Equipment Appraisal Blog | Understanding Machinery Appraisals

Select a Seasoned, Accredited Equipment Appraiser to Value Your Assets

Posted by Equipment Appraisal Services on Mon, Jul 12, 2021 @ 08:00 AM

Equipment Appraisal Appraiser Accredited Certified

Business owners, buyers, sellers, investors, banks, leasing companies, financial institutions, investment firms, business consultants, insurance claimants, attorneys, courts, business appraisers, accountants, tax auditors.

What do all these types of companies, individuals, and institutions have in common? At some point, they will all require an independent valuation of machinery & equipment, personal property, and related capital assets to support their larger transactional needs.

Many of these entities have never worked with an equipment appraiser before and would prefer to hire a company that can facilitate the process and provides an efficient, effective, defendable analysis and report that will hold up to scrutiny. The best way to ensure this is to engage an accredited machinery & equipment appraiser who has years of experience working in any number of different markets and understands their client’s specific needs in the context of the overall transaction at stake.

In order to select the right appraiser, the business or individual responsible for vetting the appraiser should look for the following:

  • A current curriculum vitae (CV) that highlights the valuation professional's experience and work history.
  • Validation that the appraiser is accredited through the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) with a senior designation and complies with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Both of these organizations are nationally recognized and require continuing education to maintain their credentials.
  • Responsiveness and a professional work ethic from the first point of contact to the completion of the assignment.
  • Thoughtful discussions on the scope of work effort involved and assistance in formulating a timeline and game plan to complete the valuation effort in conjunction with the overall transaction.
  • A summary of the appraiser’s experience working with attorneys on business dispute cases where litigation support, deposition, and court testimony are involved. This is a critical component to validating the appraiser’s true experience as these seasoned professionals have to formally support and defend their work product in a legal setting.

In summary, this due diligence effort is an important first step in selecting the best appraiser to work alongside you and will create value-added to the overall goal of the business or individual in need of an equipment valuation. Settling for anything less than an experienced, accredited appraisal firm to assist you in these efforts can lead to an undesirable outcome.

Tags: accredited appraisers, ASA accredited appraiser, USPAP appraisal standards, Machinery & Equipment Appraisals

What is the American Society of Appraisers and how will it impact your appraisal?

Posted by Equipment Appraisal Services on Tue, Apr 10, 2018 @ 02:12 PM

When you need to have an appraisal performed on your equipment, it's important that it be performed by a valuation specialist who has the proper credentials. One of the largest accreditation organizations for appraisal practices is the American Society of Appraisers. But what is it, why is it important to use a certified appraiser and what difference can it have on your equipment appraisal? Here's a quick rundown to help get you started.

What is the American Society of Appraisers and how will it impact your appraisal?

The ASA grew out of two organizations formed in the 1930s, the American Society of Technical Appraisers and the Technical Valuation Society. Incorporated in 1952, the ASA was formed to create an over-arching professional association of appraisers, regardless of their specialty. Through the decades, the ASA has worked hard to develop professional standards and practices for appraisal practice to bring regularity to the industry. It has focused on refining appraisal practice to the point that the methodologies that they have developed will hold up well to strong scrutiny in many situations, including legal, financial, insurance and tax agency circles. The organization has also developed sub-levels of its certification process to cover a wide range of appraisal practice, such as business valuation, gemstone and jewelry appraisal, real property, personal property and machinery & technical specifications.

The thorough certification process that the ASA has developed teaches new appraisers how to use those tested methodologies and in which situations they should be applied to find the most appropriate value for your equipment. The process of becoming an ASA-certified appraiser involves an in-depth combination of acceptable classes or education and professional appraisal experience. This specific combination ensures that anyone who has received an ASA certified designation has both the knowledge as well as the real-world experience to reasonably put their training into practice.

By having your appraisal performed by an ASA-certified appraiser, you can ensure that your valuation report will hold up to strong scrutiny in a wide range of circumstances. Did you know that in a few particular circumstances, the law requires a specific type of valuation to be performed? Did you know that you can have machinery valued even after it has been damaged in a fire or donated to a charity? What about determining the value of a piece of machinery some amount of time in the past for a court case or similar back-dated valuation? Because of the experience and knowledge gained in the certification process, a certified appraiser knows exactly what type of appraisal needs to be performed, can easily deal with situations such as these and is still able to develop a high-quality appraisal report that will help support your machinery's value to a number of different parties.

Having an appraisal completed on your equipment by an appraiser who is certified by the American Society of Appraisers is an excellent way to get a quality valuation. A machinery appraisal provides you with documentation of your equipment values, but if it isn't performed properly, it won't hold up to strong scrutiny. At that point, you've thrown your money away on an appraisal that doesn't do you any good. To get the best value for your dollar, make sure that your appraiser is certified by the American Society of Appraisers or a similar appraisal certification organization.

Tags: American Society of Appraisers, ASA, ASA accredited appraiser

How do Standards of Value Impact Your Equipment's Appraisal?

