BV207-OOO - Business Valuation Report Writing and Analysis

Registration

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Course Description

A common stumbling block for many candidates going through ASA’s accreditation process is the successful preparation of a satisfactory appraisal report.  After reviewing hundreds of reports and working directly with candidates, ASA’s Board of Examiners realized many BV practitioners need specialized assistance in preparing high-quality appraisal reports. This course has been prepared keeping in mind the types of report-writing errors commonly found in submitted reports and with a view to the high degree of competence and report-writing skill required to pass the rigorous report review by ASA's Board of Examiners.  Candidates who follow the guidelines presented in this course stand a much better chance of preparing a satisfactory report on the first try.

This course will:

• Review the rules for report writing set forth in relevant appraisal standards;
• Suggest proven solutions to logistical problems like organization, layout, style, printing, etc;
• Present a workable outline for a formal written business valuation report;
• Suggest suitable content for each section of an appraisal report; and
• Present a sound background for preparing appraisal reports which will meet the requirements of the ASA’s Board of Examiners.

A Note on Sample Reports

Some students have requested that ASA provide them with a sample report showing the content and organization discussed in this course. Experience has shown, however, that when students are provided with a sample report, they do not learn the underlying skills and analysis necessary to become competent appraisers and report-writers. Accordingly, no such sample report is included with this course; however, the many examples included in the course and the suggested table of contents are a “great start” and serve as a sound foundation for good report writing.

The Skilled Report-Writer

While this course will serve as a guide for writing business valuation appraisal reports, no one-day session can teach everything the skilled and competent appraiser needs to know about report writing. Competency and proficiency in report writing can only be gained through years of continuing appraisal education and hands-on appraisal report writing experience.

Pre-Requisites

This course assumes students are at least minimally qualified to perform business appraisals and have passed the four BV Principals of Valuation courses (BV201 - BV204).  This course also assumes students can demonstrate an expected level of common sense and good judgment, as well as proper and comprehensive grammatical skills.  While this course will assist you in writing a report that will be acceptable for ASA’s accreditation process, taking this course does not guarantee that your report will pass the Board of Examiners review process.

Who Can’t Use a Refresher?

For practitioners who have already achieved journeyman level business valuation skills, a course like this can serve as a reality check.  Few practitioners have the opportunity to have their written reports reviewed on a regular basis, and it is easy to get stuck in old report-writing habits.  Many appraisers use a report template of one type or another for report writing and these templates can become out-of-date.  Boilerplate type text can live for years undisturbed on report templates, never tested against newer standards.

Acknowledgements

This course grew out the experiences of ASA’s Board of Examiners while reviewing reports submitted by Candidates for the Accredited Member (AM) and the Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) designations.  The author has extensive report writing and review experience for ASA and other professional appraisal organizations.  It is important to acknowledge the skilled and valued contributions of Steven Schroder, ASA and Warren Burkholder, ASA in the concepts and contents of this course.  Both provided hundreds of hours in reviewing candidate reports and contributed significantly toward the art of report writing.

Agenda

This is a self-paced, OnDemand course providing approxiately four (4) hours of material to complete.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

1) Understand the rules for appraisal report writing set forth in relevent standards;

2) Develop an acceptable report template using proper layout and styling;

3) Write an outline for a formal written business appriasal report;

4) Draft suitable content for each section of the report; and

5) Prepare an organized, well-reasearched, substantiated and defendable business appraisal report.