what is the national association of certified valuators and analysts nacva 
the national association of certified valuators and analysts nacva is a group of business professionals that provide valuation and litigation services for various types of business transactions national association of certified valuators and analysts members receive training education and certification in asset valuation disciplines that they put to use in their respective professions the organization also enforces standards of ethical conduct among its members the association uses the axiom the authority in matters of value understanding the national association of certified valuators and analysts nacva the national association of certified valuators and analysts nacva was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in salt lake city utah nacva members work in careers that provide valuation and litigation services including mergers and acquisitions initial public offerings ipos and bankruptcy 1the nacva also provides accreditations of certified valuation analysts cva master analyst in financial forensics maff accredited in business appraisal review abar certified business appraiser cba and master certified business appraiser mcba 2across databases software certifications and professional standards the association s mission includes providing members with a range of high quality resources to facilitate their consultants success by enhancing their efficiencies and giving them a competitive advantage as the art and science of business valuation have gotten increasingly more complex the nacva is playing a central role in positioning its members and candidates to meet these evolving challenges through ongoing educational materials peer support and professional standards in the field of business valuation the national association of certified valuators and analysts nacva is the only accredited organization by the national commission for certifying agencies ncaa and the american national standards institute ansi 1certificationsthe certifications that nacva provides focus on different areas of analysis and litigation certified valuation analyst cva cvas focus on providing business valuations to consulting companies and their clients master analyst in financial forensics maff maffs provide assurance to companies that need financial litigation services the certification requires prerequisites experience and passing a five hour exam that tests the candidate on nacva s financial forensics body of knowledge accredited in business appraisal review abar abar is the highest standard in the valuation field particularly in business appraisal reports however abar has now ceased and active members need to recertify every three years but no new members can be certified certified business appraiser cba and master certified business appraiser mcba these two credentials are considered to be the industry s most difficult to obtain these credentials have also ceased being offered as the difficulty did not generate enough demand membershipthe national association of certified valuators and analysts nacva provides a variety of different memberships suited to different needs and qualifications the memberships are the practitioner membership ultimate membership professional membership affiliate membership academician membership government employee membership student membership and legal professional membership 3depending on the membership the annual cost ranges from 135 to 545 each membership comes with different benefits and access to different aspects of nacva 4the benefits of membership include an entire support network for individuals wishing to pursue a career in business valuation nacva provides education certifications online learning access to a variety of publications industry specific training such as in healthcare software and database litigation and managementthe organization also has a variety of support groups such as a writer s guild a mentor support group a pro bono group a training team and a speakers bureau nacva has trained over 40 000 cpas and other valuation and consulting professionals in the fields of business valuation financial forensics financial litigation and related specialty services in the business and legal communities 1