With 2025 reshaping business as usual—through economic uncertainty, inflationary concerns, tariffs, trade barriers and even wars—Americans are increasingly in need of a steady, trusted professional to define value. In times of global volatility, the CPA profession provides services in valuations for everything from bankruptcy to restructuring to hostile litigation. And as always, the market does not lie: The U.S. valuation advisory space (including intangible assets and business models) was valued at $5.3 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $8.9 billion by 2033 according to Verified Market Reports.
Over the past year our editorial team set out to identify CPAs with premium valuation skills from across the United States to produce Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s Top CPAs in Valuations. We curated this elite cohort of CPAs specializing in valuation services through outside nominations, independent research and consultation with experts and industry insiders. And through that research journey, we’ve gleaned insights into the state of the profession—and what today’s top CPAs in valuations can deliver for you.
Today’s valuation professionals are united in their assessment: these are extraordinary times for the field. While business valuation has long been the process of determining the economic value of a business using financial statements and a comprehensive analysis of factors—including but not limited to projected financial performance, economic outlook, realistic operational efficiency, tangible property, intangible assets and goodwill—those determinations are now increasingly more complex. As listmaker Mac Lillard with GRF says, “One of the challenges confronting CPAs in valuation services in 2025 is navigating the growing tension between traditional valuation methodologies and rapidly evolving business models—especially those driven by intangible assets, AI and subscription-based revenue structures. As the economy becomes increasingly digital and asset-light, many valuation engagements require deeper qualitative judgment, broader data interpretation and a more forward-looking perspective. In conjunction with the growing uncertainty regarding global trade policies … and their impact on future cash flow projections, we are in a time of increasing complexity when performing valuations for growing companies.”
“These challenges are compounded by heightened regulatory and stakeholder scrutiny, particularly in contexts such as tax reporting, transaction advisory, and financial reporting. CPAs are being called on not just to value businesses, but to bridge the gap between historical financials and future performance narratives.”
Indeed, with accelerating technological change, daily economic headlines and a renewed avalanche of mergers and acquisitions, clients are looking for their CPAs to be proactive, providing counsel, direction and expertise now more than ever in valuation services. As listmaker Harold Kremer, of Barnes Dennig, notes, “In our current rapidly evolving business environment, the most intriguing challenge our profession faces is uncertainty—understanding the full impact of changing tax laws, economic policies and how they may impact the value of the business.”
It’s a role that manifests in a multitude of ways. CPAs in valuation services provide analysis on anything from valuing Anthony Bourdain’s estate to a valuation of a near-bankrupt company in a distressed private equity firm’s portfolio. They offer valuations for stock options, goodwill impairment testing, discounted cash flow models, as well as federal and gift taxes. They assist in determining fair market value for buying or selling a business, estate planning, providing related expert testimony in divorce settlements, shareholder disputes, bankruptcies or breach of contract cases. They determine business value for obtaining loans, employee stock ownership plans, potential investors, or issuing equity. They’re needed when there’s a pending lawsuit, or an existing shareholder wants to sell shares.
As listmaker Carol Carden of PYA Accountants and Advisors says, “We have in-depth knowledge of accounting principles and must adhere to the rigorous standards promulgated by the AICPA regarding independence, objectivity and quality of work. Unfortunately, others in the valuation profession that are not CPAs sometimes do not necessarily have the same level of accounting acumen and certainly don’t have the same professional standards requirements governing their work.”
In truth, while various appraisal professionals perform valuations, CPAs offer distinct insights—including their understanding of accounting principles, financial reporting and tax laws, as well as adherence to rigorous ethical guidelines and professional standards to ensure unbiased objective assessments from a broad range of experience across various industries. And that’s to say nothing about the creditability a CPA carries with financial institutions, regulatory bodies and legal entities. “By having and maintaining credentials, I signify to my current and future clients that I am capable and ready to handle the task of valuing one of their most precious assets—their business,” says CPA and listmaker, Kevin Yeanoplos.
