What Physicians Don’t Know About Their Agreements Could Hurt Them Nearly 45 years after the enactment of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, it is still not uncommon to hear of physicians facing bribery allegations, large settlement amounts, and even jail time for breaking the statute’s anti-fraud measures. While evolving case law has certainly added to the complexities and prevalence of the statute’s enforc ...

Analysis in Matrimonial Matters As forensic accountants, we may be called upon to determine the value of the marital estate. Frequently, we either receive an avalanche of documents or very few documents. How do we distinguish what is valuable versus what is not? Why is the information so important in our forensic analysis of the case? In this article, the author answers these questions and shares her experi ...

The stock market rallied in the first five months of the year, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 reaching record highs and continuing to climb.  Megan Richards, financial analyst with Mercer Capital, explains though, that IPOs remain scarce compared to prior years. To read the full article in Mercer Capital's Financial Reporting Blog, click: IPO Supply and Demand. This article is republished from Mercer Ca ...

The Internal Revenue Service issued a revenue procedure stating that it will once again issue letter rulings to taxpayers on whether a corporate reorganization in which debt is issued before a spinoff qualifies for nonrecognition treatment, which it has not ruled on since 2013.  Sally Schreiber, senior editor for Tax Adviser, explains. To read the full article in The Tax Adviser, click: Leveraged Spinoffs R ...

Whether it be retiring, shift in life path, or just moving in a different direction, Financial Planning presents a video on what to discuss with your clients and their all-important decision to sell. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: How to Talk to Your Clients About Selling a Business. ...

The Case for Use of a Risk-Adjusted Rate in Damages Cases Robert Dunn and Everett Harry laid out a process for modeling and discounting future lost profits to present value in their article, Modeling and Discounting Future Damages. Not all experts agreed with the position presented by Dunn and Harry. In March, we revisited modeling and its level of acceptance. This article revisits the more controversial po ...

Valuation of Intangible Assets Valuation practitioners may want to spend a few hours reading a recent U.S. Tax Court case where the valuation of intangible assets was squarely addressed. This QuickRead article highlights the facts and three issues addressed in the decision. ...

In October 2015, the SEC adopted final rules governing the crowdfunding of startups and Regulation Crowdfunding was issued in May 2016.  The new rules allow non-accredited investors to invest directly in startup (and other) companies that can raise up to one million dollars every twelve months through crowdfunding.  Now, a year after Regulation Crowdfunding came into effect, Samantha Albert, senior financia ...

Fraudsters target people of all ages, but older adults with retirement savings are particularly lucrative targets.  And the consequences of fraud and exploitation can have a devastating impact on older adults who depend on their retirement savings after they leave the workforce.  Steve Vernon provides some very helpful tips towards preventing this despicable crime. To read the full article in CBS Money Watc ...

FASB is considering making changes to the U.S. GAAP financial reporting taxonomy that would be intended to improve the taxonomy's usability and the processes that support taxonomy-related activities.  Ken Tysiac, JofA editorial director, explains. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: FASB Assessing Efficiency, Effectiveness of GAAP Taxonomy. ...

Context Matters This is the second of a two-part article. The first part, which addresses the efficient market hypothesis, is titled Proponents of the Efficient Market Hypothesis Always Want More Cowbell. Although many valuation practitioners are generally indifferent to context when valuing a business or asset, in litigation, as well as other areas that require valuation services, context matters. In this ...

Time to Evaluate Your Marketing Plans to Address Those Avoidable Mistakes In this article, Dr. Frederiksen describes five mistakes to avoid marketing a professional service organization. ...

How do you get buyers and sellers to execute an M&A transaction when the prospects of an industry are extremely uncertain?  Part of the answer may be to structure the deal in a way that defers payment of a (significant) portion of the purchase price in the form of contingent consideration.  In this blog post, Sujan Rajbhandary, vice president, interviews Travis Harms, who leads Mercer’s valuation for fi ...

How to Form a Sound College-Savings Plan Early preparation is key for handling children's college expenses.  This article offers three pieces of advice for families, regardless of where they are in the savings process.  Kelli Grant, personal finance and consumer spending reporter, offers some wise and helpful tips. To read the full article in CNBC, click: 3 Tricks to Crush College Planning and Save Big. ...

Practices usually associated with startups have helped these seven employers of CPAs establish welcoming cultures and retain employees.  From virtual workplaces to vacation stipends to having employees set their own hours, these innovative practices are helping employers drive productivity.  Lea Hart, AICPA associate editor, explains. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: Innovation ...

Ascertaining the Financial Status of a Business in a Few Quick Glances The 60-Second Method is a system of ascertaining the financial status of a business or other entity in a few quick glances. It is a training tool that can be used to demonstrate how financial analysis works, or instruct decision-makers beginning to read and understand financial statement content. ...

New rules from the FASB regarding how entities will have to measure certain equity investments  may lead to increased earnings volatility and additional fair value complexities.  Lucas Parris, senior member of Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Valuation Group, discusses five things to know about the new rules and some questions to consider. To read the full article in Mercer Capital's Financial Reporting ...

An unfamiliar number, an unnatural pause after you say hello…another day, another irritating robocall.  If it feels as if your cellphone has increasingly been flooded with them, you’re right.  Christopher Mele explains. To read the full article in The New York Times, click: Robocalls Flooding Your Cellphone?  Here’s How to Stop Them. ...

Learn the formulas, functions, and techniques that enable efficient Benford analysis of data sets.  J. Carlton Collins, Journal of Accountancy contributing editor, looks into this issue and provides some very useful tips and insights. To read the full article in JofA, click: Using Excel and Benford’s Law to Detect Fraud. ...

The Objective and Subjective Tests Used to Determine Foreseeability To recover lost profits in a commercial damages case, three standards must be met. They are proximate cause, foreseeability, and reasonable certainty. Of these three, foreseeability is the lost profits standard in which a financial expert will have the least involvement. But this does not mean the expert’s work would not benefit the trier-o ...