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| 2025 Schedule | |
Certified Business
Exit Consultant® |
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| WINTER 2025 |  | SPRING 2025 |  |
About the Designation
Who Should Attend
What is Included
CPE Credit
The Program Experience
The Executive Study Group The Twelve Domains How to Achieve the Designation
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| CBEC® 2025 WINTER SESSION Pre-CBEC® Orientation: WED, FEB 5, 2025 Dates: WED, FEB 19 – WED, MAR 26, 2025 Location: VIRTUAL (ZOOM) Sessions: WEEKLY; 3:30 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. ET EXECUTIVE BOOTCAMP Review: THU, APR 3, 2025 Proctored Exam: FRI, APR 4, 2025 | | | CBEC® 2025 SPRING SESSION Pre-CBEC® Orientation: WED, APR 30, 2025 Dates: WED, MAY 14 – WED, JUN 18, 2025 Location: VIRTUAL (ZOOM) Sessions: WEEKLY; 3:30 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. ET EXECUTIVE BOOTCAMP Review: THU, JUL 26, 2025 Proctored Exam: FRI, JUL 27, 2025 | |
SUMMER 2025 | | FALL 2025 | |
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CBEC®: 2025 SUMMER SESSION Pre-CBEC® Orientation: WED, JUL 16, 2025 Dates: WED, AUG 6 – WED, SEP 10, 2025 Location: VIRTUAL (ZOOM) Sessions: WEEKLY; 3:30 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. ET EXECUTIVE BOOTCAMP Review: THU, SEP 18, 2025 Proctored Exam: FRI, SEP 19, 2025 | | CBEC®: 2025 FALL SESSION Pre-CBEC® Orientation: WED, OCT 1, 2025 Dates: WED, OCT 15, 2025 – WED, NOV 19, 2025 Location: VIRTUAL (ZOOM) Sessions: WEEKLY; 3:30 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. ET EXECUTIVE BOOTCAMP Executive Review: THU, DEC 4, 2025 Proctored Exam: FRI, DEC 5, 2025 |
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ABOUT THE DESIGNATION
Certified Business Exit Consultant® (CBEC®) Designation Program
The CBEC® training is designed to both educate and put advisors in the business of exit planning for privately held business owners. This program utilizes a proprietary, six-step exit planning process that is applicable to any financial analysts advising business owners. This six-step process has stood the test of time, resulting in simplifying a complex process to help advisors more consistently and more effectively communicate with owners on this critical topic of discussion and formal engagement.
Exit planning is a simple concept: it is the idea that a business owner, a few years before they want to sell or transfer their business to someone else, will do some planning around this critically important event. Owners should know and make plans around
issues such as:
- The value of their business
- Getting the conversation started and measuring the owner’s readiness for an exit
- Who would likely want to own their business
- When they might expect to get paid for the business and whether that is enough money
- Critical issues and strategies to achieve a successful exit
Many of these owners are your existing and valuable customers who are looking to you, as their primary advisor, to assist them with this important need.
As a professional advisor, you are perfectly positioned to deliver these planning-based solutions into your existing and prospective business owner relationships, yielding you a profitable and enjoyable stream of income for your own business or practice.
Adding exit planning to your practice also gives you greater visibility, access to, and standing with a growing network of other professional advisors who are active in the business owner exit planning space. Many of these advisors have owner relationships
and want to partner with you to help service the owner’s comprehensive needs in the exit planning process.
Fee: $3,000
This program is offered to professionals who help business owners solve problems:
CPA • Valuation Analyst • Exit Planner • CExP • CEPA • CM&AA • Financial Planner • CFO •Attorney
How You Will Benefit
- Demonstrate an understanding of the “middle marketplace” of business owners at a higher level than 99% of other advisors and consultants
- Describe their value proposition to an owner to assist with their exit planning, as well as position themselves for the execution of that planning
- Integrate and advance the “core” training as they learn the key components of exit planning at a deeper level
- Apply the materials to help assure their success after the course
- Illustrate to business owners exit planning and execution work
What is included:
Registration for the CBEC® course includes a series of self-paced modules that cover the knowledge essential to competently and confidently lead exit planning engagements. The self-paced modules are accompanied by a series of six live, interactive
study group sessions where you get access to exit planning experts and a group of peers, so you can make the leap from theory to execution.
