After a two-year run as an on-campus competition launched in 2010–11, SBGE took this innovative program national in 2013–14.
The Private Business Valuation ChallengeSM program provides a unique opportunity for accounting and finance students to assess the stand-alone value of an existing private company. Business Valuation Resources, LLC supports the Challenge by providing its proprietary database and other resources. Moss Adams provides the company valuation report, with only names and locations changed.
After a two-year run as an on-campus competition, SBE took the program national in 2013–14 with great results. Student teams from 18 universities entered; six teams were chosen to come to Seattle. Twenty valuation experts holding senior positions in their firms acted as judges during the preliminary and final rounds of the contest and provided valuable feedback to participants.
Now, SPU students compete on campus to qualify for the national round. Currently, the Challenge is only two universities away from its goal of including 24 teams from around the United States. The official deadline to sign up is in early January, 2015, and we expect to have more universities interested in participating by that time. There are many valuation contests around the world but, to our knowledge, this program is the only one directed toward privately owned firms.