Sofer Advisors Review

Sofer Advisors is a business valuation firm headquartered in Suwanee, Georgia, in the Atlanta metro area, with a second office in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Founded in 2019 by CEO David Hern, a CPA who holds both ABV and ASA credentials, the firm focuses on valuations for small and mid-sized, closely held businesses.

This review looks at what the firm actually does, how the engagement process works, what it tends to cost, and how that fits into the broader Atlanta business valuation market.

David Hern started Sofer Advisors in 2019 after working at boutique advisory firms and larger financial services companies.

His background runs from tax staff accountant to investment banking, where he worked on capital raises and M&A deals for financial institutions.

That combination of accounting and deal-side experience shapes how the firm operates today.

The company describes its approach as the "Heart of a Teacher." In practice, that means the team spends time walking clients through how a number was reached rather than just dropping off a report and an invoice.

Kathleen Hern serves as Consulting Manager, and according to PitchBook data the firm has grown to roughly 28 employees and associates, all W2 staff rather than contractors.

The client base is mostly closely held businesses: family-owned companies, small partnerships, or founder-led operations that need an outside, defensible number for a specific reason.

That reason might be a sale, a divorce, a tax filing, or a dispute between partners.

Sofer Advisors organizes its work around a handful of core service lines.

On the industry side, the firm lists construction, dealerships, franchise organizations, healthcare, insurance, life sciences, manufacturing and distribution, professional services, restaurants, and retail.

That is a wide range, but it lines up with the kinds of businesses common in the Atlanta and broader Southeast economy: family-owned construction companies, multi-unit franchise operators, and regional healthcare practices.

Sofer Advisors breaks its process into four stages.

• Initial consultation and document collection, where the team learns about the business and requests financial statements, tax returns, and operating details.
• Financial analysis, where staff normalize the financials and run comparisons against industry benchmarks and comparable transactions.
• Risk assessment, covering customer concentration, key person dependency, vendor relationships, and other factors that affect a valuation multiple.
• Reporting and education, where the team walks the client through the conclusion, the assumptions behind it, and how to use the number going forward.

The firm advertises a next-business-day response standard for client communication. For a process that can otherwise drag on for weeks, that kind of commitment matters to owners who are mid-divorce or mid-negotiation and need answers on a deadline.

Sofer Advisors does not publish a fixed price list. The final cost depends on revenue size, the number of entities involved, and whether the report needs to hold up in court or in front of the IRS. 

The firm has said publicly that it will never be the lowest-cost provider, positioning itself instead on thoroughness and credential strength. That puts it in line with how the broader certified valuation market generally prices out.

Given Sofer's focus on certified, defensible reports for tax, litigation, and financial reporting work, most engagements likely fall in the middle to upper end of that range.

Owners shopping purely on price will find cheaper options elsewhere. Owners who need a report that survives an IRS review or a deposition are paying for the credentials and the documentation trail behind the number, not just the number itself.

Suwanee sits in Gwinnett County, part of the greater Atlanta metro, which has become one of the busier middle-market deal regions in the Southeast.

Groups like Smart Business Dealmakers run an annual Atlanta conference that brings together CEOs, private equity investors, and advisors active in the local M&A scene.

Several Atlanta-based firms, including Bravaldo Capital Advisors, focus on companies with revenues between $10 million and $300 million, which sits just above the size range Sofer Advisors typically serves.

For the lower end of that market, the businesses with $1 million to $10 million in revenue that make up most of metro Atlanta's small business base, deal activity tends to move on relationships and local referrals rather than formal auctions.

Attorneys, CPAs, and wealth managers in Gwinnett and Fulton counties are the usual referral source for a valuation engagement, and that matches how Sofer Advisors describes much of its own client pipeline.

 Its published testimonials repeatedly mention referrals from attorneys and CPAs rather than cold outreach.

Citizens Bank's 2025 M&A outlook, based on a survey of 400 midsize company executives and private equity principals, found that more than half expected a strong M&A market that year, with buyer interest concentrated among larger firms.

For a small Atlanta business owner, that points to a market where a credible, third-party valuation can be the difference between a sale conversation that moves and one that stalls because the numbers do not hold up under buyer scrutiny.

Despite having a physical presence in just two cities, Sofer Advisors performs valuations for businesses across the United States. Most work happens remotely once the initial document collection is done, so location is rarely a barrier to working with the firm.

The firm's own site lists testimonials describing the team as detailed, responsive, and good at explaining the reasoning behind a number.

 One client mentioned being referred by an attorney and working with a team member named Jay, who walked them through the corporate evaluation step by step.

Another reviewer, a CPA themselves, said Sofer's pricing landed in the middle compared to larger national firms, with no drop in service quality.

A third-party review aggregator covering Gwinnett-area businesses put Sofer Advisors' Google review count above 180, almost all five stars, and described the firm as thorough and dependable on deadlines.

The same source noted a smaller number of complaints, mostly about communication with specific staff members and refund handling on a few engagements.

That mix is fairly normal for a firm this size. A high volume of strong reviews alongside a handful of outliers is generally a more believable signal than a perfect, suspiciously uniform record.

David Hern holds both the ABV (Accredited in Business Valuation) designation from the AICPA and the ASA (Accredited Senior Appraiser) designation from the American Society of Appraisers.

Holding both matters because certain valuation purposes, particularly IRS filings and court testimony, require credentials that specific institutions recognize.

A valuation prepared by someone without ABV or ASA can be challenged or rejected outright in those settings.

This is also where Sofer Advisors sets itself apart from a general CPA or financial planner offering a "valuation" as a side service.

An uncredentialed appraisal might be fine for internal planning, but it carries real risk if the number ends up in front of a judge or an IRS examiner.

The firm's own blog content makes this point repeatedly, and it is one of the few places where the marketing and the substance actually line up.

Based on the firm's history, credentials, and public reviews, here is a fair read on where Sofer Advisors fits.

• Strong fit for owners who need a defensible report for the IRS, a court, or a lender, given the ABV and ASA credentials on staff.
• Good fit for family businesses going through succession, divorce, or a partner buyout, which the firm lists as core specialties.
• Less of a fit for owners who just want a rough ballpark number and do not want to pay certified-valuation rates.
• Two physical office locations in Suwanee and Nashville, but a national client base, so most communication happens remotely regardless of where the business is located.
• 180-plus Google reviews with a strong average rating, alongside a small number of complaints about responsiveness from specific staff and refund handling on certain engagements.

Sofer Advisors is a credentialed, Atlanta-based valuation firm built for owners who need a number that holds up under scrutiny, whether that scrutiny comes from the IRS, a court, or a buyer's due diligence team.

 For a quick ballpark estimate, cheaper options exist, but for tax, litigation, or succession work, the ABV and ASA credentials combined with a responsive team make Sofer a reasonable firm to request a quote from.