Are You Properly Insured? Expert witnesses face many of the same risks other businesses face; from first-party losses such as damage to property, to third-party losses from legal liability. While the nature of a business dictates specific insurance needs, most businesses carry a portfolio of insurance that includes property and business interruption, commercial general liability and excess liability, automobile liability and physical damage, and workers compensation insurance. Professionals such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, and yes, expert witnesses, face special risks from their performance of “professional services” for third parties, and thus have the need for professional liability insurance which is…
-
-
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 that have a library and those that prepare reports for federal tax purposes. Parts One and Two of the book discuss the IRS structure, process, and how to resolve conflicts with the IRS;…
-
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 summarizes some of the main points expressed in those publications.
-
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 process of developing a referral marketing strategy, and then discuss some of the most effective tactics his firm has seen.
-
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.
-
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 operate.
-
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.
-
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 and/or set up their own website in the hope that additional expert witness consulting work would flow to them. The Exchange’s marketplace offers a different paradigm and value proposition. This has been…
-
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.
-
Reliability of Client’s Data This article discusses how experts can handle the unique situation of receiving unreliable data. Litigation and appraisal literature will be reviewed as will the author’s handling of unreliable data in a recent lost profits case. In the end, warning signs will be reviewed to alert the expert to potential problems with the projected data.
-
Case Study on the Use of Visuals to Track Revenue, Expenses, and Process What is CCO? How is it used? The CCO technique has no traceable origin, but its application is self-evident and imminently practical. The technique is typified by its initialism, i.e., CCO that self-describes the process: what is the condition underlying the problem(s), what is the cause of the underlying problem(s), and what is the outlook of the underlying problem? Here, the author provides an illustration of CCO and how his firm used it in an engagement.
-
For “Intentionally Defective” Grantor Trusts (Part II of II) In this second and final part of this article, the author provides illustrations that showcase pitfalls to avoid when the power of substitution is exercised. Read Part I here.
-
Top 5 Business Challenges The author discusses the top five business challenges identified by professional accounting and financial services firms, and proposes ways professionals can readily address those issues.
-
Tips for Marketing Your Skills and Services Whether you are just starting your career, considering going out on your own, or expanding your business, there are three steps that will make your journey easier: conduct a self-assessment, develop a business plan, and design a marketing strategy. Sounds simple enough, but most businesses fail within the first year simply because people skip one or more of these fundamental steps. Ms. Yeend will be presenting on this topic Wednesday, June 20, 2018, at the NACVA/CTI’s Annual Consultant’s Conference at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.
-
For “Intentionally Defective” Grantor Trusts (Part I of II) The power of substitution is held by the settlor of a grantor trust if this power is provided by the trust instrument. This power allows the settlor, at any time, to remove an asset or assets from the grantor trust in exchange for an asset or assets of equivalent value. Such a transfer can be problematic and vulnerable to challenge if the equivalent value is questionable. One such example is when a promissory note bearing a below-market interest rate is the substituted property. First, this discussion presents an analysis of the…
-
In Measuring Trustee Breach of Fiduciary Duty Damages (Part II of II) The second part of this article focuses on the methodologies employed to quantify the economic damages when a fiduciary breach is claimed.
-
Healthcare Regulatory Environment (Part III of VI) In the March/April 2018 issue of The Value Examiner, the author underscores the importance of undertaking rigorous due diligence to better understand the regulatory burdens and operational risks notwithstanding efforts to repeal and replace.
-
In Measuring Trustee Breach of Fiduciary Duty Damages (Part I of II) The prudent investment of trust assets can minimize the potential for trustee fiduciary litigation risk, in addition to maximizing the trust beneficiaries’ economic interest in the trust. However, trust beneficiaries may initiate a breach of fiduciary duty tort claim when they feel that the trustee has breached any investment management fiduciary duties to the trust. For trust beneficiaries, and their legal counsel, who have brought breach of fiduciary duty tort claims against a trustee, one of the issues is how to measure the “damage” to the beneficiaries because…
-
Perform a File Autopsy! We live and die in/by our engagements. Bet you never thought of it that way. But really, tell me life isn’t just peachy when you’re working on a fun/interesting/profitable case. And that life doesn’t just suck when you’re not. Wouldn’t it be nice to have more peaches? In this article, Rod Burkert shares his After Action Review process that enables practitioners to (re)focus on cases and clients that are interesting and engaging and discard those that are less “peachy”.
-
Accepting and Rejecting Data from Public Company Data Valuation analysts who, for whatever reason, eschew the publicly traded guideline company method but who would like to use option models for various aspects of the valuation assignment, face a conundrum. All option models require, as an input, a volatility factor in percentage format. Since the only place to derive such a volatility factor (usually defined as the standard deviation of total returns) is from public company data, how do you reject public company data on the one hand over here but use it on the other hand over there? Using non-public…