Business Valuation California | Business Evaluation in California | Corporate Valuation

We’ve built our practice on serving our clients as independent business valuation experts. You don’t get handed off to a junior analyst, and our partners ensure they understand your requirements. We pride ourselves on timely delivery of easy-to-understand analysis and reports.

We start with a short scoping call to understand your needs, provide you with a document checklist, then perform our analysis and deliver a draft report for your review. The entire process typically takes 4 weeks depending on the complexity and document availability.

Our partners hold the credentials that matter in this field: CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst, CFA Institute), ASA (Accredited Senior Appraiser, American Society of Appraisers), and ABV (Accredited in Business Valuation, AICPA). Between us we bring decades of experience across transactions, estate and gift tax planning, shareholder matters, and court-appointed divorce engagements. We work regularly alongside attorneys, CPAs, and fiduciaries, and our reports are written to be understood by the people who need to rely on them — not just by other appraisers.

Fees depend on the purpose of the engagement, the size and complexity of the business, and the type of report required. A discount study for a property holding company is a different exercise than a litigation-grade valuation of an operating company, and pricing reflects that. We provide a fixed-fee quote after our initial scoping call, so there are no surprises once we begin. Most engagements fall within a predictable range for their scope, and we’re happy to discuss budget expectations before any commitment.

Rules of thumb and online calculators can provide rough estimates, but they don’t account for your business’s unique characteristics. For important decisions, you need a professional valuation.

The three report types we issue serve different purposes. A Calculation Report reflects a limited-scope analysis using procedures agreed upon with the client — useful for early planning, preliminary settlement discussions, or internal decision-making, but not appropriate for tax filings or litigation. A Summary Report presents our conclusion of value with the supporting analysis condensed; it’s suitable for many shareholder matters. A Detailed Report is the most comprehensive — fully documenting methodology, assumptions, and supporting data — and is the standard for IRS filings and contested matters. We’ll recommend the right report type during the scoping call based on how the valuation will be used.

Our reports are prepared in accordance with professional standards (USPAP, SSVS, and applicable IRS guidance) and are written to withstand scrutiny — whether from the IRS in an income, estate or gift tax filing, from opposing counsel in a shareholder matter, or from a court if the valuation is ever challenged. That said, we do not take on retained expert witness engagements as a matter of practice. When we work in litigation contexts, it is typically as a court-appointed neutral, most often in divorce matters where both parties need a single, independent valuation they can rely on. For clients who need a partisan expert witness, we’re happy to refer you to qualified colleagues.

A business valuation is a professional assessment of what a business is worth for a specific purpose — such as estate or gift tax filings, shareholder transactions, divorce proceedings, or sale planning. It’s a defensible analysis grounded in financial performance, market conditions, and company-specific factors, and it’s distinct from a broker’s opinion of value or an informal rule-of-thumb estimate.