Jay Shaw

With over twenty years’ experience in business valuation and forensic accounting, I have provided robust and commercial advice to hundreds of businesses wanting to create, protect, or communicate business value.

I also support clients and their legal advisors by providing valuation and forensic accounting expertise for a range of commercial and other disputes. In this area where commercial acumen and experience are vital, I have prepared numerous expert reports for court and I’m regularly called on to give expert witness testimony.

My clients benefit from my deep experience and involvement in the valuation profession globally. From 2017 to 2024, I sat on the Business Valuation Board of the IVSC (International Valuation Standards Council), and I currently sit on the CAANZ business valuation committee.

Specialist experience

In addition to more than 20 years’ business valuation and forensic accounting experience in NZ and overseas, I am a formally approved CAANZ BusinessValuation Specialist.  This recognises the specific, relevant study undertaken and the level of experience required to have deep specialist skills in business valuation. 

Over my career, I have undertaken hundreds of business and intangible asset valuations, including in the context of dispute, financial reporting, tax, restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions.

Interests I have valued range from small owner operated businesses to large multinational companies, across most industries and sectors.
I am regularly appointed to provide expert determinations of share value. This includes expert appointments made by the President of the New Zealand Law Society.

Fair value assessments for financial reporting purposes, including portfolio valuations, impairment reviews and purchase price allocations, is also an area in which I have extensive experience.

In relation to commercial, relationship property & other disputes, I provide forensic accounting and litigation support services, including economic damages assessments and financial investigations.

I have received instructions from many of New Zealand’s leading law firms and barristers, and from government agencies including Inland Revenue, Worksafe New Zealand, and Waka Kotahi.  

I have prepared business valuation and forensic accounting expert reports for High Court, District Court, and Family Court proceedings, and for arbitration and mediation purposes. I have produced written evidence on numerous occasions, and oral evidence including in the following matters:

• Remediation (NZ) Limited v Enviro (NZ) Limited [2023].
• Keezz Ltd v Te Whatu Ora [2023] NZHC 1360.
• Jin v Luo [2023] NZHC 2417.
• Preston v Preston [2019] NZHC 33.

Industry leadership

I am also experienced in the financial issues associated with relationship property, including business valuations, s15 assessments, and financial investigations.

From 2017 to 2024 I sat on the business valuation board of the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC), the established standards setter for the business valuation profession globally. In this role, I provided technical guidance in the development of international valuation standards and IVSC thought leadership initiatives.

I am also a committee member and the only NZ representative on the CAANZ business valuation committee, which advocates for, and supports, members in this area.

I speak regularly at industry events, and am widely published on valuation and forensic accounting issues. I have also previously given seminars to members of CAANZ and NZLS on business valuation and forensic accounting topics.

External presentations

• Understanding the professional and regulatory valuation framework in New Zealand. Company Valuations Conference. 2023.
• Valuations for M&A purposes. Legalwise. 2021.
• Calculating Lost Profits: Commercial Damages. Legalwise. 2020.
• International Valuation Standards. CAANZ 2020 Business Valuation Conference.
• Valuation of non-financial liabilities. ICVPME international valuation conference. Auckland. 2019.
• Valuing intellectual property. LESANZ 2018.
• Panel discussion on IP financing and presentation on the valuation of IP and intangibles. IVAS-IVSC Valuation Conference. Singapore. 2017.
• How to plan for share value issues, and draft secure and effective disputes clauses in commercial. Joint presentation at 25th NZ Law conference. 2017.
• Expert determination of the value for unlisted shares. Annual conference of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of New Zealand (AMINZ). 2017.
• Follow the money - Identifying and valuing economic interests for matrimonial property purposes. Legalwise 2016 & 2017.
• Navigating valuation issues in financial statements. Legalwise Seminar 2015.
• Valuing relationship property. Presentation on behalf of New Zealand Law Society. 2015.
• Understanding the meaning(s) of value for business valuation purposes. 16th Annual Company Valuation Master-course. 2015.
• Valuing intellectual property and other intangible assets. Presentation to Intellectual Property Society of Australia and New Zealand. 2015. 

Articles and papers

• Will buyers pay more for businesses with existing tax losses? GT Business Advisor. 2023.
• What’s the trouble with goodwill? Acuity. 2021.
• Is the price right? Focusing on business valuation. Acuity 2021.
• New Zealand Relationship Property Survey 2021.
• New Zealand Relationship Property Survey 2019.
• New Zealand Relationship Property Survey 2017.
• Expert determination of the value for unlisted shares. Paper prepared for 2017 AMINZ conference.
• High Court takes a wine tour. Expert Determination. ReSolution. 2017.
• Valuing professional practices for matrimonial property purposes. Family Advocate. 2016.
• The value of restraint – valuing restraints of trade. LawTalk. 2015.
• The ‘bright-line’ test and other tax considerations in matrimonial property settlements. Family Advocate. 2015.
• IP strategy: what is the value of an idea? Idealog. 2015.
• Business valuations for matrimonial purposes: non- disclosure and misstatement. Family Advocate. 2015.
• The single joint expert process: a specialist’s view. Family Advocate. 2015.
• How to raise the selling price of your business. NZ Business. 2015.
• Using the family business to fund a matrimonial property settlement. Family Advocate. 2015.
• Expert determination of value - a specialist's view. Law Talk. 2015.
• Liquidity discounts for valuations of closely held businesses. Undisputed. 2015.