When Planning a Business Sale, Be Sure to Consider Personal Goals, Consistency, Salability, and Tax Implications Solid exit planning ensures that a business will realize top value when the owners are ready to move on.  How can business owners determine which strategies to focus on today to best build long-term growth?  It may depend on which exit option the owner ends up pursuing.  Here are nine options to ...

UConnect v. Facebook Showed How 409A Valuations Can Destroy Value. Here’s What Shareholders and VCs Need to Know—and Some Ideas About How to Better the Situation. Lorenzo Carver previously explained how 409A valuations destroy value for shareholders receiving grants, and provided a case study of how this all played out in UConnect v. Facebook. In this final article in a three-part series, Carver presents us ...

Learn How the Pros Take Down an Embezzlement Scheme and Gather Tips on How to Best Defend Your Own Practice. Mark S. Warshavsky reviews Stephen Pedneault’s Anatomy of A Fraud Investigation. The book combines a step-by-step recounting of best practices with real-life drama as investigators discover, investigate, and resolve a fraud incident—a fantastic guide to how to defend against and uncover fraud. ...

The Winklevoss Twins Realized Too Late the Value They’d Agreed to for Their Common Shares of Facebook. Here’s How it Played Out. Last week Lorenzo Carver introduced the topic of how 409A valuations destroy value for some shareholders.  Today’s piece is a case study in how a wide disparity in value estimates largely created by the 409A process played out in the UConnect v. Facebook lawsuit. ...

Why Choosing Good Counsel to Help with Exit Planning Can Be the Most Important Decision a Business Owner Makes Venture Resources believes many business owners don’t fully appreciate the complexities and factors that are present in the deal structuring and business selling process, including understanding how to project the company’s future, applying alternate deal structures, and maximizing current business ...

Good Mentors Not Only Catch Errors, but Speed Professional Development, Provide Perspective, and Help Build Your Company Brand The mentoring process is invaluable, explains Baria Jaroudi. That’s not simply because it provides a proofread and detail check, or even because it strengthens professional development and solicits team expertise and new perspectives. Perhaps most importantly, strong mentoring helps ...

Why Built-up Volatility Rates Produce Better Value Indications In part one of a three-part series, Lorenzo Carver explains how the interaction between auditors and valuation professionals during dual-purpose 409A valuations of common stock and employee stock options destroys value for hundreds of thousands of employees receiving stock options every year by granting options at strike prices that are above th ...

Divorce Proceedings Can Stall Operations, Distract Key Employees, and Require Expensive Outside Counsel. Here’s How Good Planning Can Mitigate the Costs. Solid legal counsel, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, shareholder agreements, confidentiality, and structured settlements can all ease the strain on a small business during a divorce proceeding, explains Jennifer A. Brand at the Fox Small Business Center. ...

Infosys, the Indian IT Services Giant, Has Assigned a Value to Its Entire Workforce Since 2008. Here’s Why European and American Companies Don’t Yet Formally Value Employees—and Why They Should! Recognizing the value of employees in company accounts makes a compelling business case and reflects the realities of 21st century business, argues Leon Kaye in the Guardian. ...

Healthcare Practices Still Command Significant Goodwill Value. Here’s How Owners Can Successfully Plan an Exit. According to The Health Care Group’s Goodwill Registry, a database of buy-in and sale transactions, medical and dental practices are still commanding significant prices for intangible value/goodwill. Here’s the detail on the numbers and guidance for optimal ways owners can find a successor, partne ...

In Berquist v. Commissioner, Judge Swift Finds a Company’s Pending Liquidation is Relevant and Foreseeable. Brand valuation is becoming an ever more critical business as intangible assets are increasingly being recognized as highly valued property, writes Sophie Roberts in Intellectual Property.  Consider: A vast majority of work your business is already doing today almost certainly affects brand value. Whe ...

In Berquist v. Commissioner, Judge Swift Finds a Company’s Pending Liquidation is Relevant and Foreseeable. The Tax Court valued closely-held stock in an anesthesiology practice donated to a hospital for charitable contribution purposes at its liquidation value since the anesthesiology practice would no longer exist after the physician-stockholders were consolidated into a newly-formed umbrella physician ma ...

In Nebraska, Judge Considers: Should Damages be Limited to the Length of a Non-Compete Clause? The Supreme Court of North Dakota prefers the testimony of an accredited appraiser, a Tennessee court asks an expert witness to stick to the topic rather than allowing him to recommend an alternative legal remedy, and a Nebraska court considers whether damages should be limited to those incurred during the period ...

This Long Term Plan Is of Particular Use to Owners of Illiquid Privately Held Companies Consultants can help business owners planning a sale by helping them understand how a charitable remainder trust might help. These trusts can significantly reduce owed taxes and ensure owners receive regular income in return for donating cash, securities, or real estate to a charity. It’s of particular use for owners of ...

Shared Values and Employee Practices Drive Increased Productivity, Loyalty, and Best Customer Service The shared values and practices of employees in a company have real value that can be just as critical to a company’s success as its physical assets and market potential. Employees who passionately enjoy their work tend to be more productive, have increased employer loyalty, and offer better customer servic ...

The Best Experts Increase Odds of Winning by Devising Strategy, Guiding Discovery, and Enhancing the Quality of Daubert Challenges Donald M. May at Claims Journal explains how the best expert witnesses increase odds of winning by devising strategy, guiding discovery, and enhancing the quality of Daubert challenges.  Here are the sort of queries—about specific topical expertise, testimony record, exclusion h ...

It’s Prime Time for Estate Planning Market volatility may be tough on the nerves, opines the Wall Street Journal, but it could be a boon for wealthy families looking to shelter assets from taxes while helping their children.  Here’s how to  devise strategies on discounts, GRATs, and loans.  Additional advice:  take advantage of low interest rates and exploit the federal gift-tax exemption. ...

When Crossing or Responding to Your Opposing Expert Witness, Look for the L.I.E. (Large Internal Error) Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm cross-examines experts looking for the L.I.E (Large Internal Error).  He doesn’t always find one.  But when he does, he no longer needs to claim his expert would have done it differently or done it better.  He simply points out a liar—and dramatically wins the jury over.  Here’s how. ...

Research Highlights Growth in Healthcare Cloud Computing A MarketsandMarkets report predicts that the global healthcare market for cloud computing will grow to $5.4 billion in 2017, with North America expected to be the biggest contributor because of new clinical diagnosis codes, meaningful use requirements, and other federal efforts. However, privacy and security issues tied to the technology remain a barr ...

Organizations with a Market Capitalization of Less than $300 Million may be Paying Higher Insurance Premiums Catastrophic risk is of increased concern to insurers, and small businesses without losses will likely face increased premiums of 10-20 percent on renewal next year. Why? Wildfires, cyber-crime, cloud computing risk, and workers compensation rates are some reasons insurers cite. ...