How to Make Pricing Your Competitive Advantage This article is a follow up to the author’s April 2021 QuickRead article: “Here is What Prospects Believe About Our Pricing.” The lesson by the author is that prospective clients believe what the professional believes about pricing. If the professional believes that the price is too high, so will the prospect. If the professional believes that the price is a ba ...

Not Just for the End of Your Career What is the value of an independent insurance company? In this article, the author shares the reasons—other than for transactional reasons—for knowing the value of an independent insurance agency. Over the past several years, I have worked with many agency owners across the country helping them understand the value of their agencies. It is some of the most rewarding work ...

Healthcare Valuation 2021 Update The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly all businesses and is poised to continue to do so through at least the end of 2021. In healthcare, there has been additional issues due to the industry’s unique position at the crossroads of the front line of care and policy response. As of January 19, 2021, important updates have gone into effect concerning the two most significant ...

After the COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic put a strain on the U.S. and global economies as well as individual lives throughout the world. As much as most people would like to put 2020 behind us, experts will have to continue to review financial returns from 2020 in the historical data for businesses claiming to have been injured by wrongful acts in 2021 and the future. As much as an expert would lik ...

Implementing the Practicability Exception under ASC 2016-01 An adverse economic consequence of COVID-19 that has made headlines is the significant impairment charges business entities have taken related to their non-financial assets, such as intangible assets and goodwill. Less notable has been the pandemic’s similar effect on an entity’s financial assets, including equity securities without readily determi ...

Then and Now The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. It is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals in areas of public life, including jobs, transportation, schools, and most private and public places open to the public. The ADA has been amended over the years and this article provides an overview of the ADA, the proof that must be met to bring an action, an ...

Related to Property Contaminated by COVID-19? Insurance policies for business interruption generally require the interruption of business operations to be the result of a “direct physical loss of or direct physical damage to property.” The crucial issue that business owners will face when making a claim for the losses that they will undoubtedly incur will be whether COVID-19 can constitute a “direct physica ...

No Tulip Bulbs Here! What is a non-fungible token (NFT)? How are NFTs valued? This article discusses NFTs and the valuation challenges these present. What is a non-fungible token (NFT)? Recently, the media has seemed to catch on to the new(ish) invention—NFTs. Even the recent episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL) has featured an entertaining segment explaining the nature of NFTs to the rhythmic beat of an Em ...

Benefit Valuation Adjustment The so-called tax amortization benefit (TAB) adjustment represents the present value of the federal income tax savings resulting from the tax amortization of an acquired intangible asset over a statutory period. Internal Revenue Code Section 197 allows the cost of certain acquired intangible assets to be amortized for federal income tax purposes. However, not all acquired intang ...

An Alternative to the IPO The popularity of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) has been soaring in recent years. There are 35 times as many SPACs operating in 2020 as in 2010, and these companies seem poised for greater exponential growth in the future. While many experts are predicting a continued, rapid increase in SPACs, this article will also examine the factors that could possibly slow SPAC ...

What Prospects Believe About Our Pricing is What We Believe About Our Pricing When prospects say, “You’re too expensive” (and some inevitably will), we may have a problem. Because on the one hand, they may be telling us the truth (or their truth). But on the other hand, we think we are worth it. This article identifies two issues, suggests that there may be one impediment, and provides readers with resource ...

for SBA Lending Programs Despite the pandemic, the number of small businesses started continues to increase. This article discusses the various Small Business Administration (SBA) programs and the value of serving these lenders. “Success is a full-time job.” Grant Cardone Any entrepreneur or a small business owner would agree that running a successful small business is a full-time job. To run it well requir ...

Creative Settlement Strategies for Real Property Damages In challenging financial and operational times, parties need more creative tools than ever before to reach settlement and bring swift resolution before issues can become protracted litigation. Particularly in the realm of real estate and environmental damages, where mass tort and class action lawsuits are common and the stakes can be very high, Value ...

Dieckman v. Regency GP LP et al. This article discusses Dieckman v. Regency GP, LP, a recent Delaware Chancery Court decision. It is a reminder for valuation professionals providing damages testimony to be wary when mixing the use of the market approach and income approach when estimating damages in situations where multiple entities are involved. For example, using the income approach in valuing the allege ...

Operating v. Non-Operating Assets With the growth of the digital economy, new types of assets have emerged that may be subject to property division in divorce. An increasingly common example is credit card reward points. No one may actually “own” these points, since the written agreements for rewards programs commonly state that points are not the cardholder’s property, have no cash value, and cannot be tra ...

of a Tax Loss Target Company Acquisition This article summarizes the factors that acquirers—and their valuation and other financial advisers—should consider when structuring an M&A transaction that involves a target corporation with such income tax attributes. Introduction Valuation analysts and other financial advisers (collectively, analysts) are often retained to advise acquisitive clients with regar ...

A New Online Board to Punish Infringers If you are a creative person, copyright protection is important. It gives you the right to prevent others from copying your work, which is a valuable right that can be used, sold, or licensed. This article discusses the enforcement protection afforded under the Copyright Alternative in Small Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (CASE Act). If you are a creative person, copy ...

COVID-19 and Business Valuation—One Year Later: What Worked and What Didn’t On March 2, 2021, Jim Hitchner, Managing Member of Valuation Products and Services (VPS), made a follow-up presentation, COVID-19 and Business Valuation—One Year Later: What Worked and What Didn’t. This article summarizes the issues discussed during this follow-up webinar. A year has passed since the COVID-19 pandemic first impacted ...

These Drivers Quantify the Time and Money You Get from Your Practice Time and money. These are two things we generally want more of. Because they are generally two things, we think we don’t have enough of. If you want more time and money than you are currently getting out of your practice, this QuickRead deconstruction is for you. Time and money. These are two things we generally want more of. Because they ...

in the Cryptocurrency Economy Although cryptocurrency and blockchain technology create an environment that can help combat fraud within their systems, their introduction into the global economy has opened numerous doors for nefarious activity. This article provides an overview of what is cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and the rise of threats to digital assets. Fraud used to be much simpler for the f ...