The U.S. likely will fall back into recession if scheduled spending cuts take effect and Bush-era tax cuts are allowed to expire this year, the Congressional Budget Office said. If the U.S. falls off this "fiscal cliff," the economy will probably contract 1.3% in the first half of 2013, the CBO said.  CNN Financial Times / Alphaville New York Times NPR Reuters USA Today Wall Street Journal Yahoo! Finance ...

From attempting to recast the public image of private equity to trying to forge a new investment firm, 10 individuals profiled in the June issue of Mergers & Acquisitions are making their marks on middle-market investing, Tamika Cody, Mary Kathleen Flynn and Danielle Fugazy report.  From the intro: To highlight a few: Pam Hendrickson, chief operating officer of the Riverside Co. and a director of the gl ...

"With New Firepower, S.E.C. Tracks Bigger Game,"  Ben Protess and Azam Ahmed  report at the New York Times Dealbook. Embarrassed after missing the warning signs of the financial crisis and the Ponzi scheme of Bernard L. Madoff, the agency’s enforcement division has adopted several new — if somewhat unconventional — strategies to restore its credibility. The S.E.C. is taking its cue from criminal authorities ...

Far fewer small employers claimed the health insurance tax credit for small businesses in the health care reform law than were eligible, according to a new government report.  So reports Michael Cohn at Accounting Today: The Small Employer Health Insurance Tax Credit was included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 as a way to help small businesses pay for the cost of health insurance. ...

Payments an accounting firm characterized as consulting fees were really disguised dividends and should have been taxed as corporate income, the Seventh Circuit held on Thursday. The payments reduced the firm's income to zero, and the court applied the "independent investor" test to recharacterize them as dividends paid to the firm's owners.   Alistair M. Nevius at the Journal of Accountancy, in the article ...

Congressional Democrats have proposed financing student-loan legislation by expanding payroll taxes on subchapter S corporations and partnerships. The bill would levy Social Security and Medicare taxes on all business income if the firm is engaged in professional services, such as investment advice, or if 75% or more of the gross income of the firm is attributable to three or fewer shareholders. Investment ...

Over at OPENForum, Mike Periu, a Principal at EcoFin media writes: Using counterintuitive strategies in your business can be risky, but when they work the rewards can be enormous. Trying these methods can help you improve sales and profits: Preventing Theft Warehouse stores like Costco, BJ’s and Sam’s Club are very careful with their inventory management and go to great lengths to avoid shrinkage, which is ...

Nerd's Eye View, which provides commentary on financial planning news and developments,  points out that a growing body of research shows our brains are not quite the logical, rational decision-making machines we think they are – or at least, wish they could be.   Instead, our brains take shortcuts; we substitute easier questions for difficult ones, often without realizing it, and respond accordingly with o ...

At TLNT:  The Business of HR, John Hollon reports on a new nationwide survey of 174 employers by OI Partners, an organization that describes itself as “a global talent management company, renowned for its highly personalized services …  (specializing) in mid-level, executive and group outplacement; executive coaching; leadership development and workforce solutions.” Being a team player (selected by 71 perce ...

The company culture you build has a major impact on how successful the business will be as it grows, writes Dan Schawbel, personal branding expert, at American Express OPENForum, a small business media hub.  One of the biggest trends in the past few years is workplace flexibility.   A new study by the Families and Work Institute shows that more than 75 percent of employers now offer some form of flex time. ...

Business valuation (BV) reports frequently include information presented in the form of financial statements. The reporting requirements for such financial statements have drawn increased attention as a result of the issuance of Statement on Standards for Accounting and Review Services No. 19 (SSARS 19), Compilation and Review Engagements.   The Journal of Accountancy reports: "When conforming the existing ...

Americans with employer-sponsored insurance had fewer hospital stays and visited outpatient clinics less frequently from 2009 to 2010, but prices for inpatient and outpatient care rose by about 10% or more, according to a Health Care Cost Institute analysis of more than 3 billion claims for medical care. The average price of generic drugs fell over the same period, but prices for brand-name drugs rose, the ...

2013 Training Schedule and Early Registration Discount Deadlines ...

Private Equity Manager reports that with regulators looking over their shoulders, some GPs are playing it safe by hiring third-party valuation advisors to check their numbers. However not all third-party opinions are equal, warns Cindy Ma, managing director at advisory-focused investment bank Houlihan Lokey.  PE Manager's Nicholas Donato talked with her recently.  Here are excerpts:  There was a feeling of ...

The International Accounting Standards Board plans to establish a formal network to give standard-setting bodies a voice when their countries switch to International Financial Reporting Standards. There is conflict, however, over how the network will operate and whether it would dilute IFRS as a single set of reporting standards. Advocates of such a network say the U.S. will not commit to IFRS without it.   ...

This piece really has no new information in it, so if you're looking for that, you can stop reading here. Instead, it's for Anglophiles.  Observers of British culture.   The BBC recently posted rather prominently a piece pondering the tragedy of the human condition wistfully, as it so often does.   Well, that's not quite what the article was about.  Actually, it's rather hard to tell what the article is abo ...

The Wall Street Journal's Small Business Blog featured recently a guest column by Antone Johnson on the use, misuse, and misvaluation of intellectual property.  It's probably of interest to valuators and financial consultants who are working with small business owners to value and growth their businesses.   Venture capitalists, angel investors and start-up lawyers these days tend to be obsessed with "intell ...

You've probably already read this story—Facebook Co-Founder Renounces U.S. Citizenship in Advance of IPO, Saving Millions in U.S. Taxes —heard about it on the radio, or seen it on TV.   But Paul L. Caron of The TaxProf Blog has done a remarkable job of aggregating all the media responses to the story from about 20+ outlets, and linking to previous posts this week on the developing story.     On Thursday:  B ...

Bullseye Blog, A Legal Blog on Expert Topics, reports that The  Supreme Court has issued a new patent law opinion that could signal a greater need for expert testimony in patent-related civil actions in federal district courts. Bullseye's Robert Ambrogi cuts to the chase:  "The bottom line of Kappos v. Hyatt is that the court has lifted any limits on the use of new evidence in a §145 trial.  That is sure to ...

If you're been hoping to find a comprehensive source for private equity transactions and fund information, you may see a version of it as early as this fall.   Fund managers have joined limited partners and other industry players in supporting a global private equity database being developed by Harvard Business School professor Josh Lerner.  Graham Winfrey at Private Equity Manager reports: A group of priva ...