What Is A ABAR?

What Is ABAR (Accredited in Business Appraisal Review)?

ABAR stands for Accredited in Business Appraisal Review, a credential created and administered by the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA). It was designed to recognize professionals who could competently review business valuation reports - evaluating the assumptions, methodology, and conclusions produced by another appraiser. That review function sits apart from producing an original valuation; it's closer to quality control, litigation support, or peer critique of someone else's work product.

If you've landed here searching for "what is a ABAR," it's worth pinning down early that this acronym is shared by more than one professional designation across different industries. This article - and everything on ABAR Exam Prep - refers exclusively to NACVA's Accredited in Business Appraisal Review credential. For a broader breakdown of the term itself, see our companion pieces on ABAR Meaning and What Does ABAR Stand For?

Program History and Current Status

NACVA suspended the ABAR credentialing program in 2016. It has remained terminated for new applicants ever since - there is no current application path, no active exam window, and no published exam blueprint being issued to new candidates. That's why you won't find domain weightings or a current content outline for ABAR the way you would for an active certification.

What did not disappear is recognition for people who earned the credential before the suspension. Existing ABAR holders remain recognized by NACVA, provided they keep up two ongoing obligations: annual membership and a three-year recertification cycle. In other words, ABAR today functions as a legacy credential - fully valid for those who hold it, closed to everyone else.

This is a meaningfully different situation than an active certification with rolling exam dates, published passing scores, or a current pass-rate trend. If you're researching topics like exam scheduling or scoring thresholds, understand that those mechanics historically applied to the now-suspended program; our archived guides on ABAR exam dates and ABAR passing score address that history rather than a live testing calendar.

Who Holds This Credential and What They Do

ABAR holders are, almost by definition, experienced valuation professionals. Because the credential was built around reviewing business appraisal reports rather than producing first-draft valuations, holders typically already carried substantial appraisal or valuation experience before pursuing ABAR. In practice, that meant work touching:

• Reviewing valuation reports prepared by other appraisers for internal quality control
• Serving as a reviewing expert in litigation, arbitration, or dispute matters
• Evaluating methodology, data sources, and assumptions in third-party appraisal work
• Supporting attorneys, courts, or oversight bodies that needed an independent critique of a valuation conclusion

Because the program has been closed since 2016, the population of active holders is fixed and aging - no new cohort is entering. If you're evaluating career paths and job titles connected to this space, our page on ABAR jobs discusses where review-oriented valuation skills tend to be used, and how that compares with roles built around active NACVA credentials.

Maintaining ABAR: Recertification Requirements

For the professionals who already hold ABAR, the practical question isn't "how do I pass the exam" - it's "how do I stay credentialed." NACVA's recertification framework for existing holders runs on a three-year cycle and requires:

• 60 applicable CPE hours completed within the three-year cycle
• A $400 recertification fee, due as part of the cycle
• Continued annual NACVA membership in good standing

These aren't unusual requirements compared to other professional credentials, but they are specific, and missing a cycle deadline can put standing at risk. If you're trying to map out exactly what "eligibility" and "qualification" mean for a legacy holder versus a prospective new candidate, our detailed breakdown at ABAR requirements separates those two very different situations clearly.

CPE Fee Waivers Explained

NACVA built in an incentive that rewards holders who complete NACVA coursework as part of meeting their CPE obligation. The structure works in tiers:

In practical terms, a holder who fills a meaningful share of their 60-hour requirement with NACVA-delivered courses can offset - or entirely eliminate - the recertification fee. That's a strong reason to plan CPE sourcing deliberately rather than picking courses at random near the deadline. If you want a sense of how these figures compare to what it once cost to pursue the credential in the first place, see our full ABAR certification cost breakdown.

The 2025 Attestation Change

Starting in 2025, NACVA shifted how ABAR holders demonstrate CPE compliance. Previously, holders reported individual courses as they were completed. Now, holders instead attest that they've completed the required CPE hours for the cycle - a simpler, self-certification-style process.

That simplification comes with a corresponding responsibility: holders must retain supporting documentation of their CPE completion for three years after the reporting cycle ends, because NACVA reserves the right to audit attestations. In effect, the paperwork burden hasn't disappeared - it's shifted from ongoing course-by-course submission to on-demand recordkeeping.

• Keep certificates of completion, agendas, and hour totals organized by cycle
• Retain records for three years past the end of the reporting cycle, not just the calendar year
• Assume an audit is possible and keep files audit-ready rather than reconstructing them after the fact

Inactive and Emeritus Status Options

Not every existing holder wants to keep actively recertifying every three years. NACVA offers two separate maintenance paths for qualifying holders who want to step back without fully losing recognition:

• Inactive status - a way to pause active recertification obligations while remaining connected to the credential under NACVA's defined terms.
• Emeritus status - a separate designation for qualifying long-standing holders, distinct from simply going inactive.

These are two different options with different qualifying conditions, so holders considering either route should review NACVA's specific criteria before assuming one applies to their situation. Neither status is a substitute for understanding the base recertification cycle described above, which still applies to holders who remain fully active.

ABAR vs. Active NACVA Credentials vs. ISBA BCA-R

One of the most common points of confusion is assuming ABAR has simply been renamed or folded into another credential. It hasn't. Here's how the landscape actually breaks down:

NACVA currently accepts new applicants only for CVA and MAFF among its own certifications. Neither of those is a renamed ABAR - they are distinct credentials with their own requirements. Similarly, ISBA's BCA-R covers review-oriented appraisal work but is an entirely separate program from a different organization, not a continuation of NACVA's ABAR. If you're comparing where to invest your time, our guide on What Is ABAR Certification? and the broader ABAR Certification overview both walk through how these programs relate - and don't relate - to one another.

What This Means If You're Weighing Your Options

Depending on why you searched "what is a ABAR," you likely fall into one of three groups, and each has a different practical next step.

You Already Hold ABAR

Your priority is recertification hygiene: track your 60 CPE hours per cycle, plan enough NACVA coursework to trigger a fee waiver if that's financially useful, keep attestation records for three years, and decide early whether inactive or emeritus status fits your long-term plans better than continuing active recertification.

You're New to Valuation Review and Found ABAR While Researching

Because the credential isn't accepting applicants, your realistic paths are NACVA's CVA or MAFF, or ISBA's BCA-R if review work specifically is your focus. Our Is the ABAR Certification Worth It? analysis walks through how to weigh a closed legacy credential against these open alternatives from a career-investment standpoint.

You Want to Build Review-Specific Skills Regardless of Credential Status

This is where structured study still has value even without a live exam to sit for. Reviewing valuation reports, spotting methodology gaps, and practicing the analytical judgment a reviewer uses are transferable skills. Our ABAR Study Guide 2026 and ABAR Exam Domains Guide cover this legacy framework in detail for readers who want a structured reference point, and you can work through original case-style review exercises at our practice platform to sharpen the same analytical muscles the credential was built around.

For readers who want the full picture of how difficult the historical exam was considered, or how the discontinued program's structure compared to what's active today, our archive pieces on How Hard Is the ABAR Exam? and ABAR Pass Rate 2026 preserve that context for reference, clearly framed around a program that is no longer accepting candidates.

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