As if the general public hadn’t lost enough faith in the stock market with recent revelations of rigged deal-making that benefits only a few, a new study shows that 25 percent of all M&A deals between public companies involve some kind of insider trading. The study, conducted by McGill University and New York University, looked at informed trading activity in equity options prior to the announcem ...

You know how it goes. Some billionaire or corporate conglomerate throws out a huge bid for a business acquisition that everyone is certain is way over the top. It’s impossible such an outlandish offer could be profitable or even justified based on the subject entity. From the LA Clippers $2 billion sale to the next windfall for a teenage phenom who creates a gimmicky phone app; it seems as if one of these b ...

  The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has beefed up its requirement for auditors to clarify the nature of relationships and transactions between related parties. The new standards were instituted by the PCAOB to counteract a number of factors that it felt were contributing to financial fraud. Ultimately, the intention is to help companies avoid financial failure and reduce harm to inv ...

  More than a decade in the making, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have released a converged standard on revenue recognition. Titled, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers”, the standard is designed to enhance the process of revenue reporting and improve comparability in financial statements among corporations using IFRS and U.S. ...

  In a windfall for the IRS, 77,000 foreign banks have turned over data on American account holders as part of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The U.S. devised tax law with global reach requires all foreign banks to submit full data on all American accounts with a balance of $50,000 or more. Financial institutions that are non-compliant risk being frozen out of U.S. markets and a 30 per ...

  NACVA and the CTI are founded on excellence, superior quality, and the spirit of pioneering. We have a rich history of partnering with visionary leaders across all spectrums of the accounting and financial consulting professions regardless of affiliation with NACVA and the CTI. Simply put, we want the best of the best among our group of subject matter experts and leaders. We are thrilled to recognize ...

  Barely six months into 2014, General Motors (GM) has recalled more vehicles than it sold in the five years since it filed for bankruptcy. In February alone, 2.6 million vehicles were recalled for an ignition problem that’s been attributed to at least 13 deaths. Even so, the GM stock price has remained completely neutral since April. How is the stock valuation immune to such a corporate and public rel ...

Since 2008, policymakers have kept interest rates at or near zero. All this cheap money was intended to heal the wounds of the financial crisis and encourage business owners to invest in and grow their businesses. Although this approach has helped a bit, business valuations tend to be running at higher than usual rates. AVC.com has reviewed recent data and determined whether this is a business valuation bub ...

Up until now, all the corporate M&A talk for 2014 has surrounded the $45 billion deal Comcast has made for Time-Warner Cable. That’s not just because of the price tag. If approved by regulators, Comcast would end up as the internet gatekeeper for one out of every three homes and businesses in the country. That’s also a lot of power and control over internet access, quality and service for one third of t ...

After the media gaffe that disgraced LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, the mogul was fined $2.5 million by the NBA. There’s a misconception that he’s being required to sell the team as part of his lifetime ban from the sport, but that’s not actually true. NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, is asking the NBA Board of Governors to force Sterling to sell, which requires three quarters of the league’s owners to s ...

You could call it UBS, Part II.  Back in 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) uncovered 4,700 names of American citizens avoiding taxes with the help of Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS.  Most notably, Beanie Babies creator and billionaire, Ty Warner, was caught in the sting that cost UBS $780 million in fines and netted the IRS $6 billion in taxes and fines from a voluntary disclosure program for petr ...

FASB has voted to endorse a GAAP alternative to exempt private company lessees from a requirement to consolidate variable interest entities (VIE) in common control leasing arrangements.  Initiated by the Private Company Council (PCC), the exemption would be allowed under specific conditions including: Private company lessee and the lessor entity are under common control Private company holds a leasing arran ...

Currently, 20 states and the District of Columbia allow some type of legal marijuana use.  On January 1st of this year, supply shops all across Colorado began selling to the general public (age 21 and over), in accordance with a voter referendum.  Medicinal use bills have been filed or are expected to be introduced in eight additional states, while full legalization bills like that of Colorado have been fil ...

While CPAs and tax attorneys must currently meet professional standards for tax preparation and other services, a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled that the IRS has no authority to force continuing education or similar standards on tax preparers.  The case stems from a 2011 IRS proposal of a system that would have established tax preparer registration and re ...

According to a recent report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to fail to properly analyze data collected from the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP) and take considerable risks when purchasing and guaranteeing single-family residential mortgages.  The report charged both Freddie and Fannie with not consideri ...

The Journal of Accountancy is reporting that the SEC’s strategic plan for 2014-2018 contains an initiative that involves reviewing whether a “single set of high-quality global accounting standards is achievable”.  While not specifically mentioning the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) the location in the 39-page document where the initiative appears also states that the consideration is par ...

In a Q&A by Inc.com, former Vice President of Finance for Yahoo, Dennis Morgan, discusses the most important points of handling an acquisition, based on his $5 billion worth of deals while with the internet giant.  In the article, Morgan discuss why deals go wrong, how to close the gap with a proper operating plan, where deals fall through on the operations level, the need for a strategic roadmap and th ...

While real estate investment trusts (REITS) have strengthened their credit profiles in the last few years, Fitch Ratings is anticipating a decline in their positive rating for 2014.  According to Fitch, the upgrade/downgrade ratio for U.S. REITS has remained at 10:1 since 2011 and that most have now completed their deleveraging techniques.  As a result, representatives for Fitch expressed that “credit metri ...

In an optimistic prediction from Reuters, middle market M&A activity should carry lots of opportunities throughout 2014.  The positive outlook comes after a combination of more certainty with respect to Fed tapering and fewer concerns about government stalemates.  The prediction also relies heavily on the observation that companies previously focused on cost savings have begun to shift their attention t ...

In an enlightening article by McKinsey & Company, a compelling case is put forward for something you always felt was true, but couldn’t quite prove.  When it comes to marketing professional services or products, good old-fashioned email is much more effective than social media.  How much more effective is it?  The report states that email is so significant in generating new business that it’s 40 times m ...