Equipment Appraisal Blog | Understanding Machinery Appraisals

By now, most people are aware of the supply chain crisis and its impact on many parts of our lives, both personal and business. Facing some of the worst of these issues are international importers and exporters who are experiencing unprecedented increases in product costs associated with purchasing, shipping, handling, and significant delivery delays.

From an appraiser's perspective, questions have arisen regarding the impact of this global problem when it comes to valuing the equipment, personal property, and inventory of the assets for these businesses.

Historically, appraisers have largely been engaged to assist in the customs process, which requires an appraisal on property being shipped overseas. While valuation companies are still involved in this area, the overall marketplace and the effects on both new and used machinery & equipment, as well as how long this crisis might persist, is the more prevalent topic today.

Supply chain issues are affecting other businesses on varying levels as well. A good example is the automotive industry. The new vehicle shortage they are experiencing has led to a sharp increase in prices for both new and used cars and trucks. Delivery delays are also causing significant price increases at grocery stores, furniture retailers, building construction firms, manufacturing companies, and others.

When valuing machinery & equipment in these markets and industries, an appraiser will research and analyze each situation, and determine a reasonable approach to measuring this impact, especially if they believe these supply chain issues are going to continue well into the coming year. Given the uniqueness of this situation, this will likely involve a subjective opinion from the appraiser based on the information uncovered, the level of change from more normal conditions, and the short or long-term effects this will have on the market and the assets involved.

When the need for an appraisal occurs in your import or export business, ensure that you engage with an accredited or certified valuation expert with the experience required to deliver reasonable and supportable opinions.

It may be an anomaly brought about, in part, by the pandemic, or it might just be a coincidence. The fact is that we are seeing a lot more divorce cases happening in 2021 than in previous years. As a result, requests for valuation services in this arena have been on the rise.

Equipment and business appraisers have been busy working with divorce attorneys and their clients, as the age-old dispute between separated spouses revolves around a fair separation of assets. When both parties are co-owners in a business, there is going to be a need for an independent appraisal from an experienced valuation firm, which can look to assist in facilitating a settlement. If the shared business includes significant tangible assets, such as construction and manufacturing machinery, trucks and trailers, or any type of personal property, the need for an accredited machinery and equipment appraisal will be important. A certified business appraiser will then consider these tangible values in their overall analysis.

Appraisers act as unbiased neutral parties, providing a fair market value for your equipment and associated business. The intention is to put to rest the concerns either party may have in regard to prior assumptions or discussions on their company’s worth.

In certain cases, both sides in the divorce will engage their own appraisers with the potential for arbitration or litigation to determine the most credible report or allow consideration to both valuations if they are not too far apart. Regardless of the circumstances, it is important to engage with an accredited or certified appraiser with the experience and credentials to effectively assist in the process.

If the business is still operating and in decent financial shape, the Fair Market Value of the assets would be the appropriate measurement level. If the company has been recently idle, or there are plans to close up shop in the very near future, a liquidation premise may need consideration. Ideally, both parties are on the same page with the overall process, however, if this is not the case, the party who engaged the experienced appraiser should have an advantage in the ongoing proceedings.

Understanding all that is involved during a divorce, including the need for an accredited or certified equipment appraisal can ensure you are receiving the best settlement possible.

There are instances when tangible asset appraisals are required for effective dates well in the past. In some cases, this time period can be years prior to the actual date of the analysis and report. How do accredited machinery & equipment valuation professionals determine the right approach to these projects, given these retrospective circumstances?

Some of the more common areas where a historic effective date is required would be for the following types of valuations:

Insurance Appraisals: Casualty damages settlements, such as a fire or road accident, which are being litigated or otherwise disputed, are often valued months or years after the initial incident. This is usually because the case has been ongoing for a period of time before the parties determine an equipment valuation is required as part of the dispute.

Property Tax Appeals: Business owners who believe their town or county is basing their property tax assessment on inflated tangible asset values can go through an appeal process in an effort to reduce this annual tax obligation. When determining the overall effect of this tax, the company can reflect back on prior tax years leading up to the current assessment and request an appraisal of their property for multiple periods including these past assessment dates.

Estate Settlement: When a business owner passes away, there is the possibility their estate will need to be valued as part of the overall settlement of property to respective family members and other heirs. This process can become bogged down in the court system and take months or even years to finalize, with the necessity to appraise certain assets to facilitate the settlement. The effective date of these appraisals usually reflects back to the day the individual passed.

Mergers & Acquisitions: In certain cases, when companies require an allocation of value to the respective assets in M&A transactions, the appraisal requirement is not addressed until very late in the process. The due diligence steps involved with larger, more convoluted deals are many, and the appraisal required to reset the accounting of the new entity being acquired may be one of the last. The effective date typically reverts back to the official transaction date.

