What do you think about this?

July 24, 2025

Some professional advisers are offering AI discounts for their services

I spotted this article in Business Valuation Resources and given that the issue of what professional advice is worth to clients is common to both legal advisers and independent valuers I thought it would be worth bringing it to your attention.  Do you think the arguments below stack up?

Set out below is a summary of the key points in this article: How to respond to clients who ask for an AI discount | Business Valuation Resources.

• “While AI can enhance efficiency by automating routine tasks, the core value of your services lies in the professional judgment, analysis, and insights that only experienced professionals can provide. AI may reduce the time spent on certain tasks, but it does not replace the need for expert oversight and validation, especially for complex valuation scenarios, audit, or regulatory purposes.
• Firms are investing significantly in proprietary AI tools to ensure data security and compliance. This investment is part of what clients are paying for, as it enhances the quality and reliability of the services provided.
• The fee can reflect value-based pricing rather than strictly hourly billing, which reflects the results delivered rather than the time spent.
• Clients expect high-quality, personalized service and expert analysis, and they are often willing to pay for these enhanced services. AI helps to facilitate this level of service.

Stress that while AI may reduce some operational costs, it does not automatically warrant a reduction in fees. Instead, focus on communicating the enhanced value and expertise that your firm provides, which justifies the current fee structure.”

The view in the US is that using AI now has its place in valuations work PROVIDED you check all results it returns back to source.

We are currently trialling several AI tools prior to deciding if any can add value to our processes.  A good example is using AI to parse data from Companies House to create capitalisation tables (checked back to the Company books of course!). Where the cap table is long or complicated, this can currently be a laborious manual task which takes a long time for an analyst to complete.  Removing the manual labour in this way is, I think, not dissimilar to using a calculator to do a sum rather than writing it down on pen and paper.

We are not yet convinced that AI can actually be used for the advice and professional judgement/opinion elements of a report, and we remain uncertain that undertaking work such as market research using AI tools, should be adopted.  The trouble with AI is that it generates results so quickly that it’s too easy just to take it as read, rather than thinking; and it’s the thinking where the value is created.

We won’t start using any AI at all until we are absolutely convinced that it does not impair our professional judgement.

Interestingly, I sat on a call with the US valuation industry recently and the view over there was that if you use it like google and check back to source there is no need to disclose that you are using it.  The argument was that you would not disclose if you had used google to get hold of the same data.  Right now I am not convinced that this is the right approach.

It is another issue we will be thinking about over the summer, but I am definitely leaning towards full disclosure.  Those of you who have seen our reports will know that disclosing all our sources and being unafraid to go into the detail is part of our USP. We provide 100% defensible reports, so that your clients can be confident not only that the answers are right, but also that if anyone tries to challenge the results that it’s all there in black and white in one place with every single argument laid out and justified.

We would be very happy to chat with anyone who has a view (especially a view that is developing) on this issue of AI in valuations work.  We also pay close attention to the views of HMRC. It currently does not want AI involved.  Neither do the courts. Obviously, that informs our own behaviours.

We will continue to watch this space and keep you up to date on where we are.