History of ASA

The American Society of Technical Appraisers (ASTA) and the Technical Valuation Society (TVS), organized in 1936 and 1939 respectively, were consolidated in 1952 creating ASA.

ASA is a nonprofit organization which was established to create an effective professional affiliation of appraisers of all disciplines, working cooperatively to elevate the standards of the appraisal profession. By reason of this broad concept, the society occupies a unique position among all professional appraisal societies in that it recognizes and is concerned with all classes of property: real, personal, tangible and intangible.

Article II, Sections 1 through 6, in the April 2000 edition of ASAʼs constitution outlines the objectives of ASA as follows:

  • The society shall promote the exchange of ideas and experiences among its members; cultivate the profession of appraising; establish and maintain principles of appraisal practice and a code of ethics for the guidance of its members; maintain universal recognition that members of the society are objective, unbiased appraisers and consultants of property values; award one or more professional designations to qualified members of the society; and seek to attain recognition of the profession by both public and private enterprise.
  • The society recognizes that there are basic communities of concept, purpose, thought, practice and standards that are common to the many appraisal fields in which its members engage and that their guided promotion and establishment are vital to each and all such special fields and to the appraisal profession and to the public.
  • The society shall promote research and development in all phases of property economics; cooperate with other appraisal and valuation societies and related professions and with finance, economics, engineering, architecture, accounting, building construction and related interests, real estate, insurance, taxation, and management; and approve and adopt reports of its committees or other groups as to standards, codes, and recommended practices.
  • The society shall forbid the use of its name, emblem, or initials in any manner not in accord with its constitution, bylaws, principles of appraisal practice, and code of ethics.
  • The society shall have the power to do any act or thing necessary to its functioning.
  • The board of governors shall establish an Educational Foundation with the purpose that the Educational Foundation shall encourage the advancement in appraising of all classes of property, both real and personal.

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