73% of Tech IPOs Aren't Profitable When They Go Public, But Smaller Companies (e.g., Zillow, Bazaarvoice, Jive Software) Fare Better Post IPO Bigger isn’t always better, at least when it comes to initial public offerings, GeekWire reports. A new report out from Tableau Software’s Daniel Hom, editor of the IPO Dashboards blog, finds that smaller tech companies, described as having fewer than $100 million in ...

The Most Critical Challenges Confronting Medical Practices Recently, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) published results of its member survey and listed the top challenges facing physician practices today.  Reed Tinsley recaps results. Here are critical factors physician executives should focus on to control costs, build incentives, ease management, and strengthen growth. ...

A Smart Approach to Board Level Risk Management As the economy recovers, companies that cut costs or deferred spending at the bottom of the recession are now looking to reinvest: in hiring, new debt, facilities or equipment, or business acquisitions. How much risk is too much?  This presentation details critical internal and external factors to examine. ...

Tips for Family Businesses to Survive and Thrive When Tough Times Hit Can You Revive Your Distressed Family Business?  The first step to figuring that out, Steven F. Agran explains, is an objective assessment of cost structure.  What determines whether a business can be cash flow positive at current sales levels or even at lower levels, if sales continue to decline?  Find out here. ...

Shielding the Family Business The best part for valuators is that all of this requires a professional appraisal (detail below). The Wall Street Journal Tax Report's Laura Sanders reports  that: Small-business owners often complain of feeling caught in the cross hairs of the tax code. For a change, here's good news. The Tax Court has just blessed a new technique that owners of closely held businesses—and wea ...

Two New Taxes on Net Investment Income and Medicare Will Take Effect on January First At the Wall Street Journal's Tax Report, Laura Saunders explains.   The word is out: Two new taxes on the affluent and wealthy will take effect as scheduled next year as a result of the Supreme Court's decision upholding the health-care overhaul. One is a new 3.8% tax on net investment income, and the other is a 0.9% incre ...

The Supreme Court Has Long Distinguished the Taxing Power from the Regulatory Power  Paul Moreno, professor of history at Hillsdale College,  details the history on the Wall Street Journal opinion page:  The first enumerated power that the Constitution grants to Congress is the "power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welf ...

Wealth Managers: Proceed with Caution When Setting Up an FLP Once an esoteric way for families to centralize management of assets, the Family Limited Partnership (FLP) is becoming extremely popular this year, writes the New York Times.  Why?  Because of the scheduled expiration of the $5.12 million gift tax exemption at the end of this year.   Still, setting up an FLP doesn’t make sense for all companies.  ...

In 2009 Duff & Phelps and the Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF) first published the results of their comprehensive Goodwill Impairment Study. The 2009 Study examined U.S. publicly-traded companies’ recognition of goodwill impairment at the height of the financial crisis (the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009), and featured a comparative analysis of the goodwill impairments for over 5,0 ...

Reviewing and Revising Partner Agreements. In my prior firm, the review and revision of partner agreements was a process that happened every ten to fifteen years, if that often. I think that is pretty common in most firms. The problem is that firms change and evolve as do the partners and the environments that we practice in. Our agreements need to keep pace with that change. I continue to be amazed at the ...

Ron Stacey considers Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) and growth using EBITDA as a proxy for cash flow. ROIC, Stacey writes, is a critical value driver that’s probably the single most important factor for a given cost of capital.  But calculation is never simple: “People always want a formula, but it doesn’t work that way,” Warren Buffet once noted. “You have to estimate total cash generated from now to et ...

In Palmerino v. Palmerino, the Massachusetts Court of Appealsconsidered whether a trial court erred in valuing the husband’s grocery store. The trial court’s approach had not included discounts—and went further to state that the income approach is preferable for valuation.  Find out what the court decides!  In Giaimo v. Vitale, the Supreme Court of New York considers the dissolution of a company called EGA ...

The Big Picture: Medicaid Impact,  Patient Demand, Physician Pay, and More.   Physicians Practice, a leading practice management resource, has examined the implications of the historic Supreme Court healthcare decision. Eschewing opinion about John Roberts or the impact on insurance company stock prices, the coverage helps physicians understand what it means for them.  Offering commentary as well as analyzi ...

When Do Too Many Active Shareholders Hurt Instead of Help? At Forbes, Lawrence Siff relates his conversations with CEOs of two family businesses, discusses the challenge of bringing in new leadership, and offers tips on how and when to go about it:  ...

J.P Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley Make New Hires.  Other Banks May Follow in Move to Increase Accounting Credibility    At the Wall Street Journal's Overheard On the Street blog David Reilly reports that JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have made new accounting hires.  Other banks may soon follow suit:    ...