Carefully considering the user's experience helps interface designers create useful products—and can guide finance teams in data presentations.  Andrew Kenney, CGMA Magazine contributing editor, shares some tips that really deliver. To read the full article in CGMA Magazine, click: How to Deliver the Financial Data Users Need. ...

Recruiters from large firms, including the Big Four, reveal what skills and competencies they look for in new hires.  Sarah Ovaska-Few discusses these tips. To read the full article in AICPA, click: What Large Firms Expect From New Accounting Grads. ...

Over the past decade, we have been retained by several investment funds to assist them in responding to formal and informal SEC investigations regarding fair value measurement of portfolio investments.  Reflecting back on those engagements yields a couple observations and reminders for funds and fund managers as they go through the quarterly valuation process.  Travis Harms, Mercer Capital’s Financial Repor ...

Transaction Structure Considerations on Target Company Value Valuation analysts do not have to be investment bankers to value an M&A candidate, but they do need to understand taxable and non-taxable stock acquisitions. This discussion summarizes some of the tax benefits—and some of the tax complexities—associated with a taxable stock purchase deal structure. Although the analyst is not expected to be th ...

2017 Marketing Tactics Your Firm Needs to Implement Now In this article, Dr. Frederiksen provides five strategies that firms need to implement to firm up or develop their referral marketing strategy and thrive in 2017. ...

How to Make up for Lost Time with Retirement Savings People who are behind schedule on retirement savings can take several steps to make up the difference.  These include making use of catch-up contributions, selecting funds with low investment fees, and postponing required minimum distributions, if possible.  Damian Davila offers some useful tips. To read the full article in Wise Bread, click: 7 Retirement ...

Audit quality concerns raised by a spike in unsatisfactory results from firm/engagement inspections performed by the regulator and the possibility of audit firms being sued for corporate failures warrants a fresh look at professional skepticism.  Here is Brian Monegi’s take on this. To read the full article in ASA, click: Analysis: Professional Skepticism: in the Age of Fair Value Measurements. ...

Mercer Capital started writing weekly about fair value reporting in 2013.  Looking back over more than three years and 150 posts, it seemed an opportune time for them to review their posts and compile what might, for lack of a better term, be called a “Greatest Hits” collection of their favorites.  Travis Harms, lead of Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Valuation Group, introduces you to their new book e ...

Value and Business Challenges in the Budding Cannabis Industry QuickRead’s Technical Editor, Roberto Castro, reviews BVR’s What It’s Worth: Value and Business Challenges in the Budding Cannabis Industry. ...

A Closer Look at Unjust Enrichment Financial experts typically calculate damages remedies that focus on a plaintiff's loss that is quantified either through lost profits or lost business value. In contrast, unjust enrichment is a damages remedy that measures the defendant's benefit or gain. While the three remedies all serve to quantify damages, an expert must understand the similarities and differences amo ...

Social media presents risks and opportunities.  Demonstrating expertise and reaching new clients are among the ways social medial can be valuable for finance professionals.  Sean Stein Smith, assistant professor at Rutgers, discusses how you can utilize this tool to your benefit. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: 4 Ways Accountants Can Get More Out of Social Media. ...

The International Monetary Fund has warned that sluggish economic growth throughout the world could bolster an anti-trade backlash that has become a feature of politics in both the United States and Europe.  “We have not done a great job in the advanced countries of paying attention to those who lose from trade,” said Maurice Obstfeld, the fund’s chief economist. To read the full article in The New York Tim ...

On October 13, 2016, RSP Permian announced the acquisition of Silver Hill Energy for approximately $2.4 billion dollars.  Based on RSPP disclosures, the assets received include: 1) wells currently producing 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day; and 2) 41,000 in net acreage throughout Loving and Winkler County Texas.  Grant Farrell, vice president, explains the details of this transaction. To read the fu ...

Can it Hurt the Expert? Mediation is a dispute resolution process. So, what is a process? A process is a procedure, a course of action, or a methodology. Mediation has been around for several thousand years, and the joint session has always been a pivotal part of that process. Historically, the mediation process included beginning with a joint session. Mediation is after all a facilitated negotiation. When ...

Why it Shouldn’t be A Dirty Word in the Valuation of Physician Practices The topic of goodwill in a physician practice acquisition continues to be hotly debated. There are very different viewpoints from reputable appraisers on how to value physician practices and whether hospitals can pay for goodwill in an acquisition. I often hear healthcare professionals involved in acquisitions say, “Hospitals can’t pay ...

In fairly short order, robots have begun taking over in the corporate world.  Don’t be alarmed.  This is nothing like the feared “singularity,” that prophesied (if dubious) moment when machines become smarter than humans and then, to prove it, commence wiping us out.  David McCann delves into this change to corporate finance processes. To read the full article in CFO, click: Robots, Robots Everywhere. ...

How to Secure a Higher Salary Be willing to negotiate for a higher salary when you get a job offer, as this is an opportunity to raise your pay by a significant margin.  Alison Green offers four other tips for securing a better salary. To read the full article in U.S. News & World Report, click: 5 Things to do Differently if you Want to Earn More Money. ...

After a steady build-up since the end of the credit crisis, 2016 is going to be marked as the year when the venture capital industry lost momentum, although not for a lack of investors.  Money has continued to pour in as riskier VC investments are still expected to outperform listed alternatives.  Madeleine Harrigan, senior financial analyst with Mercer Capital, explains what is happening. To read the full ...

A Valuation Perspective In this article, three U.S. Tax Court cases are discussed. Each case stems from the fallout which occurred after the discovery of the Madoff Ponzi scheme amounted to more than just lost investments for each of the investors. The end-effect is much more far-reaching and complex, as many investors have been forced to pay hefty legal bills in a battle to reduce their estate tax liabilit ...

Using the Empirical Method Business appraisers around the country have historically used comparisons to the averages found in restricted stock studies to determine a discount for lack of marketability in their valuations of a privately held, noncontrolling interest in a business. While the average discounts from restricted stock studies are useful and indicate that discounts for lack of marketability do occ ...