Zyla emphasizes analysts should pay particular attention to IPR&D in their valuations

One speaker at the recent 14th annual conference of the newly reorganized Southeast Chapter of Business Appraisers held in Atlanta was Mark Zyla (Acuitas, Inc.), who alerted valuation analysts to the importance of assessing an oft-overlooked intangible, in process R&D.

The next generation of intellectual property can be critical to the value of a business, according to Zyla. The stage of IP R&D heavily impacts the value of technology companies, in particular. In general, companies with IP R&D have higher value than those without. Zyla stated that, in some cases, the value of the IP could exceed the value of the company when IP is underutilized.