Continuing Professional Education on Business Valuation & Litigation
Upcoming Webinars:
- Feb 25, 2025: Harnessing AI to Transform Your BVFLS Practice
- March 11, 2025: Advanced Expert Witness Skills for Business Valuators
- April 10, 2025: Current Valuation and Litigation Hot Topics and Best Practices
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
1:00 – 3:00 PM EST
Harnessing AI to Transform Your BVFLS Practice
Speaker: Rod Burkert
Webinar Description:
As a BVFLS professional, you seek ways to maintain a competitive edge … and AI is the next frontier to exploit. Because whether you’re on the AI sidelines or already a seasoned user, there is a ton of potential to be explored. This session will showcase real-world examples to demonstrate how you can harness AI to better market, sell, and deliver your services. If AI for BVFLS is on your mind – and you’re looking to move past the hype and integrate AI into your workflows – this session is one you’ll want to attend.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will discuss practice management issues and solutions as they relate to these AI matters:
- Understanding what is driving AI adoption
- Overcoming objections to AI use in BVFLS work
- Comparing pros and cons of alternative AI platforms
- Crafting effective AI prompts for practical BVFLS use cases
- Navigating AI usage disclosure requirements by the VPOs
- Identifying best resources to increase AI-use proficiency
Handouts:
- VPS Webinar PowerPoint slides
- Following the webinar, attendees will have access to a video recording of the program
About the Presenter:
Rod Burkert
In one way, shape, or form Rod has been performing business valuations since the late 1980s. In July 2000, Rod started Burkert Valuation Advisors in Philadelphia where he ran a “traditional” valuation practice for 10 years.
From March 2010 to March 2022, Rod traveled full-time in an RV throughout the US and Canada with his wife and dogs. When he saw the possibilities of a location-independent practice, he started rbCOACHING to help others transform their BVFLS firms.
Rod has since settled in Bisbee, AZ and focuses solely on practice management coaching. And when the first AI model rolled out in late 2022, he saw the potential that AI could have for the BVFLS profession. That began a journey of self-learning and experimentation, culminating in Rod’s launch of his AI for BVTM newsletter in January 2025. His mission: Turn the practice you have into the practice you want … with an assist from AI.
March 11, 2025
1:00 – 3:00 PM EDT
Advanced Expert Witness Skills for Business Valuators
Speaker: Brian Peter Brinig JD, CPA/ABV, ASA
Webinar Description:
Against the backdrop of litigation, Brian Brinig offers valuable strategies to help experts prepare for depositions and navigate challenging questions during business valuation depositions. The program, designed from the perspective of a business valuation expert witness, teaches how to respond to tough inquiries both truthfully and skillfully. Professor Brinig demonstrates common mistakes in answering deposition questions and contrasts them with effective approaches. He also delves into the art of direct examination, providing techniques to elevate trial testimony and transform routine presentations into impactful ones. The lessons shared are applicable to all experts seeking to enhance the effectiveness of their testimony.
Learning Objectives:
The participant will learn the following:
- Understanding business valuation litigation
- The importance of the “lack of expert privilege”
- Expert deposition is a losing proposition
- Strategies for effective expert deposition testimony; make it a win
- Succeeding on direct examination; take charge of your lawyer
- Surviving cross-examination
Handouts:
- VPS Webinar PowerPoint slides
- Following the webinar, attendees will have access to a video recording of the program
About the Presenter:
Brian P. Brinig JD, CPA/ABV, ASA
He is a certified public accountant and managing director of CBIZ Forensic Consulting Group in San Diego, California. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Diego School of Law who has qualified as an expert witness in California and Federal courts more than 300 times. He has given expert testimony in depositions in 600 cases in the past 40 years. Professor Brinig is the author of Mastering the Art of Expert Witness Testimony (2022; Burlington Business Press, New York; available on Amazon).
Thursday, April 10, 2025, 1:00 – 3:00 PM ET
Current Valuation and Litigation Hot Topics and Best Practices
Speakers: Valuation Insights Panel (“VIP”):
- Laurie-Leigh White, CPA*/ABV, ASA, CEIV, Moderator
- Bethany Hearn, CPA/ABV/CFF
- Carli Lehr, CPA, CVA, CEPA, CM&AA
- Alina Niculita, MBA, ASA, CFA, ARM-BV
- Maureen Rutecki, CPA/ABV/CFF, ASA, MBA
Webinar Description:
Join this powerhouse panel of experts as they discuss key issues facing the valuation and litigation world today. The panelists will discuss current valuation and litigation hot topics and best practices, including handling excess and deficit net working capital, what to do if data is limited, updates on discounts for lack of control and marketability, how to leverage artificial intelligence in valuations, and more.
