What Is a Certified Business Exit Consultant (CBEC)?

Most business owners don’t wake up thinking about “exit planning certifications.”

They care about one thing:

“Can someone actually help me get out of this business on my terms?”

A Certified Business Exit Consultant (CBEC®) is one of the professional designations built to answer that question.

The CBEC credential is designed for experienced advisors who work with privately held business owners and want a repeatable process for building exit plans—not just doing one-off valuations or ad hoc succession conversations. 

For context, Maus defines exit planning as the process of aligning:

• The owner’s personal and financial goals,
• The business’s transferable value and readiness, and
• A clear exit strategy (who will own the business next, and when).

CBEC-trained advisors are taught to hold all three together in a structured, step-by-step way.

What Is a Certified Business Exit Consultant (CBEC)?

A Certified Business Exit Consultant (CBEC®) is an advisor who has completed a specialized training program in business exit planning, passed a proctored exam, and produced a written exit plan that meets IEPA’s quality standards.

Key facts about the CBEC designation:

• Issuing / governing body: International Exit Planning Association (IEPA), with training developed by Pinnacle Equity Solutions.
• Audience: Advisors working directly with business owners—typically financial advisors, CPAs, consultants, attorneys, and valuation professionals.
• Experience expectations: CBEC is positioned for experienced practitioners, not beginners. Many designees have 10+ years advising business owners.
• Core focus: Turning complex exit issues—valuation, timing, exit routes, tax, continuity—into a practical plan owners can implement.

Where a traditional advisor might focus only on investments or tax, CBEC practitioners are trained to coordinate exit strategy, owner readiness, and business value into a single engagement, very similar to the advisor role Maus describes in its exit planning process: 7 stages advisors should master.

How the CBEC Certification Works

Different sources describe the CBEC path with slightly different language, but they all agree on three main components:

1. Pre-work / Core Training
2. Live or virtual coursework
3. Exam + written exit plan

1. Core Concepts of Exit Planning (Pre-Work)

Before earning the designation, candidates complete online core training that covers exit planning fundamentals:

• Why owners need to plan for exit
• Basic valuation and private capital markets
• Owner readiness—financial and emotional
• Common exit routes (third-party sale, insiders, ESOP, family)

This is similar in spirit to what Maus outlines in What is Exit Planning? and Top 10 Business Exit Strategies (and How to Choose the Right One).

2. Webinars and Study Sessions

Next, CBEC candidates move through a series of webinars and study sessions—often structured as:

• Weekly live sessions (typically nine)
• Group study discussions
• A review segment that ties the coursework together

Topics commonly include:

• Understanding private capital markets
• Mentally preparing owners for an exit
• Business valuation and value drivers
• Transfer strategies, including ESOPs and insider transfers
• Retaining and incentivizing key management through a transition

If you compare this to Maus’ content, there’s strong overlap with:

• Determine Your Exit Options
• What is Transferable Value?
• Family Business Succession Plan

3. CBEC Exam and Written Exit Plan

To actually earn the CBEC mark, candidates must:

• Pass a proctored final exam, and
• Submit a written exit plan for a business owner case, which is peer-reviewed against IEPA standards.

In other words, CBEC is not just “read the book and get the letters.” Advisors have to prove they can apply the framework to a real-world-style situation—similar to how Maus expects advisors to operationalize frameworks in the field, not just talk about them.

CBEC designees also need ongoing continuing education and must maintain IEPA membership and adhere to its code of ethics.

What Topics Does the CBEC Program Cover?

The exact syllabus evolves over time, but CBEC-related resources consistently highlight these themes:

Owner Objectives and Readiness

• Clarifying personal, financial, and business goals
• Understanding when and why the owner wants to exit
• Measuring readiness—both emotional and financial

This connects directly to Maus’ guides on exit readiness and 15 exit-readiness checks every owner should pass.

Business Valuation and Value Drivers

• Estimating what the business is worth today
• Identifying value gaps between “current” and “target” value
• Working on value drivers to make the company more transferable

Maus tackles many of the same ideas in What is Transferable Value? and Exit Planning Process: 7 Stages Advisors Should Master.

Exit Options and Deal Structures

• Third-party sales (strategic buyers, PE, financial buyers)
• Insider transfers (management buyouts, key employee buyouts)
• ESOPs and recapitalizations
• Pros and cons of each route for different owners

Here, Maus’ Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs and Top 10 Business Exit Strategies make a good companion reading.

Personal Wealth, Tax, and Estate Planning

• How exit proceeds feed into the owner’s personal financial plan
• Tax considerations around different deal types
• Estate and legacy planning

This aligns with Maus’ content on conducting a financial analysis for retirement planning and simplifying retirement with the 7 percent rule.

