Lou Ann Gibson, CPA/ABV, CVA, MAFF

Lou Ann is a CPA with more than 35 years of public accounting experience in specialized tax, financial, and advisory services to privately held businesses, business owners, wealthy families, and not-for-profit organizations. Currently, she focuses on estate and gift tax planning and compliance.

She has advised closely-held organizations on business structure, budgeting, wealth transfer planning, tax strategy, succession planning, and asset protection, helping clients strengthen both business and personal financial outcomes. She also bring more than 20 years of valuation experience, helping clients determine and defend the value of their businesses. She is among the first in the nation to earn the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts Certified Valuation Analysts (CVA) designation. She also holds Accredited Business Valuation (ABV) and Master Analyst in Financial Forensics (MAFF) credentials, placing her among a select group of valuation professionals nationwide.

Lou Ann has supported clients in litigation through depositions, testimony, and valuation defense, including matters involving the IRS. She is recognized by courts and attorneys in her field and has served as Special Master and court appointed neutral in numerous litigated matters.

Representative Experience 

• Counseled a not-for-profit entity through a governance restructuring that reduced IRS exposure and minimized the risk of nonprofit status revocation, enabling more effective use of assets valued at more than $12M to meet their charitable objectives.
• Consulted with and reviewed the tax return for the nation’s largest community foundation.
• Assisted clients in transferring hundreds of millions of dollars to the next generation by developing and implementing estate plans using charitable lead and remainder trusts, private annuities, sales to defective grantor trusts, and gifts to family investment companies, while providing comprehensive transfer strategies tailored to complex wealth planning needs.
• Represented business and individual clients before the Internal Revenue Service and various tax state authorities.
• Provided expert witness service to attorneys in litigated matters involving financial disputes.
• Assisted attorneys and their clients in divorce cases by validating support and asset division through best practice methodologies, including identification of martial assets and preparation of multi-year income and expense projections based on investable assets and client developed budgets.
• Provided valuation services for a consolidated corporation valued at more than $100M, involving multiple businesses across industry segments and assets including hotels, real estate, and mines.
• Served as Special Master in a class action lawsuit involving a settlement award of more than $2M.