Few issues generate more spirited conversation among valuation practitioners than the debate over whether to use Excel or a valuation software package. After all, many practitioners have invested hundreds, or thousands, of hours developing their own spreadsheets, templates, linked databases, and report-writing systems. Those systems may have served them well for years. The question isn’t […]
Welcome to the second installment in ValuSource Insider’s new seriesexploring the dozens of major valuation-related databases you can find on the BV Data University website. This month we’ll dig into Bizminer, a top-notch resource for benchmarking data in more than 9,000 lines of business in thousands of U.S. market areas, drawn from a database that […]
In last month’s issue, we shared several “prompt engineering” tips [link] from a recent NACVA webinar on effective GenAI “prompt engineering.” Presenter Colin Brown — the founder and chief technology officer of Syncnet, which helps consultants leverage AI and software — also provided some advice on how to revise prompts to obtain better results when […]
The question that looms over the market approach is “Did I select all or enough of the comparable transactions that my subject company might be similar to in this database?” Obviously, if the answer is no, the credibility of the analysis will wane. Selecting the right comparable sales transactions is fundamental to the market approach […]
I had the pleasure of attending the Global Excel Summit in London in May as an exhibitor with ValuSource, and I came away energized and more impressed than ever by the Excel community. For those of us in valuation, Excel isn’t just another software tool. We live and breathe Excel. It’s where our analysis takes […]
Most valuators are well aware of some of the benefits that large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and CoPilot can have for them, but many worry about the privacy implications — specifically, the risk of uploading confidential documents. Those documents could, for example, become part of the “training” for commercial, cloud-based AI tools […]
Last month, in the first part of a three-part series, we told you about our new MARS (Multi-Attribute Ranked Search) method for identifying the best comparables. In a world where valuation experts’ access to such a significant volume of data is growing every day, new tools are necessary to analyze the vast amounts of data […]
Earlier this year, we introduced you to our new MARS (Multi-Attribute Ranked Search) method for identifying the best comparables. In the second part of our three-part series on MARS, we walked you through a hypothetical case to illustrate the different outcomes you’d obtain from a traditional manual search versus a traditional search enhanced with the […]
Valuators have eagerly awaited the release of the “ProSight™ Annual Statement Studies Valuation Edtion” every fall for years now. ValuSource has worked with ProSight (formerly RMA) for more than 30 years to provide the business valuation community access to the studies’ enhanced data, for use in both our valuation software and your own Excel spreadsheets. […]
Welcome to a new regular feature in ValuSource Insider. Starting this month, we’ll explore the dozens of major valuation-related databases you can find on the BV Data University website. First up is RCReports, a robust database of comprehensible, defensible compensation data for closely held businesses — a source that was recognized in a recent state […]
