What is the best choice when faced with an array of choices for finding specific data in a financial model? Consider this vector analysis. Conspicuous by its absence, LOOKUP may seem a less versatile function upon first glance, but it is quite useful for modelling. To read the full article in Financial Management, click: Things Are Looking Up With This Excel Function. ...

Can you recommend a file-naming strategy that would make files easier to find on my computer—not just for me, but for others in my office in case I get hit by a bus? To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: Microsoft Windows: How to Best Name and Search for Files. ...

Be a Trusted Advisor Valuation analysts are in a unique position to help their clients. Most business owners have never looked at their business the way a valuation professional does. If the valuation analyst does a yearly check-up or checks in with their clients but does not include a discussion or a strategy to build value in their business, perhaps it should. This is an opportunity to expand the work bas ...

Five Signs That We Need to Part Ways With a Client How do we know when it’s time to cast off a client or referral source? In this article, Rod Burkert shares five tell-tale signs that suggest it is time to have a break-up talk. ...

The Big Four firm announced that it will drop the final interview stage of its student recruitment process and replace it with an assessment event. To read the full article in Economia, click: EY to Scrap Final One-to-One Interviews. ...

Business travelers who incur expenses while traveling away from home have new per-diem rates to use in substantiating certain of those expenses. The new rates are in effect from Oct. 1, 2018, to Sept. 30, 2019. The IRS provided the 2018–2019 special per-diem rates, including the transportation industry meal and incidental expenses rates, the rate for the incidental-expenses-only deduction, and the rates and ...

The IRS issued guidance clarifying that taxpayers may generally continue to deduct 50% of the food and beverage expenses associated with operating their trade or business, despite changes to the meal and entertainment expense deduction made by the tax law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. According to the IRS, the amendments specifically deny deductions for expenses for entertainment, amusement, or recrea ...

For Financial Services Firms Finding ways to differentiate your firm from competitors may be one of the most vexing challenges you can face. After all, it may well be that there are more similarities than differences. But with a little focus and some self-inquiry, it is possible. In this article, Dr. Frederiksen shares seven effective differentiators for financial services firms. ...

Conclusion (Part Six of a Six-Part Series) The first installment of this six-part series set forth an overview of the due diligence imperative for valuation professionals, in the context of the Four Pillars of Healthcare Value, i.e., Reimbursement, Regulatory, Technology, and Competition. The second through fifth installments reviewed the due diligence process related to the reimbursement, regulatory, compe ...

The IRS proposed new rules under the global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) provision (Sec. 951A) added by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Sec. 951A requires U.S. shareholders of controlled foreign corporations (CFCs) to include in their gross income their GILTI income for that tax year (the inclusion amount). The new provision applies to tax years of foreign corporations beginning after Dec. 31, 2017, and t ...

One of my favorite mantras for support advisors is this, “Details are your responsibility.” In the financial planning field, great plans live and die in the finer points. But, most practices just don't have the time and resources to check complex calculations. That’s where you come in. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: New to Planning? How to Add Value at Your Firm. ...

I’ll get this assignment started as soon as I’ve checked Facebook. And Instagram. And Gmail. Oh, is it time for lunch already? Sound familiar? Most people arrive at work with good intentions, planning to be productive, collaborative, and successful, according to Greg Dewald, chief executive of Bright!Tax. “In the internet age, though, this can actually be a big challenge, as we are constantly bombarded with ...

Bargain Purchase Transactions This article summarizes the fair value measurement guidance and financial accounting considerations in business combinations—and specifically, in bargain purchase transactions. This discussion also describes the principles of acquisition accounting as they relate to fair value measurement. And, this discussion describes many of the valuation analyst considerations regarding the ...

Conservation Easements, Attempts to Dissolve a NY LLC, and Valuation of Law Practice The U.S. Tax Court has issued a limited number of valuation cases this past summer. In this article, one U.S. Tax Court case presented is Harbor Loft Associates v. Commissioner. The case underscores that lessees cannot claim a charitable deduction for a conservation easement. The second case discussed is Matter of Goyal v. ...

Public company auditors remain the group investors trust most to protect their interests, but investors’ confidence in U.S. capital markets and U.S. public companies has dropped in the past year, according to a Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) survey report released Tuesday. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: Investors Trust Auditors, But Confidence in U.S. Markets Drops. ...

Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal earlier this year. European businesses that pull out of Iran because of U.S. sanctions may end up being sued by EU states. A European Commission spokeswoman told reporters in Brussels that EU firms are banned from following U.S. demands to cut business ties with Iran, unless specifically authorized to do so. To read the full article ...

Philip McNeill looks at five key aspect to consider before moving to the cloud. The main points to consider are: a cyber attack on cloud services is a top risk in 2018; ensure extensive due diligence before joining the cloud; taking care of the obvious, like password security, can help protect against a cyber attack. To read the full article in ICAS, click: Cloud Security: Five Key Considerations. ...

To Measure Trustee Breach of Fiduciary Duty Damages The but for investment portfolio is a tool that damages analysts utilize to estimate economic damages when there is an allegation of a breach of fiduciary duty with regard to the management of an investment. In its simplest form, the but for investment portfolio estimates the value of a portfolio but for the alleged breach of fiduciary duty. Case law prece ...

E&O Coverage Through the Expert Witness Exchange In this article, the Expert Witness Exchange discusses a relationship it has established with Lockton Affinity, LLC to develop the Expert Witness Exchange Group Insurance Program so it can provide exchange members with the option to obtain low cost, professional liability coverage. ...

The proposed rules include a way that taxpayers can group or aggregate separate trades or businesses and an anti-abuse rule designed to prevent taxpayers from separating out parts of an otherwise disqualified business in an attempt to qualify those separated parts for the Sec. 199A deduction. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: Qualified Business Income Deduction Regulations Propo ...