Two CPAs in Washington D.C. have filed a class action lawsuit against the IRS for requiring a yearly registration and related fee in order to maintain a preparer tax identification number (PTIN). The suit, which involves 700,000 practitioners, seeks to recover $150 million in fees that the IRS has collected since the regulation passed in 2010. Four years ago, the IRS put the new rule into effect as a ...

Because the economic recovery we’ve all been told is happening never really arrived, dollar stores across the United States are doing big business these days. Because of that, there’s a huge takeover battle going on between the nation’s three largest dollar store retailers. Apparently, there’s billions to be made, one dollar at a time. Family Dollar Stores (FDS) originally rebuffed an unsolicited $9.1 billi ...

This past summer, the firm of Pluris Valuation Advisors LLC released a detailed white paper on the valuation of life insurance. According to the authors, when valuing life insurance or life insurance-linked instruments such as split-dollar collateral assignment receivables or split-dollar promissory notes, there are only three elements of Fair Market Value. These include: Illustrations from the insurance co ...

  In the early days of the scandal surrounding LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, certain terms of his punishment by the NBA were a given. What no one was sure of was whether or not he would be forced to sell the team. As speculation turned into fact, it seemed as if valuation estimates for the team were coming out of the woodwork. Some said the team price tag could go as high as $1 billion. Earlier i ...

  Netflix is the latest company to join a petition asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny the pending $45 billion Comcast / Time Warner merger. In a 256-page report, Netflix details how the merger will give the new entity too much control over the internet, and that this new power will enable it to stifle online video distributors that it sees as competition. Comcast continues to ar ...

  Among many legal challenges to the validity of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), is Halbig vs. Burwell. The challenge concerns a passage in the statute, when literally read as worded, makes federal tax credits for insurance programs available only to those enrollees in states that have created a state-designed and operated healthcare exchange. Read as it currently exists, the statute does not allow for ...

  It was a shock to most people when the news hit that actor and comedian, Robin Williams, had suddenly passed away earlier this month at the age of 63. While most were aware of Mr. Williams’ hard-won 20-year sobriety milestone, what they didn’t know was the financial struggle he was facing in recent years. Forbes.com takes a respectful and detailed look at the estate planning of Mr. Williams, and show ...

  Now that we’re six years into the Great Recession, financial experts tell us that the stock market is booming, and the economy is once again robust. Strangely, the vast majority of Americans aren’t sharing in this so-called recovery and the benefits of it are virtually non-existent, unless you look at the top 0.1% of wage-earners in the country, namely the CEOs of major corporations. Profitability an ...

  In spite of the current economic climate, a recent survey from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) showed that 54 percent of valuation professionals expected a 10 to 50 percent increase in the demand for their services over the next two to five years. These results are part of the 2014 AICPA Survey on International Trends in Forensic and Valuation Services. Forensic experts were even more optimist ...

  Nathan J. Mueller embezzled $8.5 million in barely four years from financial giant, ING through a series of corporate incompetence, “happy” accidents and missteps inside the company. His case is unique in the amount of money he stole and the length of time it went undetected. The breach of controls at ING was astonishing, but not nearly as incredible as hearing Mueller describe how easy it was in his ...

  The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued two standards updates with the intention of simplifying the measurement of inventory and eliminating the requirement for extraordinary items. Inventory (Topic 330): Simplifying the Measurement of Inventory would eliminate existing requirements to consider the replacement cost of inventory and the net realizable value of inventory less an appr ...

  Eventually, everyone who works with or around money professionally comes across a particular transaction that just doesn’t look right. Lots of these eyebrow raisers turn out to be false alarms, and some even have odd, albeit legitimate and legal explanations. Still, there are those that defy explanation of any kind. If you’re not in the business of looking for fraud on a daily basis, will you be able ...

The valuation of customer relationships can be somewhat of a gray area for valuators. In many cases, the common valuation methodologies don’t apply, and the professional neglects to consider whether the determined value is consistent with a market participant’s perspective. While it’s become routine to assume customer relationships are a primary asset, this is not the case across all industries. In a short, ...

  The PCAOB recently issued Auditing Standard (AS) No. 18, Related Parties to strengthen auditor performance in the high-risk areas of significant unusual transactions and financial relationships, and transactions with executive officers. The change comes as the result of an internal review where the PCAOB felt the existing protocol did not contain sufficient procedures and was not properly risk-based. ...

  According to a recent article in The Appraisal Journal, industry sales among the 616,098 restaurants in the U.S. totaled $425.6 billion in 2012. Chain restaurants make up nearly 45% of the industry population in the U.S., and at a growth rate of 2.2% are expected to overtake independent establishments by 2023. Between 2010 and 2012, 22,000 restaurants were sold for a total of almost $11 billion. The ...

A Fitch Ratings report has shared serious doubts that the practice principles of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) would be fully implemented in the U.S. anytime in the near future, as the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) turns colder on the idea. Three sticking points to the merger of the methods remain financial instruments, insurance and leasing. Financial products with U. ...

  In case you missed it, Z. Christopher Mercer, ASA, CFA, ABAR, founder and CEO of Mercer Capital, was the keynote speaker at the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) 2014 bi-annual joint conference this year. His presentation concerned The Five Really Big Valuation Issues. They included: 1.) discount rates, 2.) control premiums and minority interest ...

  Reimbursements from insurers, made to healthcare facilities for the care they administer, are an essential part of the valuation of hospitals, clinics, outpatient care centers and other facilities. As if that exchange wasn’t complicated enough, it’s about to go through another transition that very well may impact the valuation of all healthcare institutions. According to a new white paper released by ...

  The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) recently sent a letter to the IRS calling a proposed “voluntary” certification program for unenrolled tax return preparers “unlawful and improper”. In a recent ruling, Loving, No. 13-5061 (D.C. Cir. 2/11/14), it was held that the IRS does not have the statutory authority to regulate tax return preparers. In the aftermath, IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, stated ...

Intellectual Property Valuation Principles—Part 1 This article examines the types of intellectual property analyses, different standards of value that may apply in valuation as well as the alternative types of intellectual property ownership interests and the alternative terms of intellectual property ownership interests. ...