Our business valuation experts have experience in a wide variety of industries and can meet a variety of complex valuation needs for companies large and small.

Banister Financial is one of the few firms in the country where each professional is certified as an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) in business valuation by the American Society of Appraisers, Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and each is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder. For a list of our professionals with the ASA, ABV and CFA designations go to the Professionals section of our website.

All professionals hold graduate degrees in business or law from top universities. Furthermore, all have valuable prior experience ranging from financing merger and acquisition transactions to corporate banking. Our valuation professionals are not theoretical business appraisers like so many in our field. Our professionals have real world experience in addition to top-notch valuation skills.

Banister Financial business appraisers (George Hawkins, Michael Paschall) have served on the prestigious International Board of Examiners of the American Society of Appraisers. 

George Hawkins headed the Business Valuation section of this Board for two successive three year terms. This Board reviews valuation reports submitted by candidates throughout the nation in their final requirement to attain the Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) certification in business valuation. Also, George Hawkins has previously been elected nationally for two three-year terms on the Business Valuation Committee of the American Society of Appraisers, the governing board for business valuation of the leading accrediting society. Michael Paschall has served as the Chair of the Ethics Committee of the American Society of Appraisers.

Banister Financial's valuations have been time-tested and accepted for years by clients, buyers, sellers, the IRS, and the Courts. Our valuation advice has been validated by real world transactions.

Banister’s professionals have appeared as expert witnesses in numerous valuation cases at the state and federal levels, including U.S. Tax Court, U.S. District Court, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, North Carolina District and Superior Courts, NC Business Court, and in binding arbitrations. We have been appointed numerous times by the courts as independent business appraisers in disputes for family law and dissenting shareholder matters.

Two of Banister Financial’s business valuation professionals (George Hawkins and Michael Paschall) are co-authors of the Business Valuation Guide, a 2,000+ page book on business valuation (published by Wolters Kluwer, formerly CCH). George and Michael also previously served as co-editors of the CCH Business Valuation Alert, a quarterly valuation newsletter published by CCH.

Banister Financial's business valuation experts have spoken regionally and nationally to chapters of the bar, valuation societies, and seminars sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service. Included among the many national speaking engagements are the Business Valuation Conference of the American Society of Appraisers, the Business Valuation Conference of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the National Trust Closely Held Business Association, the American Bar Association-American Law Institute, the American Bar Association, and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

Included among the many speaking engagements are seminars for the North and South Carolina Bar Associations and their many sections, as well as numerous local and regional organizations throughout the Southeast.

Banister business valuation experts have published over 100 articles on valuation issues in such leading national publications as Business Valuation Review, Business Valuation Update, Judges & Lawyers Business Valuation Update, Valuation Strategies, Business Valuation Digest, CCH Business Valuation Alert, and the American Journal of Family Law. Banister professionals have also been published in publications such as The Will and the Way (newsletter of the Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section of the NC Bar Association) and Family Forum (newsletter of the Family Law section of the NC Bar Association).

Banister Financial provides unbiased business valuation advice and stakes its reputation on every valuation report. Clients, buyers, sellers, and the courts make important financial decisions based on valuations that can dramatically impact people’s lives. If you are looking for an objective valuation opinion, Banister Financial is your business valuation solution.