Learning Objectives:
The participant will learn and be updated on the following:
- Economic trends and valuation adjustments
- Regulatory and accounting developments
- Intangible asset and intellectual property valuations
- Valuing privately held companies amid limited data
- Discounts and premiums
- Litigation hot issues
- Leveraging technology in the workplace
- Best practices of firm management and professional growth
Handouts:
- VPS Webinar PowerPoint slides
- Following the webinar, attendees will have access to a video recording of the program
About the Presenters:
Laurie-Leigh White, CPA*/ABV, ASA, CEIV (moderator)
Laurie-Leigh White serves as partner of BVA Group and heads the firm’s Houston office. She leads the firm’s ESOP practice and co-leads its gift and estate tax practice and transaction advisory committees. She is responsible for overseeing the execution of a variety of valuation and litigation engagements and has been involved in thousands of valuation projects for a wide variety of purposes, including financial reporting, ESOP, valuations for tax purposes, transaction advisory, and fairness opinions. Additionally, she has been involved in litigation consulting assignments related to economic damages, financial forensics, marital dissolution, and valuation matters.
Bethany Hearn, CPA/ABV/CFF
Bethany is a partner at MH CPA PLLC in Champaign, Illinois, where she leads the firm’s Transaction Services group. She specializes in valuation and litigation services for privately held companies and attorneys. Ms. Hearn provides valuation and litigation services for succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, marital dissolution, shareholder disputes, and gift and estate tax purposes. With over 35 years of experience, she has supplied expert witness testimony on valuation and forensic-related matters in multiple states. She is a licensed CPA in the state of Illinois and is Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) and Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF). Ms. Hearn regularly teaches on valuation topics for professional organizations and at state and national conferences.
Carli Lehr, CPA, CVA, CEPA, CM&AA
Carli is the Director of Brown Plus Transitions. She has almost 20 years of experience in public accounting and private industry, with 14 of those years focused in the area of business valuation. In her current role, Carli performs business valuations to assist with marital dissolution, shareholder disputes, exit planning, estate and gift planning and compliance, and the sale or purchase of a business. She is a member of the VPS Valuation Advisory Group and a contributing author to the 5th edition of Financial Valuation Applications and Models.
Alina Niculita, MBA, ASA, CFA, ARM-BV
Alina is director of valuation services at Morones Analytics in Portland, Oregon. She has over 20 years of experience in business valuation, specializing in enterprise, professional practice, and intangible assets valuation and appraisal review in various industries and for various purposes including marital dissolution, shareholder disputes, damages analyses, and business transactions. Ms. Niculita has been a designated member of American Society of Appraisers for 15 years, and an active volunteer with numerous leadership positions, including most notably serving as Treasurer of ASA’s Portland Chapter Committee and a current member of ASA’s Business Valuation Discipline Committee. Mr. Niculita holds the Business Valuation (BV) credential and the Accredited in Review Management in Business Valuation (ARM-BV) from the American Society of Appraisers (ASA), and the certified financial analyst (CFA) from the CFA Society. Mr. Niculita graduated from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania, and obtained her MBA from the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also an expert witness, instructor, and author, and currently serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Business Valuation Review, the official publication of the Business Valuation Committee of the ASA.
Maureen Rutecki, CPA/ABV/CFF, ASA, MBA
Maureen is a Partner at EFPR Group, LLP, a CPA firm headquartered in Rochester, New York, where she leads the firm’s business valuation practice. In addition to being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), she is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) of the American Society of Appraisers and Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) and Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Ms. Rutecki has practiced in business valuation since 1998. Her prior experience was in accounting and international and U.S. banking. She has served on the AICPA’s Business Valuation Committee and ABV Credential Committee, and on various AICPA task forces. Ms. Rutecki is a past vice president of the Western New York Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers.
Continuing Professional Education on Business Valuation & Litigation
Jim Hitchner’s Valuation Products and Services (VPS) provides tools to assist practitioners in business valuation, litigation services, and forensics and fraud.
Valuation Products and Service, LLC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417. Web site: www.nasba.org.