Still, according to listmaker Mark Gottlieb, at MSG, “What often gets lost in this conversation is a basic but critical distinction: Being a Certified Public Accountant is not, in and of itself, a sufficient qualification to conduct business valuation work. While CPAs bring a strong foundation in accounting and financial reporting, business valuation is a specialized field that requires additional training, experience and credentialing. Professionals who perform valuations in a manner that aligns with industry standards typically hold advanced designations such as the Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) issued by the AICPA, the Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) granted by NACVA, or the Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) credential conferred by the American Society of Appraisers. These designations not only reflect technical proficiency but also require adherence to rigorous ethical and methodological standards. The public—and the courts—should be reminded that business valuation is a profession in its own right.”
Like seemingly all professions today, business valuation is also contending with a massive new variable: the promise and peril of artificial intelligence.
Consider listmaker James Hitchner of Financial Valuation Advisors, who literally wrote the book on financial valuation—titled, appropriately enough, Financial Valuation. Like many in the profession, he stresses the importance and impact of AI, noting that “the business valuation community has been hit with an artificial intelligence 100-mile per hour fastball.” Still, he cautions: “Anything new in business valuations, especially something coming in at a fast pace with many unknowns as in AI, must be viewed equally as a huge advantage but also a possible disadvantage. We must be careful and diligent.”
It’s a sentiment listmaker Stacey Udell of HBKGV seconds. “While AI can take the place of work traditionally done at the entry level and do so at a lower cost, that basic work is foundational,” Udell says. “It is where evaluators learn how to ask good questions, clean data, understand context and make meaning from information. If we remove entry-level experience too quickly, we risk losing the pipeline of skilled valuation analysts and losing the critical thinking needed to perform valuation services. AI can be a powerful tool, but it can’t yet replace the human insight from a deep involvement with the data.”
It’s a refrain we heard time and again.
Says PYA’s Carson: “The emergence of technologies like artificial intelligence will impact not only the valuation of companies that may find themselves falling behind their specific industry in terms of technology, but it will also challenge the valuation profession to find ways to capitalize on the efficiencies of technology without compromising the professional judgment necessary to render a well thought out and defensible valuation opinion.”
According to listmaker Harold Martin, with Keiter CPAs and adjunct faculty member of The College of William and Mary, the most significant challenge in 2025 for CPAs who specialize in valuation is, how to successfully and responsibly integrate artificial intelligence into their practice. “The use of AI has many potential benefits,” Martin says. “For example, AI provides the ability to leverage automation in lieu of using staff, with the result being increased staff productivity and efficiency, and decreased personnel costs. With respect to valuation services specifically, AI may be employed in performing certain types of analyses currently performed by staff, such as summarizing economic, industry, and company data.
“However, there are also potential issues in employing AI in practice. AI is not a substitute for an analyst’s professional judgment. Valuation is often referred to as both an art and a science. [It’s] a science in that accepted financial valuation approaches and methodologies are used for calculating estimates of value. However, valuation is an art in that mathematical calculations alone cannot be used to estimate value. Instead, the determination of value requires an analyst to consider, for example, the implications of economic, industry and company data, and use their professional judgment to determine the effects of these factors on a company’s prospective financial performance and, ultimately, its value. Consequently, similar to Microsoft Excel, AI should be considered a tool and not a substitute for professional judgement.”
Adds Mike McCarty, listmaker with Baker Tilly: “The most unique thing I see in valuation, which is very hard to put a value on, is the ‘first to market’ value for AI and tech start ups. So many new apps and AI interfaces and AI tools are coming out. The latest may be better than the one from last year, but if the one from last year has significant followers and traction, that’s all that matters. The new one, while better tech or better features, will never take off.”
All of which has left the valuation profession facing more uncertainty than at any point in the recent past. As McCarty says, “These uncertainties do not fit well into typical predictive models. Markets and therefore valuations reward stability and predictability and we just don’t have that right now.”
Clearly, as MSG’s Gottlieb says, the evolution of artificial intelligence exacerbates the uncertain economic climate and highlights the need for CPAs experienced in valuation services: “The bottom line is this: Business valuation is not a plug-and-play exercise, and it is certainly not something that should be left to artificial intelligence without oversight. . . . In 2025, the defining challenge for valuation professionals will be to harness the promise of AI without compromising the integrity of their conclusions. It’s a delicate balance—and one that demands more, not less, of those entrusted with the role of valuation expert.”
For the full list of America’s Top CPAs in Valuation, click here.
As with all Forbes lists, candidates do not pay any fee to be considered or selected. For questions about this list, please email cpalist [at] forbes.com.