How to value businesses and shares – an introductory guide for investors, managers and more

By Mark Aleksanyan and Kenneth Lee and Matthias Meitner and Neil Pande

The Valuation Book contains the tools needed by anyone who wants to make a robust valuation of a business.

No detailed prior knowledge of business valuation is required – the book covers everything you need to know, including how to read relevant parts of company accounts and the valuation tools (including DCF and multiples) that are used by professionals.

Written by academics who are also practitioners, The Valuation Book provides a unique mix of theory and practical application. It is designed around the authors’ experience of teaching thousands of people about valuation principles over the last two decades.

Short, accessible chapters with a consistent structure and layout allow readers to build up their knowledge step by step.

And the book is fully up to date, with accessible specialist chapters on integrating ESG into valuations, valuing immature companies, identifying flaws in valuation models, valuation for mergers and acquisitions, and more.

The Valuation Book is a comprehensive introductory valuation guide for investors, managers, accountants, lawyers and anyone else who needs to value a business.

Professor Mark Aleksanyan is a Professor of Accounting and Finance at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. He received his PhD in Accounting and Finance from the University of Glasgow in 2004. Prior to that, from 1996 to 1999, Mark held various positions, including financial analyst at a financial services firm, economist at the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Armenia, and assistant to the Prime Minister of Armenia. His long-term research interests cover equity valuation, investment analysis, corporate reporting and, more recently, his research has focused on various aspects of the professional practice of financial analysts, investor relations officers, and corporate brokers. Mark’s research work has been published in esteemed academic journals such as Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Corporate Finance, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Journal of Empirical Finance, and Accounting and Business Research. He has also co-authored research reports for professional bodies. He serves as an associate editor of Qualitative Research in Financial Markets. Mark has been teaching financial analysis and valuation courses at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and MBA levels for over 20 years.

Kenneth is a Professor in the Accounting and Finance research group of Loughborough Business school and the Director of Postgraduate Taught programmes. Prior to this he was an Associate Professorial Lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science, for five years. He is a member of the Capital Markets Advisory Committee (CMAC), a body supported by the IFRS Foundation, which interprets proposed accounting changes from the perspective of capital market participants.

Before academia Kenneth was a Managing Director & Head of European Equity Research at Barclays Capital, where he worked for eight years before leaving in August 2017 to take up a number of academic positions. He was also a Managing Director and a ranked accounting and valuation analyst at Citi Investment Research in London.

Kenneth graduated from Trinity College Dublin/Dublin Institute of Technology with a degree in Management Science. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, a member of the Institute of Taxation, a CFA Charterholder and a fellow of the Higher Education Authority. He holds a doctorate from Aston Business School which focused on how analysts make stock recommendation decisions and has published in leading academic journals, including Contemporary Accounting Research, The British Accounting Review and European Management Review. In addition to co-authoring The Valuation Book, he has contributed to two other texts: Financial Statement Analysis Under IFRS (2018, Financial Edge); and Company Valuation Under IFRS (2020, Harriman House).

Dr Meitner is the managing partner of VALUESQUE, a consultancy firm that focuses on business valuations and financial analysis. He also serves as a publicly appointed and sworn expert for business valuation (verified by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry). Matthias has more than 20 years of practical and research experience in business valuation and in the analysis of financial statements. His track record includes more than a decade at Allianz SE and Allianz Global Investors where, as an equity portfolio manager, deep fundamental analysis was combined with a valuation-driven approach. Matthias holds a doctorate from the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg and is Chair of Finance at the International School of Management in Munich.

Neil is a freelance financial training consultant, based in Canary Wharf in London. For over a decade, he has been a non-executive director of two private companies. He is also the investment manager for a family office, following value investing principles.

Previously, Neil was a Senior Instructor at the UBS Research Academy. As part of the number-one-ranked Fundamental Analytics team, he was integral in building an EdTech platform, consisting of hundreds of audio, video and immersive ebook digital assets, including the “Build Better Models” manual.

Neil has spent over 20 years designing and delivering instructor-led training courses in financial statement analysis, financial forecasting and modelling in Excel and company valuation for equity and credit research analysts and portfolio managers. He has also taught M&A and LBO transaction modelling to M&A and leveraged finance bankers and private equity practitioners. He has worked in most of the major global financial centres, including London, New York, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Zurich, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore.

Neil graduated with a Master’s degree in History from the University of Cambridge, focusing on modern economic history. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the Audit & Business Advisory practice of Arthur Andersen in London, while specializing in large public company audits, including News International and Balfour Beatty. He is also a CFA Charterholder, having prepared candidates for the program over several years, including as part of university Masters in Finance courses.