Posted by Equipment Appraisal Services on Tue, Dec 19, 2017 @ 01:40 PM

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When your equipment is a large part of your business assets, the value of that equipment can strongly impact your bottom line. When equipment is appraised, standards of value are used to help calculate that value. But what are these standards, how can they impact your equipment's value and why are they used in particular situations? Here's a quick overview to help you get started in understanding this appraisal concept.

How do Standards of Value Impact Your Equipment's Appraisal?

Standards of valuation have been developed over the years to ensure that machinery is being appraised in a way that provides consistent calculations and results. Because of this history, an appraised value from a certified equipment valuation specialist holds up well to strong scrutiny in a wide range of areas. However, values are calculated differently depending on the situation.

A company that is undergoing bankruptcy may have their equipment appraised at liquidation value, as it's expected that the equipment will need to be sold quickly to pay off any debts. Investment value refers to the machine's ability to provide business income, such as a welding robot on a factory floor. 

One of the most common types of equipment appraisal that is performed is fair market value. It's such a wide-spread appraisal type that it's required in some specific legal situations, such as a divorce or litigation involving the dissolution of a partnership. In calculating this value, the appraiser looks at a wide range of aspects including the equipment itself, the conditions in the market where it is used and similar aspects. As an example, a drill for oil exploration will have a much higher market value during an oil boom than when oil prices fall and exploration is at a minimum.

These different appraisal types can drastically impact your equipment's appraised value. Fair market value assumes that you can wait a while for the right buyer who is willing to pay what the machinery is worth, while liquidation value may be much lower to assure a fast sale. Different values may be determined for large or difficult to move equipment based on whether the machinery is sold in place or to be moved, due to the high cost of moving it to a new location.

The different values are impacted by a wide range of factors, and the final appraised value may not match what you've been told by a local machinery dealer. Why? If a machinery dealer offers you a higher price for your equipment than what is calculated, it may be due to a push to move their new equipment, allowing them to make a higher offer on older machinery to get their new equipment moved.

On the other hand, they may offer you a much lower price to convince you that your machinery is virtually worthless to help encourage you to replace it with equipment that has more equity. Whatever reason for the disparity, a certified equipment appraiser has been taught specific methodologies during the certification process that have been proven to hold up well in legal, financial, insurance and tax agency circles.

By knowing how standards of value affect your equipment's reported value, you can get a deeper understanding of how the valuation process works and how different situations and conditions can impact that value. This helps you get a better comprehension of appraisal reports, allowing you to better leverage your equipment value to your company's benefit.

Tags: Equipment Appraisal, standards of value, ASA accredited appraiser

Why should I work with an ASA accredited machinery & equipment appraiser?

Posted by Equipment Appraisal Services on Wed, Dec 06, 2017 @ 11:44 AM

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When you're considering having your equipment valued, do you know what kind of appraiser you should work with? Though you could work with anyone who had a general knowledge of machinery values, that may not be your best bet. The American Society of Appraisers has spent decades developing methodologies that have been proven in a wide range of real-world situations, and that knowledge is reflected in every ASA accredited machinery & equipment appraiser they certify. Here's a look at the reasons why you should only work with an ASA certified appraiser.

 

Why should I work with an ASA accredited machinery & equipment appraiser?

When you need an appraisal performed on your machinery or equipment, do you know whether the appraiser you contact is certified? Though it's not the first question most clients ask of an appraiser, it's a very important one with regards to the accuracy of your final valuation report. The certification process provides an appraiser with the background education, knowledge and experience to help ensure they're accurately valuing your equipment. As an appraiser is certified, they receive a specific amount of education in both how appraisals are performed as well as which situations demand specific calculations and methodologies.

The most common accreditation program is from the American Society of Appraisers, or ASA. As one of the leading professional organizations for appraisers, the program they offer for accreditation uses the methodologies that its members have been using for decades. This means that reports generated using these methodologies stand up well to strong scrutiny. But in what situations is this really important?

Almost everybody has heard of a situation where a business is dealing with an insurance company, a lawsuit, a tax agency or a financing company where the value of an asset has been questioned. Though most people know that there's an appeals process in most of these situations, they don't bother to pursue this avenue because they don't know how else to prove the value of the asset. That's one of the best places where an ASA accredited appraiser's report can benefit your business or situation.

Because reports generated by accredited appraisers use the same standardized methodologies that have been used for decades, the report is viewed with higher regard than one developed by your local equipment dealer or similar appraisal approach. These types of appraisals have been tested in court cases and often have made a big difference in the outcome of the case. In insurance claims, it's not uncommon for adjusters to make an incorrect valuation because they don't specialize in that type of machinery. In financial and tax circles, an appraisal report can help prove a piece of equipment's value.

When you work with an appraiser, the information you receive can help prove the value of your machinery, but the information is only as strong as the methodologies that are used to calculate that value in the first place. By working with an ASA accredited machinery & equipment appraiser, you're ensured that the valuation report that you receive is accurate and will hold up well to strong scrutiny in a variety of situations. Make sure before you get started with an appraiser that they are certified to ensure you're getting your money's worth out of the valuation report you receive.

Tags: certified appraisal, ASA accredited appraiser