Also included at no additional cost is a complimentary, one-year membership with the International Exit Planning Association (a value of $2,000) and access to everything you need to successfully launch your exit planning advisory.
** On the anniversary of your enrollment, you will have an opportunity to renew your membership.
Course Materials:
- Private Capital Markets: Valuation, Capitalization, and Transfer of Private Business Interests
- Middle Market Strategies: How Private Companies Use the Markets to Create Value (select chapters provided with course materials)
- Straight Talk About Planning Your Succession
- The Right Side of the Table: Where Do You Sit in the Minds of the Affluent?
- Valuation for M&A: Building and Measuring Private Company Value
- An Introduction to ESOPs
- Exiting Your Business, Protecting Your Wealth: A Strategic Guide for Owners and Their Advisors
Resources:
- ‘How to Write an Exit Plan’ course content
- Universal Exit Plan Writing Template
- Unlimited usage of personalized owner engagement survey tools: Business Exit Readiness Index™, Owner Dependence Index™ and Growth Planning Index™
- Monthly member training calls
- Course Library Access
- Referral and Collaboration Portal Access
- 25% Discount to IEPA Annual Conference
CPE CREDIT
Up to 14 Hours CPE
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Delivery Method
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Group-Live and Group Internet-Based
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Program Level
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Advanced
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Advanced Preparation
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Completion of the IEPA’s Exit Planning Essentials Online Training Course (included in course fee)
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Prerequisites
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Attendees should have completed one of the following: 1) attendance at an IEPA training workshop or 2) completion of the IEPA’s Exit Planning Essentials Online Training Course.
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Field of Study
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Specialized Knowledge
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Total CPE Hours
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14
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The International Exit Planning Association (IEPA) is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website:
www.nasbaregistry.org.
Refunds and Cancelations: Cancelations received in writing two weeks prior to the first day of the training event will be eligible for a refund, less the cost of any course materials not returned to the IEPA. For more information regarding refund, complaint and/or program cancellation policies, please contact our offices at 781-821-2608.
The Program Experience
The Virtual CBEC® Executive Study Group for Candidates:
To support CBEC® candidates in earning the designation (and integrating what they’ve learned into their practice with confidence), IEPA hosts six CBEC® Executive Study Group sessions (90 minutes each week for six weeks via
Zoom).
These game changing sessions are led by John Leonetti, founder of the IEPA, author of Exiting Your Business, Protecting Your Wealth: A Strategic Guide for Owners and Their Advisors and creator of the Six-Step Exit Planning Process, and
many other active exit planners and industry leaders, who will review the coursework, run drills on sample test questions, give guidance on completing the written exit plan, plus offer “how to” perspective on how to integrate (and commercialize)
your exit planning expertise.
The Twelve Domains of the CBEC Course
Domain #1: Exit Planning Marketplace, Owner Needs, Advisor Goals and Resources
Domain #2: The Lower Middle Market / Private Capital Markets
Domain #3:
Understanding, Assessing, and Engaging the Owner
Domain #4: Readiness of the Owner, Company and Market - Value Gaps
Domain #5: Understanding the Corporate Entity
Domain #6: Valuation and the Range of Values
Domain #7: Business Value Growth Planning and Execution
Domain #8: Exit Options - External
Transfers
Domain #9: Exit Options - Internal Transfers
Domain #10: Deal Structuring, Taxes, Legal Agreements, Estate Planning
Domain #11: The Advisory
Team, Finding Exit Collaboration Partners
Domain #12: Writing and Delivering the Exit Plan
Six-Week CBEC Executive Study Group Agenda
Week 1: “Developing a Capital Markets Perspective” - How to understand and communicate current private capital market conditions
Week 2: “Develop an Exit Planning Perspective when Engaging a Business Owner” - Assessing owner needs and goals, measuring readiness, and identifying any value gap.
Week 3: “Develop a Perspective on Valuation and Value Growth” - Understanding and applying valuation concepts including concepts around a business owner increasing the transferable value of the company.
Week 4: “Develop a Perspective on External Transfers” - Gaining a comfort level with the business sale process. Applying the external exit option strategies that align with owner goals.
