New duties will require plenty of understanding and good communication.  Many experts expect accountants' work and duties to change fundamentally in the coming years.  Technology will allow for a more complete audit that uses all available data rather than samples.  And the scrutinizing of anomalies will provide opportunities for auditors to provide more useful information to clients. To read the full artic ...

Five years ago, I made the biggest mistake of my career.  I gave some untimely advice to a new client and quickly realized the full impact our work can have on our clients’ lives—not just on their wallets. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: The Worst Retirement Advice I Ever Gave. ...

When Bill Martin recently donned a pair of virtual reality goggles at Fidelity Investments’ client advisory council meeting in Boston, he was skeptical about whether the technology would be of any use for financial advisors.  But after a tour through the virtual world, Martin, chief investment officer at Wichita, Kansas-based INTRUST Bank, returned like Neo in "The Matrix," ready to see how deep the rabbit ...

Mike Gregory Discusses the Newly Released Five in One Book on Business Valuations and the IRS In this article, Michael Gregory provides some thoughts of how the official IRS rules of engagement are different from the unofficial rules of engagement and introduces how to work with the IRS. The 38 examples in the book provides additional insight. Mike Gregory recommends the book to all business valuation firms ...

On Business Valuations The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) changes many aspects of how business analysts perform valuations. Upon passing of the TCJA, Jim Hitchner moved quickly to gather and disseminate information about the TCJA and its effect on business valuation. He has written two comprehensive articles in Issues 72 and 73 of Financial Valuation and Litigation Expert. The information in this article summ ...

If you or your organization is interested in adopting blockchain technology, you need to know the difference between public and private blockchains.  One might be a better option than the other.  This blog post can help you decide. To read the full article in AICPA Insights, click: Public vs. Private Blockchains: What CPAs Should Know. ...

Triggered by the growing demand for greater value, the financial services industry is creating new categories of products and services that never existed, expanding access in ways that were never expected, providing greater transparency and simplicity—and driving down costs to unprecedented lows. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: How Advisors Can Beat the Fee Compression Race. ...

Women financial advisors stand a long way from equal footing with men in terms of hiring and pay—and independent broker-dealers are no exception to the industry-wide disparities. The average share of female registered representatives out of the total headcounts of the largest IBDs amounts to an estimated 17%, according to data submitted by firms for Financial Planning’s 33rd annual FP50 survey. To read the ...

and Why It Matters! Referral marketing has dramatically evolved over recent years and, if your firm has not adopted new tactics and strategies, you may be leaving significant business on the table. In this post, Dr. Frederiksen shares some of Hinge Marketing’s thinking about how referral marketing has changed. In the coming months, Dr. Frederiksen will continue exploring this topic, looking first at the pro ...

Choices that Range from Arithmetic Mean to Linear Regression How should valuation analysts go about selecting a transactional multiple? There are a host of multiples and options for deriving these. In this article, the author shares his thoughts on what to consider when selecting a multiple. ...

The IRS announced relief from late-payment penalties and that it will allow late elections for taxpayers subject to the new Sec. 965 transition tax on deemed repatriated foreign earnings, which was enacted by P.L. 115-97, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. To read the full article in The Tax Adviser, click: Sec. 965 Transition Tax Penalty Relief Issued. ...

Some wealth management firms are finding that solutions to two of the industry’s big stumbling blocks—succession planning and diversity—may be intertwined.  Indeed, a link between the two emerged when firms began to diversify their advisor staffs, according to executives. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: Is Diversity the Key to the Succession Plan Challenge? ...

For the future of financial advice, the writing isn’t on the wall, it’s on the mobile phone screen, says Christopher P. Van Slyke, financial planner and founder of wealth management firm, WorthPointe.  Van Slyke, who's based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, says the tipping point for him was when he saw that the local bank, Bank of Jackson Hole, was touting its app in a community paper. To read the full article in ...

This article briefly discusses the current trends in the practice management industry, as these trends may directly and indirectly affect both the management company and the healthcare entity. This overview of the services provided by practice management groups, is followed by a discussion of the competitive, reimbursement, regulatory, and technological environments in which practice management groups opera ...

A Study of the Experts’ Inputs and Court Opinion How does a court go about deciding a valuation case when two experts oppose each other? The author examines the DFC Global Corporation decision to see what that reveals and how that may impact an expert’s future engagement. The author finds three takeaways for readers. ...

Business economists have grown a little less optimistic about the outlook for the U.S. economy as a result of U.S. trade policies.  The National Association of Business Economists reports that its survey of 45 professional economic forecasters now projects a median 2.8% growth in real GDP from Q4 2017 to Q4 2018, down from 2.9% three months ago. To read the full article in Think Advisor, click: A Mixed Outl ...

As technology continues to change the investment landscape, a new Merrill Edge report has found that nearly 40% of mass affluent Americans are comfortable consulting artificial intelligence for financial advice.  But that’s not all… To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: 40% of Americans are Comfortable Seeking Financial Advice From AI. ...

With the Social Security Administration’s recent update on its long-term financial health, advisors and their clients now have a new time frame for the anticipated depletion of the retirement program trust fund. Unless Congress acts, the trust fund is expected to run out of money in late 2034, at which point Social Security will be able to cover just 77% of retirement benefits. To read the full article in F ...

Marketplace Platform for Aspiring and Experienced Litigation Support Professionals Until now, a lawyer could not put out a call for help with a single case description and submit that to one, a dozen, or an entire community of relevant subject matter experts simultaneously with the single push of a button. Until now, an expert might have to choose between paying for advertising to be listed in a directory a ...

and Eat it Too! What is net working capital? The definition of net working capital is not fixed, and the meaning may vary by industry. It is also a key factor in a valuation and understanding there is a deficiency or excess will impact the value of the company and structure of an acquisition. ...