diff --git a/lib/Dialect/QCS/Utils/ParameterInitialValueAnalysis.cpp b/lib/Dialect/QCS/Utils/ParameterInitialValueAnalysis.cpp
index c60d1e24e..bc7053964 100644
--- a/lib/Dialect/QCS/Utils/ParameterInitialValueAnalysis.cpp
+++ b/lib/Dialect/QCS/Utils/ParameterInitialValueAnalysis.cpp
@@ -28,59 +28,81 @@
 #include "mlir/Support/LLVM.h"
 
 #include "llvm/ADT/StringRef.h"
+#include "llvm/Support/CommandLine.h"
+#include "llvm/Support/raw_ostream.h"
 
 #define DEBUG_TYPE "ParameterInitialValueAnalysis"
 
 using namespace mlir::qcs;
 
+static llvm::cl::opt<bool> printAnalysisEntries(
+    "qcs-parameter-initial-value-analysis-print",
+    llvm::cl::desc("Print ParameterInitialValueAnalysis entries"),
+    llvm::cl::init(false));
+
 ParameterInitialValueAnalysis::ParameterInitialValueAnalysis(
     mlir::Operation *moduleOp) {
 
-  // ParameterInitialValueAnalysis should only process the top level
-  // module where parameters are defined
-  // find the top level module
-  auto parentOp = moduleOp->getParentOfType<mlir::ModuleOp>();
-  while (parentOp) {
-    moduleOp = parentOp;
-    parentOp = moduleOp->getParentOfType<mlir::ModuleOp>();
-  }
-
   if (not invalid_)
     return;
 
-  // process the module top level to cache declareParameterOp initial_values
-  // this does not use a walk method so that submodule (if present) are not
-  // processed in order to limit processing time
-
-  for (auto &region : moduleOp->getRegions())
-    for (auto &block : region.getBlocks())
-      for (auto &op : block.getOperations()) {
-        auto declareParameterOp = dyn_cast<DeclareParameterOp>(op);
-        if (!declareParameterOp)
-          continue;
-
-        // moduleOp->walk([&](DeclareParameterOp declareParameterOp) {
-        double initial_value = 0.0;
-        if (declareParameterOp.getInitialValue().has_value()) {
-          auto angleAttr = declareParameterOp.getInitialValue()
-                               .value()
-                               .dyn_cast<mlir::quir::AngleAttr>();
-          auto floatAttr = declareParameterOp.getInitialValue()
-                               .value()
-                               .dyn_cast<FloatAttr>();
-          if (!(angleAttr || floatAttr))
-            declareParameterOp.emitError("Parameters are currently limited to "
-                                         "angles or float[64] only.");
-
-          if (angleAttr)
-            initial_value = angleAttr.getValue().convertToDouble();
-
-          if (floatAttr)
-            initial_value = floatAttr.getValue().convertToDouble();
+  bool foundParameters = false;
+
+  // search for the parameters in the current module
+  // if not found search parent module
+  // TODO - determine if there is a faster way to do this
+  do {
+
+    // process the module top level to cache declareParameterOp initial_values
+    // this does not use a walk method so that submodule (if present) are not
+    // processed in order to limit processing time
+
+    for (auto &region : moduleOp->getRegions())
+      for (auto &block : region.getBlocks())
+        for (auto &op : block.getOperations()) {
+          auto declareParameterOp = dyn_cast<DeclareParameterOp>(op);
+          if (!declareParameterOp)
+            continue;
+
+          double initial_value = 0.0;
+          if (declareParameterOp.getInitialValue().has_value()) {
+            auto angleAttr = declareParameterOp.getInitialValue()
+                                 .value()
+                                 .dyn_cast<mlir::quir::AngleAttr>();
+            auto floatAttr = declareParameterOp.getInitialValue()
+                                 .value()
+                                 .dyn_cast<FloatAttr>();
+            if (!(angleAttr || floatAttr))
+              declareParameterOp.emitError(
+                  "Parameters are currently limited to "
+                  "angles or float[64] only.");
+
+            if (angleAttr)
+              initial_value = angleAttr.getValue().convertToDouble();
+
+            if (floatAttr)
+              initial_value = floatAttr.getValue().convertToDouble();
+          }
+          initial_values_[declareParameterOp.getSymName()] = initial_value;
+          foundParameters = true;
         }
-        initial_values_[declareParameterOp.getSymName()] = initial_value;
-      }
+    if (!foundParameters) {
+      auto parentOp = moduleOp->getParentOfType<mlir::ModuleOp>();
+      if (parentOp)
+        moduleOp = parentOp;
+      else
+        break;
+    }
+  } while (!foundParameters);
   invalid_ = false;
+
+  // debugging / test print out
+  if (printAnalysisEntries) {
+    for (auto &initial_value : initial_values_) {
+      llvm::outs() << initial_value.first() << " = "
+                   << std::get<double>(initial_value.second) << "\n";
+    }
+  }
 }
 
 void ParameterInitialValueAnalysisPass::runOnOperation() {
diff --git a/test/Dialect/QCS/Utils/parameter-initial-value-analysis.mlir b/test/Dialect/QCS/Utils/parameter-initial-value-analysis.mlir
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e1f76ffe8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/Dialect/QCS/Utils/parameter-initial-value-analysis.mlir
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+// RUN: qss-opt --qcs-parameter-initial-value-analysis-print --pass-pipeline='builtin.module(builtin.module(qcs-parameter-initial-value-analysis))' --mlir-disable-threading %s | FileCheck %s --check-prefixes CHECK,NESTED
+// RUN: qss-opt --qcs-parameter-initial-value-analysis-print --qcs-parameter-initial-value-analysis %s | FileCheck %s
+
+//
+// This code is part of Qiskit.
+//
+// (C) Copyright IBM 2024.
+//
+// This code is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 with LLVM
+// Exceptions. You may obtain a copy of this license in the LICENSE.txt
+// file in the root directory of this source tree.
+//
+// Any modifications or derivative works of this code must retain this
+// copyright notice, and modified files need to carry a notice indicating
+// that they have been altered from the originals.
+
+module {
+    // without nested pass manager should only find
+    // alpha and beta
+    qcs.declare_parameter @alpha : !quir.angle<64> = #quir.angle<1.000000e+00> : !quir.angle<64>
+    qcs.declare_parameter @beta : f64 = 2.000000e+00 : f64
+    module @first {
+        // nested test should find alpha and beta
+        qcs.declare_parameter @theta : !quir.angle<64> = #quir.angle<3.140000e+00> : !quir.angle<64>
+        qcs.declare_parameter @phi : f64 = 1.500000e+00 : f64
+    }
+    module @second {
+        // test module without declare_parameter
+        // should find alpha and beta when nested
+    }
+}
+
+// CHECK-DAG: alpha = 1.000000e+00
+// CHECK-DAG: beta =  2.000000e+00
+// NESTED-DAG: theta = 3.140000e+00
+// NESTED-DAG: phi = 1.500000e+00