Management and Continuity

• Retaining key employees during and after the transition
• Incentive and deferred compensation plans
• Business continuity in the event of disability, death, or unexpected exit triggers

If continuity and family dynamics are in play, Maus’ family business succession plan and the role of family members in business succession planning cover many of the same real-world challenges.

CBEC vs. CEPA vs. CExP: How Does It Compare?

Advisors and owners increasingly see three designations in the exit-planning space:

• CBEC® – Certified Business Exit Consultant (Pinnacle / IEPA)
• CEPA® – Certified Exit Planning Advisor (Exit Planning Institute)
• CExP™ – Certified Exit Planner (Business Enterprise Institute)

The Exit Planning Institute’s Exit Planning Certification Comparison page outlines the differences across price, prerequisites, time commitment, and format.

At a high level:

• CBEC
  • Emphasis on practical application (written plan requirement)
  • Utilizes a proprietary six-step process developed by Pinnacle/IEPA
• CEPA
  • Based on the Value Acceleration Methodology™
  • Strong focus on integrating business, personal, and financial planning
• CExP
  • Built around BEI’s exit planning system and boot camp + advanced series
  • Designed for advisors who want to lead full exit planning engagements
  • See Maus’ complementary article: What is a Certified Exit Planner (CExP)? once that page is live

From a business owner’s perspective, the fine-grain differences matter less than the behaviour of the advisor:

• Do they follow a structured exit planning process?
• Do they coordinate your “exit team”? (CPA, attorney, wealth advisor, M&A, etc.)
• Do they measure and track progress, not just talk about exit in theory?

Who Should Consider Earning the CBEC Designation?

CBEC is typically pursued by advisors who:

• Already work with privately held business owners
• Want to deepen their value proposition beyond investments or compliance
• See exit planning as a way to build longer, more strategic engagements

According to SmartAsset and FINRA, most CBEC designees are:

• Financial advisors and wealth managers
• CPAs and tax professionals
• Business consultants and coaches
• Attorneys with closely held business clients

For many firms, CBEC fits into a broader effort to build an exit/succession planning practice.

How CBEC-Trained Advisors Deliver Exit Planning in Practice

On paper, CBEC is a training program. In practice, it’s used to reshape how advisors engage with business-owner clients.

Common patterns you see in CBEC-style engagements mirror what Maus advocates:

1. Diagnosis and readiness
   • Assess where the owner stands today (business value, risk, readiness).
   • Use structured tools to surface gaps—similar to how Maus’ assessments and value-driver reviews are used in client engagement workflows.
2. Clarity around goals and options
   • Help the owner articulate their “ideal exit.”
   • Compare exit strategies using frameworks like Maus’ exit strategies for entrepreneurs.
3. An actionable exit plan
   • Break the journey into phases and projects: value growth, risk reduction, team, personal financial prep.
   • Align the plan with the owner’s retirement analysis and target date.
4. Ongoing implementation and measurement
   • Meet regularly to track progress against value drivers and action items.
   • Bring in other professionals (M&A, estate planning, insurance) as the exit draws nearer.

This is where certification alone isn’t enough—you need a system to run the process consistently.

Using Maus to Operationalize Your CBEC Training

Whether you’re CBEC, CEPA, CExP, or a mix, you face the same challenge:

“How do I turn my exit planning expertise into a repeatable client experience?”

Maus is designed to solve that.

CBEC-trained advisors use Maus to:

• Run diagnostic assessments
  • Quickly gauge exit readiness and value gaps using standardized tools.
  • Align what you see with the concepts you learned in CBEC training.
• Build and track actionable plans
  • Convert high-level recommendations into tasks, timelines, and dashboards.
  • Tie improvements directly to value drivers and transferable value.
• Keep owners and advisors accountable
  • Document decisions, responsibilities, and next steps.
  • Keep everyone aligned as the owner moves through the exit planning process.
• Differentiate your practice
  • Pair a respected credential (CBEC, CEPA, CExP) with a robust platform.
  • Position yourself as the exit planning quarterback, not just another advisor in the mix.

If you’re considering CBEC or already hold the designation, exploring how Maus supports exit planning for advisors is a natural next step.

Additional CBEC & Exit Planning Resources

To go deeper on CBEC specifically:

• IEPA – Certified Business Exit Consultant (CBEC) overview
• NACVA – Certified Business Exit Consultant credentialing program
• SmartAsset – What Is a Certified Business Exit Consultant (CBEC)?
• FINRA – CBEC designation overview

And for the broader exit planning landscape:

• What is Exit Planning?
• Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs
• Top 10 Business Exit Strategies (and How to Choose the Right One)
• Exit Readiness: A Business Owner’s Guide
• 15 Exit-Readiness Checks Every Owner Should Pass
• Exit Planning Process: 7 Stages Advisors Should Master