By Parnell Black, MBA, CPA, CVA
Chief Executive Officer

A Phenomena You Must See To Appreciate
I deeply appreciate the support and participation of our membership in the Association.  NACVA® is truly unique, but it is because of our members.  We proudly boast that NACVA’s members are the best and brightest the business valuation (BV) and financial forensic (FF) industries have to offer.  This is a proven fact because it is our membership that has led the growth of these industries for over two decades.  In the beginning, the industry’s wealth of knowledge comprised a mere handful of pioneers, a few books, a couple of annual conferences, a smattering of BV courses, archaic software, three or four useful databases, and maybe one industry newsletter.  It was practically nothing.  And from nothing sprouted NACVA.  To see how the industry has evolved, one simply needs to witness the hundreds of people attending our Conference in New Orleans this year.  In addition, NACVA will repeat this conference event in a similar fashion four more times this year with conferences in: Pittsburgh, PA (September 14–16), Houston, TX (October 18–20), San Diego, CA (November 16–18), and Ft. Lauderdale, FL (December 6–9).

The BV and FF industries have truly flourished, and the one thing no one can deny, is it all started with NACVA.  We are the heart of it and our members are its lifeblood.  They are the true leaders who have always willingly stepped into the game to do whatever they can to move our industries forward.  Just look around and you will see them delivering cutting-edge topics and presentations on behalf of NACVA and at other industry conferences.  In New Orleans this year, we will also see dozens of members staffing the event.  They can be found at our registration desk, as hall monitors, exhibit hall greeters, and dine-around hosts.  Where else will you find this level of commitment from members of an Association?  I will tell you—nowhere!  We are unique and it is our members that make it so.

A New Member Benefit You Won’t Believe ($245 value, but worth much more)
To express our deep gratitude to our membership, we are implementing a new member benefit which all members will receive for free.  That is an EconAssist™ subscription to KeyValueData®.  EconAssist is the basic KeyValueData subscription and is one of the five KeyValueData subscription levels—EconAssist, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Titanium.  EconAssist is, in itself, an unbelievable service.  It includes the following databases:

The Industry & Metro Reports is a compilation of every archived custom report ever produced by KeyValueData’s research staff, except those produced in the last six (6) months.  If you added up what valuators actually paid for all these custom research reports, it would total over one million dollars.

The Federal & State Law Cases is our compilation of all the business valuation (BV) relevant cases and case digests going back 30 years.  This library is updated monthly and has always been available to members for a fee, but now it is free.  If you are paying for this service from the industry’s only other provider, save yourself $370 a year because you have everything you need for BV case law research right here. 

Our Conference Presentations are a goldmine of cutting-edge insight, presented by the industry’s most revered leaders, covering the most important topics of the last 15 years.  A large percentage of these presentations/topics are still the focus of industry discussions today.  NACVA used to sell each year’s conference materials for $195, but now this library, valued in excess of $5,000, is free to NACVA members. 

Our Compensation Data is hard-to-find data provided by the government.  What we have done is brought it together in one place to simplify your research.  Some providers of this type of data charge hundreds of dollars a year for a single user.  This service is now free to NACVA members. 

S-1 Filings is a treasure-trove of industry information that is often overlooked by valuators because sifting through publically available SEC filings is a daunting task.  S-1 filings are required submissions for companies going public that address the industry’s economics, opportunities, and risks.  This is an incredibly reliable and rich source for your own research, providing threads to other sources and helping you to quickly become an expert on any industry.  KeyValueData is the only service I know of to make this tremendous resource available and easily searchable.  Its value cannot be ascertained because we have nothing to compare it to.  I do know hundreds of hours went into compiling it, and now it is free to NACVA members. 

Expert Witness Profiler (EWP) is a service that allows you to obtain Daubert relevant background information on any “expert.”  This service normally costs $45 each time you use it, but it is free to NACVA members.  Though the information you obtain is summary oriented, the reports are based on 40 sources that will point you in the right direction to dig up more meaningful insights on an expert you are up against.  This is a source you can use to educate and impress the attorneys you work with and provide them a winning-edge service.  If you wish, the provider of our EWP service, Daubert Tracker, LLC., will provide expanded and deeper research into the expert you want profiled for a fee.  But with EWP, you can also do this research yourself.

The EconAssist subscription comes with many other perks, like: access to First Research Industry and State Profiles, BizMiner Industry Financial Reports (both require additional fees), and other services we have pulled together to help you perform research for your valuation services.

EconAssist through KeyValueData is something you must see to believe.  I encourage you to check out your new EconAssist service.  This is free to all NACVA members whether you are an Academic, Associate, Government, Practitioner, Professional, or Student level member.  While you are there, take a close look at the other KeyValueData subscription levels, because you will not believe what you see, and at prices that will have you shaking your head and wondering—how do these guys do it?  

Thank you for everything you do to make this Association great.

Sincerely,

Parnell Black, MBA, CPA, CVA
Chief Executive Officer