Regardless of the reason why a retrospective valuation is required, the equipment appraiser should take a consistent approach to adjust for these situations, as the majority of sales comps available today represent current transactions. Reasonable methods to complete this step include utilizing existing databases that may have historic data available to research, valuing older equipment in line with the difference in the time period, and reviewing industry price adjustments between the effective date and the report date. As long as one or more reasonable steps are considered prior to the final estimate of value, a retrospective appraisal is just as reliable and defensible as any other.

Image source Random Retail on Flickr license

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it many unanticipated shifts and changes. Some of the more prominent of these occurring in the global business marketplace include unanticipated machinery, parts, and raw materials shortages in a number of key industries including construction, transportation, automotive manufacturing, furniture, and technology.

Prior to the COVID pandemic, many regional areas, both domestic and overseas, were experiencing a prolonged lack of economic growth, which led manufacturers to slow production across key economic markets. By the latter half of 2020, these same manufacturers began experiencing historically high levels of demand driven by workplace and consumer lifestyle changes creating a supply shortage.

This supply shortage, coupled with an unabated increase in demand, has resulted in significant price increases and backorder delays for many types of equipment, personal property, replacement parts, and raw materials. The providers' costs to purchase and transport these products have increased so dramatically that some are simply waiting for the market to adjust while others are passing these costs onto their clients who have no choice but to pay now or lose out on precious contracts. The growing concern is that this severe imbalance in the market is not going away anytime soon, and manufacturers will therefore continue to be unable to provide a reasonable product delivery timeline for correspondingly reasonable costs.

The resulting impact in the used machinery & equipment marketplace is one that is fairly obvious. Any business looking to sell or liquidate their excess property is able to find a greater number of potential buyers, leading to a material increase in value for their assets, given the immediate availability to sell. This increased demand may be short-term, or more likely, it will last for the better part of 2022, given the slow lag time before new tangible products are more readily available.

If you’re considering selling used equipment, parts, or inventory, make sure you can easily replace it, either through the company’s existing asset base or with replacement machines that are available at a reasonable price in the market. If you are looking to purchase used equipment or parts, it may be the best option from a deliverable timing viewpoint, however, you may have to increase your budget to reflect this shortage in the market.

From a valuation perspective, an appraiser may or may not take the impact of these market changes into account when completing an assignment. It will come down to the circumstances involved in the overall scope of work effort and their own subjective opinions on the long or short-term effects in the marketplace. Either way, you should look to engage an experienced, accredited appraiser to complete the work.

An accredited, reliable, and defensible equipment appraisal should include at least three components: a USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) and ASA (American Society of Appraisers) compliant narrative summary report discussing the valuation methodologies and conclusions; an appendix that itemizes the assets that include associated details; and photographs of the equipment.

The narrative report is structured fairly consistently throughout every valuation, with the appraiser focusing on the processes, methodologies, scope of work, assignment summary, definitions used, research, market and industry sources utilized, and the value conclusions.

The photographs are self-explanatory, and ideally include a couple of images of each item along with the machine ID tags, which verify the specifications of the equipment. There are exceptions when photographs cannot be obtained in certain cases, and the appraiser can usually make allowances for this without compromising the integrity of the valuation.

The most important component, in my opinion, is the itemized asset detail, typically listed as an appendix to the report. This document is the backbone of the appraisal and includes the data necessary to document the transaction for which the appraisal is to be used. Regardless of the number of assets involved, this detail is useful for the business owner’s internal accounting and tax records, as well as providing documentation for third parties, such as investors, banks, financial institutions, and tax authorities, when they secure or review their collateral interests.

This detailed appendix should include the following information for each line item asset being appraised:

Description/Equipment Type: (Ex: Hydraulic Excavator or Vertical Machining Center)

Make/Manufacturer (Ex: Caterpillar, Mitsubishi)

Model #

Serial #

Year Manufactured or Effective Age, if Unknown or Refurbished (Common for Older Assets to Extend Their Useful Life)

Additional Specifications and Comments Section (Ex: Condition if other than normal or good; Capacity, Hours/Mileage, Attachments)

Estimated Individual Values and Summary Totals

The report narrative summary will generally only reference the total value for all the assets appraised and refer to this appendix for the itemized detail.

It is not uncommon for clients to request this detail in a separate workable file, so they can better utilize the data as well as transfer it to their internal documents. This is generally acceptable to the appraiser, with the firm understanding that the data itself will not be altered. As long as the appraiser retains the original files, any potential disputes on this issue can be easily remedied.

In summary, when you are considering engaging an equipment appraiser, ensure that these component documents will be part of the overall valuation report and that you are working with an experienced accredited, ASA machinery appraiser.