Week 5: “Develop a Perspective on Internal Transfers” - Understanding how and where internal transfers are the optimal exit option. How to apply internal exit option strategies that align with owner goals."Josefin Sans", sans-serif
Week 6: “Going to Market, Building Your Advisory Practice” - Exit Plan Delivery and Execution. Pro tips and best practices, including a practitioner panel discussion and question and answer session.
HOW TO ACHIEVE THE CBEC® DESIGNATION
The CBEC® Proctored Exam is offered four times a year during the two-day CBEC Executive Bootcamp. Day One is the final CBEC review session and practical approach workshop and Day Two is the CBEC proctored exam administration.
Once the exam requirement is met, the final step to achieving the CBEC® designation is submitting a written exit plan that meets the standard of quality expected from all designee holders. To support candidates who are writing an exit plan for the first time (or those who are interested in how others are doing it), you can access the online course, “How to Write an Effective Exit Plan,” and use the plan creation tools included in your IEPA licensed membership.
Below is the checklist of requirements to hold the Certified Business Exit Consultant® (CBEC®) designation:
- Complete the CBEC® Candidate registration form and pay the registration fee.
- Gain an understanding of the core body of knowledge for exit planning and the Six-Step Exit Planning Process.
- Pass the CBEC® Proctored Exam.
- Produce and submit a written exit plan that achieves the CBEC® standard of quality.
- Maintain membership in good standing and abide by ethical standards of conduct.
- Attend and attest to a minimum of 10 hours of continuing education every year.
- Maintain an IEPA membership or pay a designation renewal fee of $395 annually
The CBEC® Difference
Advisors choose to achieve the CBEC® designation when they are ready to go beyond education. Due to the experience requirements to hold this standard, those who earn CBEC® get to sit at a table among their exit planning practitioner peers (with deep experience, active projects, and growth mindset) and collaborate with like-minded people who are passionate about solving owner problems as they approach a business exit that creates and monetizes their illiquid business wealth.
It takes more than knowledge to earn the Certified Business Exit Consultant®(CBEC®) designation. It is reserved for (and exclusively offered to) those who do exit planning work for business owners versus those who only seek to understand exit planning conceptually. The majority of CBEC® designees have 10+ years of proven experience helping business owners, passed the proctored exam, and submitted a written exit plan within one year of completing the coursework.
Registration Fee: $3,000
CBEC® Executive Study Group
- Register Here: CBEC®: 2025 WINTER Session
- Pre-CBEC® Orientation: WED, FEB 5, 2025
- Dates: WED, FEB 19 – WED, MAR 26, 2025
- Location: Virtual (Zoom)
- Sessions: Weekly; 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
- FEB 19: “Developing a Capital Markets Perspective” - How to understand and communicate current private capital market conditions.
- FEB 26: “Develop an Exit Planning Perspective when Engaging a Business Owner” - Assessing owner needs and goals, measuring readiness, and identifying any value gap.
- MAR 5: “Develop a Perspective on Valuation” - Understanding and applying valuation concepts to the exit planning process. While examining the range of values of a business.
- MAR 12: “Develop a Perspective on External Transfers and Value Growth” - Gaining a comfort level with the business sale process. Applying the external exit option strategies that align with owner goals while talking about how to increase the value of a transferable business.
- MAR 19: “Develop a Perspective on Internal Transfers” - Understanding how and where internal transfers are the optimal exit option. How to apply internal exit option strategies that align with owner goals.
- MAR 26: “Going to Market, Building Your Advisory Practice” - Exit Plan Delivery and Execution. Pro tips and best practices, including a practitioner panel discussion and question and answer session.
CBEC® Executive Study Group
- Location: Virtual
- CBEC® Executive Review: Thu, APR 3, 2025
- CBEC® Proctored Exam: Fri, APR, 4, 2025
DEADLINES:
- 25% off (Best Rate): EXPIRES DEC 31,2024
- 15% off (Early Bird): EXPIRES JAN 22, 2025
CBEC® 2025 SPRING SESSION
Registration Fee: $3,000
CBEC® Executive Study Group
- Pre-CBEC® Orientation: WED, APR 30, 2025
- Dates: WED, MAY 14 – WED, JUN 18, 2025
- Location: VIRTUAL (ZOOM)
- Sessions: WEEKLY; 3:30 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. ET
- MAY 14: “Developing a Capital Markets Perspective” - How to understand and communicate current private capital market conditions.
