Beyond Heating and Cooling From coast to coast and everywhere in between, HVAC plays a critical role in economic performance and presents compelling opportunities. This article discusses factors business valuators must consider when they are engaged to value HVAC companies. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) services are not only essential, they are foundational to modern comfort and thriving ...

Self-reflection and the Engagement Process The buying process begins when a prospect or a referral source considers you for a new engagement, or when a client considers you for a repeat performance. In this article, Rod Burkert reflects on this aspect of the engagement process. The buying process begins when a prospect or a referral source considers you for a new engagement, or when a client considers you f ...

In First Month of 2025 In the first month of 2025, hospital revenue and expenses both increased, balancing each other out and resulting in continued steady financial performance for hospitals, according to Kaufman Hall’s January 2025 National Hospital Flash Report. This article reviews the report and the current state of hospital operations. In the first month of 2025, hospital revenue and expenses both inc ...

Forecasting Errors One of the common pitfalls in applying the income approach is committing forecasting errors. To understand the impact of this error, this article discusses the importance of the income approach in business valuations and areas that require careful evaluation. One of the common pitfalls in applying the income approach is committing forecasting errors. To understand the impact of this error ...

Strategic Gifting Before 2026 The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 presented an opportunity by significantly raising lifetime gift and estate tax exclusions, but this window is closing soon. With the exclusions set to expire at the end of 2025, there is an urgency to plan your gifts sooner than later. Imagine it is December 2025, and you have a chance to gift $14 million to your children without incurring a si ...

What is an Injured Party Worth? The Forensic and Valuation Services division of the AICPA and CIMA issued a Practice Aid in 2020 on Measuring Damages Involving Individuals. This Practice Aid supersedes AICPA Forensic and Valuation Services Practice Aid 98-2, Calculation of Damages from Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, and Employment Discrimination. This NACVA QuickRead article provides a summary of the upda ...

Healthcare Policy Edition During his two months in office, President Trump’s administration has called for significant changes at a fast and furious pace, with several healthcare agencies and programs across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) targeted. To keep up with the latest actions of the legislative and executive branches of the federal government, this article summarizes recent ev ...

Matter of Weber—Challenges to a Trustee’s Accounting Go Awry Serving as a Trustee of a Trust is difficult. In the case presented, a trust beneficiary alleged that the trustee—his aunt—breached her fiduciary duty. The trust beneficiary retained an expert in connection to this claim and this did not go well for either the beneficiary or damages expert. The article summarizes the case, provides a road map and ...

Is AI the Death of Professional Judgment or its Reincarnation Only with careful oversight and the application of seasoned professional judgment can AI deliver results that are not only accurate but also defensible and unimpeachably neutral. This article in the Unimpeachable Neutrality Series explores the indispensable role of professional judgment, particularly as it intertwines with the capabilities of AI. ...

Take Up an Informed Contrarian View to Disrupt the Business Valuation Profession What frustrates you about our industry? Do you think your prospects, clients, and referral sources might feel the same way? What if you took a stand? What if you stood out by promising something different than the standard operating procedures your competitors follow? What frustrates you about our industry? There must be someth ...

Guidance from AICPA’s 2024 Accounting and Valuation Guide—Business Combinations There are various methods used to value intangible assets. The relief from royalty method is based on the premise that there are royalty savings if the acquiror acquires the asset instead of licensing it. The value of the asset is calculated as the present value of after-tax royalty savings over the economic life of the asset. T ...

And the Trump Administration’s Freeze This article is the latest installment of QuickRead articles on ESOP regulations. Specifically, it focuses on the request, and status thereof, for the Department of Labor to clarify “adequate consideration” for the valuation of entities held in ESOPs. This article is the latest installment of QuickRead articles on ESOP regulations.[1] Specifically, it focuses on the req ...

What are a Self-Employed Person’s Earnings? What are Their Profits? This article will discuss some of the unique factors relating to assessing lost profits for self-employed operated businesses. As examples, two extremes will be discussed. These extremes provide virtual bookends when assessing a claim of lost profits by a self-employed person. The first addresses a self-employed person who reports his/her i ...

Addressing the Value and Professional Standards Issues in the Engagement Resolving a shareholder dispute often requires determining the value of a shareholder’s interest in the business. This article provides a framework for the business valuation expert to discuss this issue with attorneys and clients. Headings organize the questions and issues. Resolving a shareholder dispute often requires determining th ...

Common Practices in Florida, Value Enhancement Strategies, and Market Positioning How are day care and early learning centers valued? In this article, the author shares her thoughts on how these are valued in Florida. In addition, the author shares strategies to enhance the value of the business. "If children are the world’s greatest investment, then daycares are the blue-chip stocks of our future—steady, e ...

Strategies to Limit Digital Risk and Liability In this article, the author looks back at predictions made in the 2014 Pew Research. Reflecting on this study, it becomes self-evident that we understand what the problems are, and, perhaps, we even have good ideas of how to tackle these problems. Therefore, the issue is not necessarily “finding a solution” but rather, having the will and desire to implement a ...

Are You Prepared for the Outcome? What can parties in a litigation case do when the experts come to differing opinions of value? The authors share ways that parties and counsel can reconcile the differences or at least reduce the value gap. It sounds great—if the valuation experts can resolve their differences, a trial might be avoided, saving time and money. This strategy is not without peril, and clients ...

You are not Limiting Yourself There is a lot of disruption going on in the BVFLS industry and you should give niching a fair shot if you have more of a generalist-type practice. In this article, Rod Bukert shares his views on how to overcome the fears of specialization. There is a lot of disruption going on in our industry; from accounting/business valuation firm mergers to big data valuation solutions to f ...

Speaking from Experience Mediation aims for parties to mutually resolve their dispute. Unlike litigation and arbitration, there is no trier of fact that determines the conclusion of a dispute. Instead, the mediator, a neutral third party, tries to help all parties meet at an amicable middle ground, which can be done through creative means of communication, collaboration and problem solving. The author share ...

Recognize Ethical and Professional Standards of Using AI AI is pervasive and promises to fundamentally transform business operations, education, and daily life. However, functional insights bridging the gap between AI and our industry have been lacking. The authors share their views on the ethical and professional standards implicated from the use of AI in forensics and valuation engagements. This article e ...