Bethany Hearn is a Principal at CLA and has 30 years of public accounting experience with the last 20 focused on valuation, litigation support and forensic accounting services. Bethany performs valuations of businesses and intangible assets for a variety of purposes including financial reporting, tax, merger and acquisitions, shareholder disputes, marital dissolutions, and bank financing. In addition to valuation services, Bethany provides business succession planning services to business owners and has served as an expert witness in Illinois, Michigan and Washington.

Bethany regularly speaks on valuation and litigation topics to professional organizations, including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“AICPA”), state CPA societies, Illinois State Bar Association, estate planning councils and attorney groups and has authored numerous articles for business journals. Bethany is a graduate of Northern Illinois University with a degree in Accountancy. She is a licensed CPA in the state of Illinois, is Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) and Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF). Bethany has been active with the AICPA for several years teaching through webinars, at the national forensic and valuation conferences and the national business valuation school. Bethany has served on the ABV Exam Task Force and ABV Credential Committee for the last four years and is currently the Chair of the ABV Credential Committee.