- MAY 21: “Develop an Exit Planning Perspective when Engaging a Business Owner” - Assessing owner needs and goals, measuring readiness, and identifying any value gap.
- MAY 28: “Develop a Perspective on Valuation” - Understanding and applying valuation concepts to the exit planning process. While examining the range of values of a business.
- JUN 4: “Develop a Perspective on External Transfers and Value Growth” - Gaining a comfort level with the business sale process. Applying the external exit option strategies that align with owner goals while talking about how to increase the value of a transferable business.
- JUN 11: “Develop a Perspective on Internal Transfers” - Understanding how and where internal transfers are the optimal exit option. How to apply internal exit option strategies that align with owner goals.
- JUN 18: “Going to Market, Building Your Advisory Practice” - Exit Plan Delivery and Execution. Pro tips and best practices, including a practitioner panel discussion and question and answer session.
CBEC® Executive Bootcamp
- Location: Virtual
- CBEC® Executive Review: Thu, JUN 26, 2025
- CBEC® Proctored Exam: Fri, JUN 27, 2025
Important Dates & Deadlines:
- 25% off (Best Rate): expires MAR 19, 2025
- 15% off (Early Bird): expires APR 16, 2025
CBEC® 2025 SUMMER SESSION
CBEC® Executive Study Group
- Pre-CBEC® Orientation: WED, JUL 16, 2025
- Dates: WED, AUG 6 – WED, SEP 10, 2025
- Location: VIRTUAL (ZOOM)
- Sessions: WEEKLY; 3:30 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. ET
- AUG 6: “Developing a Capital Markets Perspective” - How to understand and communicate current private capital market conditions.
- AUG 13: “Develop an Exit Planning Perspective when Engaging a Business Owner” - Assessing owner needs and goals, measuring readiness, and identifying any value gap.
- AUG 20: “Develop a Perspective on Valuation” - Understanding and applying valuation concepts to the exit planning process. While examining the range of values of a business.
- AUG 27: “Develop a Perspective on External Transfers and Value Growth” - Gaining a comfort level with the business sale process. Applying the external exit option strategies that align with owner goals while talking about how to increase the value of a transferable business.
- SEP 3: “Develop a Perspective on Internal Transfers” - Understanding how and where internal transfers are the optimal exit option. How to apply internal exit option strategies that align with owner goals.
- SEP 10: “Going to Market, Building Your Advisory Practice” - Exit Plan Delivery and Execution. Pro tips and best practices, including a practitioner panel discussion and question and answer session.
CBEC® Executive Bootcamp
CBEC® 2025 FALL Session
CBEC® Executive Study Group
- Pre-CBEC® Orientation: WED, OCT 1, 2025
- Dates: WED, OCT 15, 2025 – MON, NOV 19, 2025
- Location: VIRTUAL (ZOOM)
- Sessions: WEEKLY; 3:30 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. ET
- OCT 15: “Developing a Capital Markets Perspective” - How to understand and communicate current private capital market conditions.
- OCT 22: “Develop an Exit Planning Perspective when Engaging a Business Owner” - Assessing owner needs and goals, measuring readiness, and identifying any value gap.
- OCT 29: “Develop a Perspective on Valuation” - Understanding and applying valuation concepts to the exit planning process. While examining the range of values of a business.
- NOV 5: “Develop a Perspective on External Transfers and Value Growth” - Gaining a comfort level with the business sale process. Applying the external exit option strategies that align with owner goals while talking about how to increase the value of a transferable business.
- NOV 12: “Develop a Perspective on Internal Transfers” - Understanding how and where internal transfers are the optimal exit option. How to apply internal exit option strategies that align with owner goals.
- NOV 19: “Going to Market, Building Your Advisory Practice” - Exit Plan Delivery and Execution. Pro tips and best practices, including a practitioner panel discussion and question and answer session.
CBEC® Executive Bootcamp
- How to register: CBEC®: 2025 FALL session
National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts Members
*Special Program: NACVA Members Click Here to Apply
2024 Excellence in Exit Planning Achievment Award Winner
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