Some valuation practitioners use a normalized risk-free rate in determining the cost of capital.  This can inflate the cost of equity by up to a couple of percentage points, which in turn depresses valuation multiples.  Is normalizing the risk-free rate a rational, reasonable practice?  In today’s guest post, Chris Mercer suggests the answer is an emphatic no. To read the full article in Mercer Capital's Fi ...

As many firms are struggling to recruit and retain qualified people, some practitioners have found that value pricing has made their working environment more efficient and more attractive to staff members.  Value pricing can keep your team happier and make your firm more profitable. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: How Implementing Value Pricing Can Help Your Staff Get More Don ...

Navigating the New Social Security Rules Changes to Social Security rules have eliminated the file-and-suspend strategy for younger couples.  However, couples should still coordinate their claiming strategies, and there are various rules about disability benefits and divorced spouses to keep in mind.  PFP/PFS section members can listen to this podcast on the latest Social Security developments by Ted Sarens ...

Creating Visibility and Personal Brand Recognition In this article, Dr. Frederiksen provides seven branding tips for aspiring experts. ...

and other Court Cases for Valuation and Litigation Support Professionals 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. ...

Applications for patents in the U.S. have nearly tripled over the past 20 years.  Perhaps increased innovation, more cutthroat competitive practices, and an uptick in litigious activity surrounding idea ownership are to credit.  One thing that is clear is that there are many implications of filing a patent beyond just its ability to enforce exclusivity of an idea—for founders and investors alike. To read th ...

Ditch the 4 Percent Rule.  Here's How to Handle Your Retirement Withdrawals It might be time to scrap the 4% retirement rule, as it could be unsafe if there are large portfolio losses in the early years of retirement.  Here are three factors to weigh when developing a financial plan. To read the full article in CNBC, click: An Alternative to the 4% Rule. ...

The Benefits of Setting Up a Trusteed IRA Trusteed individual retirement accounts are not right for every circumstance, but they can provide additional control over assets.  For example, trusteed IRAs can help clients determine what happens to assets after the death of a beneficiary, which can be especially useful for clients who have been married multiple times.  Talk with your clients about trusteed and o ...

Greater Disruption and Change Awaits the Financial Services Industry FinTech, or financial technology, has disrupted the financing industry. The FinTech revolution has not only changed the financial services industry, but it has also changed specific sectors, including: retail banking, lending and financing, payments and transfers, wealth and asset management, markets and exchanges, insurance, and blockchai ...

Part II of II This is a two-part article. In this second part, the authors discuss valuation and the approaches used to value contingent assets and liabilities. Read Part I here. ...

Earnings season will get underway next week.  Banks should live up to their reputation as being boring albeit with pretty good results.  Loan growth looks as though it will be modest, but net interest margins should increase following the March and June rate hikes and the accompanying move higher in the London Interbank Offered Rate.  Jeff Davis, CFA, managing director of Mercer Capital’s Financial Institut ...

What to do With an Underperforming Life Insurance Policy Several options exist for handling a universal life insurance policy that is no longer serving a client's needs.  In this real-world example, four experts offer advice on what they would do with such a policy, with some of them recommending that the policy be surrendered. To read the full article in WealthManagement, click: Surrender a Universal Life ...

How well do you understand the foundational principles of an effective fraud risk management program?  Take this quiz and find out. To read the full article in Journal of Accountancy, click: What’s Your Fraud IQ? ...

Part I of II This is a two-part article. A variety of methods may be appropriate, depending on the context, to value contingent or disputed assets or claims in solvency opinions. These include probability discount, hindsight, and traditional valuation of future earnings. Other possibilities are the cost of insurance or Monte Carlo simulation. The authors discuss the cases and the uses and limitations of the ...

That Lands New Clients We have a large body of knowledge that teaches us how to do the work, but few resources that teach us how to get the work. And even as we acquire the technical skills that enable us to perform better valuations, we need to position ourselves with buyers of our valuation services so that we can land new clients and apply those skills. How (and where) do we learn that? In this article, ...

What to do when an IPO requires too much legal work and is subject to regulation and finding a venture capital partner takes too long and is full of unknowns?  Mint your own money, of course.  In this case, however, companies are minting digital coins rather than churning out physical objects. To read the full article in Mercer Capital's Financial Reporting Blog, click: Is an Initial Coin Offering a New Way ...

Social media does not have to be time-consuming.  Increase the effectiveness of your firm's social media outreach by connecting with the right people, posting different content on different social networks, and using an appropriate profile image. To read the full article in InvestmentNews, click: How to Achieve Social Media Success in 15 Minutes or Less. ...

A new survey reveals fake financial news is affecting Americans' ability to make retirement, investment and health care decisions.  Even worse, Americans feel that fake news will be more prevalent in the future.  The AICPA National CPA Financial Literacy Commission has tips to help keep Americans from falling into the fake news trap. To read the full article in AICPA Insights, click: 5 Tips to Help Identify ...

Focus on Value Management In this article, the author discusses the importance of using business value as the baseline driver of business performance and how we use it as a measurement of success. ...

About the Use of Monte Carlo Simulation A number of our colleagues have released updated valuation and damages guidebooks. Despite these newer versions, none of these guidebooks discuss the use of statistics, modeling of time series, ARIMA, or Monte Carlo simulation. In this article, the author describes how the use of Monte Carlo simulation is gaining acceptance. ...