Reconciling Going-Concern Business Valuation Indications Derived from Multiple Business Valuation Methods

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine practice mechanisms historically used to reconcile material differences in going-concern business valuation indications derived from multiple business valuation methods as applied within and between separate economic income streams and value hierarchy levels.

The contributions of this dissertation are multiple as they relate to the valuation literature that offers vague and conflicting guidance on the use of the prevailing informed judgement and averaging practice-mechanisms to reconcile valuation differences.

From the examination, a rigorous new form of Alternative Practice Mechanism (APM) comprised of procedural, theoretic, and mathematical elements that organize, and augment prevailing going-concern business valuation theories and methods was constructed. This mechanism proposes an in-sync common-factor analysis methodology for going-concern business value indications derived from multiple methods, and augmented valuation theory to address value hierarchy-level issues. The quantitative, deductive research design employed a survey of 315 professional business valuators to assess the key factors comprising the APM. This was facilitated in conjunction with a qualitative, inductive research design that enabled development of Excel model and model illustrations that elaborated on, enhanced, clarified, and corroborated the quantitative survey findings.

The findings confirmed that adopting part, or all, of the APM and its underlying procedural and theoretical augmentations raise significant research and practical implications that may enhance the research, teaching, and application of business valuation theory within academic and professional communities.

The study suffers from its singular focus on going-concerns and ignores businesses that are not, the cross-sectional nature of the research design, and the lack of existing research on the marketability of going-concerns. Overall, the findings of this study may prospectively enhance efficiency in global transactional markets and legal and teaching processes.