CVA Training and Exam

CVA Training & Exam December 2021

Certified Valuation Analyst® (CVA®)—Determine, Defend, and Maximize Company Value™

Live Online CVA Training: expected to be held from 6 December – 15 December 2021 (Five-and-a-half-day training / 42 hours of continuing training credit) – dates not finally approved

Location: interactive live Zoom meeting

Proctored CVA Exam: testing center or via live remote proctoring

CVA Training Overview

The training is a five-and-a-half-day live online training program with an experienced team of renowned instructors who will prepare attendees to pass the business valuation certification (CVA) exam.

The Core Body of Knowledge for International Business Valuations (BOK) has been launched in  2017 — along with the International CVA Exam. The BOK and International CVA Exam are global in application to business valuation methodologies and approaches.

The CVA training offered globally follows the curriculum as described in NACVA’s Business Valuation Certification and Training Center. NACVA’s international chapters are able to develop and teach supplemental content specific to their country or region, but this supplemental content is not tested on the International CVA Exam. Supplemental content can be added to the International BOK as an appendix.

EACVA CVA Training Exam Information 2021 (PDF)

CVA Registration Form and Information Handbook 2021 (PDF)

Course Agenda

I. BV Fundamentals, Techniques & Theory (4 x ½ days)

• Introduction to Business Valuation
• Financial Statement Analysis and Calculation of Financial Ratios
• Generating Economic/Normalized Financial Statements
• Defining and Estimating the Future Benefit Stream
• Capitalization/Discount Rates
• Commonly Used Methods of Valuation
• Valuation Discounts and Premiums
• Professional Standards
• Defining the Valuation Engagement and Obtaining the Necessary Information
• Search for Adjustments
• Practice Case—Workshop

II. The Market Approach: Exploring the Pricing Component (½ day)

• Understanding and Applying the Market Approach to Valuation
• Completed Transactions Method
• Data Sources Commonly Used for the Completed Transactions Method

III. The Market Approach: Guideline Public Company Method (½ day)

• Conception and Basic Assumptions
• Sources and Aggregation of Peer Data
• Adjustments Based on Regression Analysis
• Reference Bases for Multiples
• Concurring Adjustments of Multiples
• Enterprise Value Multiples (Market Value of Invested Capital (MVIC) Multiples)
• Equity Value Multiples
• Excess Cash
• Empirical Results

IV. Valuation of Intangible Assets (½ day)

• Fundamentals of the Valuation of Intangible Assets
• Identification of Intangible Assets
• Valuation Approaches:
  • Overview
  • Valuation of Assembled Workforce
  • Valuation of Technology
  • Valuation of Trademarks and Other Marketing Related Assets
  • Valuation of Customer and Order Backlog
  • Tax Amortization Benefit
• Asset Specific Cost of Capital
• IFRS 3 and Fair Value Measurement Framework (IFRS 13)
• Impairment Test (IAS 36)
• Summary of Assumptions for Fair Value and Value in Use

V. Applications and Calculations of the Income Approaches: DCF in depth (1 and ⅓ days)

• International Valuation Standards (IVS)
• Business- and Peer-Group Analysis
• Integrated financial planning as the backbone of each DCF model (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow statement, tax planning including tax loss carryforwards)
• Terminal value, different approaches and assumptions, competitive advantage period, steady state, convergence
• Details on Cost of Capital:
  • CAPM: Beta in depth for the use in practice
  • Debt-Beta
  • Unlevering and relevering formulas depending on different assumptions regarding tax shields and debt-beta
  • Circular problems and the solutions in practice
  • Modifications of CAPM
• DCF-Methods:
  • Entity Methods: WACC, APV, Total Cash Flow-WACC
  • Net-Debt
  • Equity Method: Flow to Equity
• Special Valuation Issues:
  • Cash flows in different currencies
  • Local CAPM vs. Global CAPM
  • Country Specific Risk

VI. Case Study: Valuation (DCF and Multiples) and reporting of a European mid-market company (½ day)

VII. Exam Preparation – CVA Proctored Exam and Business Valuation Report (Case Study) (⅓ day)

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CVA Proctored Exam

• the five-hour proctored exam is administered at a Kryterion test center or via live remote proctoring. In response to limited test site availability resulting from the COVID19 pandemic NACVA is offering temporary testing by live remote proctoring (LRP). Candidates using the live remote proctoring option will receive the requirements from EACVA/NACVA via e-mail.
• consists of approx. multiple choice and true/false questions derived from the Core Body of Knowledge for International Business Valuations (BOK)
• Exam pass/fail results are communicated to CVA candidates approx. 14 days after the exam date
• Retake option will be presented to candidates in the event they fail the exam

CVA Exam and applied experience

The certification process consists of two parts:

1. Part One (testing knowledge) is a comprehensive, five-hour, multiple-choice, proctored examination, which is administered at a Kryterion test center or via live remote proctoring. It consists of multiple-choice/true-false questions, testing applicants on EACVA’s/NACVA’s Business Valuation Body of Knowledge.
2. Part Two (evaluating applied experience), is not an exam but
   • is a take-home/in-office sample Case Study (applicants have 180 days to complete and submit a comprehensive business valuation report) or
   • submitting an actual and sanitized Fair Market Value/Market Value business valuation report on an operating business signed by the candidate

Case Study Requirements

• Candidates perform a valuation and write a Fair Market Value/Market Value business valuation report of a minority share of a small or mid-sized stock listed company.
• In most cases the companies are selected from the countries of origin of the individual attendees. For example: an attendee from Spain will obtain a Spanish company.
• Processing time is 180 days.
• Attendees have to submit the signed version of the valuation report as well as a copy of all working papers (hard copy and/or electronically).

CVA Registration Form and Information Handbook 2021 (PDF)