Quality Training at the AIBB is Raising the Bar
The Australian Institute of Business Brokers (AIBB) was founded in 1989 and is the peak industry body in Australia for Business Broking, with the purpose of providing specialised education for business brokers.
Kevin Lovewell is the chair of the AIBB Education and Training Committee and he recently spoke to Bsale about the courses that the AIBB offers.
Filling a gap for Business Brokers
Business broking is a relatively new industry, though it has grown large in Europe and America, the business broking industry in Australia is small in comparison. Prior to the commencement of the AIBB, there was (and still is not) any specific education for the profession of brokering.
“The AIBB was actually commenced to be a training and education or peak body association for brokers specifically and it commenced as a consequence of that visible gap in the market.”
“We represent as the only recognised trainer for business brokers.” Kevin Lovewell said.
As the peak business broker body in Australia, Kevin said that not only does the AIBB want to provide their members with recognised quality training, the aim is to raise the bar not just for members but the industry in general.
“Raising the bar is a very very important element for us an industry representative group.”
“There is no education [for business brokers] other than which is provided by the AIBB. Let’s look at our governing regulations, for example, brokers are licensed under real estate law. I am a qualified accountant and retired tax agent (a lot of professionals in this industry have similar qualifications in engineering, accounting, and law…) we come from associations that have degree qualifications post-graduate qualifications. So I come from a background that has emphasised continued professional development.” Kevin said.
Selling houses is distinctly different from selling businesses, while the governing regulations for business brokers are real estate-based, in order to get a real estate license you have to do a real estate course. The AIBB recognised and accepted that the training requirements as they currently exist, do not provide brokers with the skills necessary to transact a business sale.
“To the REIs, we [business brokers] are too small a group of people for them to worry about us. That’s why the AIBB commenced, because of that gap, there was no training and there still is no training conducted by the REIs despite the fact that they are the body required to provide the education and training we need.” Kevin said.
The AIBB Courses
The AIBB offers courses to fulfil practical requirements for business brokers, the business broker induction course, called best practice; The Certified Practicing Business Broker course (CPBB) and the Registered Business Valuer course (RBV).
According to Kevin Lovewell, Business Broking is not suitably recognised as a profession, in part due to the fact that there are so few brokers that earn their money solely from broking but also due to the lack of professional education and training.
“We have the best practice course, which is obligatory, if you become a member of the AIBB irrespective of the number of years of experience prospective members have, we don’t permit recognition of prior learning, it is obligatory to do that course it is a number of modules and it goes from legal to negotiating to practice management to help people get their foot in the door. It is an introductory course and it is the first bar that we ask of participating members.”
The more advanced courses the AIBB offers are the CPBB (certified professional business broker) and the RBV (registered business valuer).
“The CPBB teaches you the elements needed to understand the language of business, assessing business value using financial and non-financial data; legal and ethical standards; marketing, communication, report writing, all those tools that go in the toolbox of a successful business broker.”
Kevin is both a qualified accountant and now holds the post-nominal of RBV. In practice, Kevin explained that he does valuations for family law purposes, business start-up purposes, mergers and acquisitions, stamp duty, tax and more.
“What actually puts a person holding the post-nominal of RBV aside, as a practising broker, when you provide an opinion of market value we always have the evidence to back up that opinion. Whereas accountants for example, who are not in the market and do not transact sales are, taking a stab in the dark.” Kevin said.
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What does the AIBB hope to achieve moving forward?
“Our education and training sub-committee has a manifesto to train and educate and the forward plan for us as a sub-committee is excellence in broking. I think that explains our mantra, excellence in broking excellence in valuation. Our goal is the theory and practice of being a broker. We [the AIBB] represent approximately 30% of the industry and we seek to represent more but more importantly, we seek to expand our knowledge to those who may not necessarily be members because we do believe that a rising tide lifts all boats.”
“If we can provide a formal framework of education and training with our peak RBV for the equivalent of a fellow I suppose, if we can continue to continue to raise the bar, we can better serve the community at large and also better serve our members.”
Ultimately, the AIBB is striving to be recognised for the excellence in training that they provide, both to its business brokers and members but also to the industry as a whole.
Bsale is a proud partner of the AIBB and you can find many of their certified business brokers in our find a business broker section.
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About the author
Caitlin Mary
Journalist
Caitlin has a background in media and communications, studying journalism at University and doing various freelance writing and production work over ...
