Industry Moves to Enhance Transparency of Investments Holding More Than $93 Billion in Assets  The Investment Program Association (IPA), a trade association for non-listed, direct-investment vehicles, announced recently the adoption of the IPA Practice Guideline for the valuation of publicly registered, non-listed real estate investment trusts, The Wall Street Journal reported.   Here's more from a Globe Ne ...

 On the Horizon Offers Two Examples of Appropriate Ways to Apply FASB Guidance.  Plus: New Guidance on Reporting Discontinued Operations and Not-for-Profit Entities Grant Thornton recently published a useful article on applying the equity method in its On the Horizon web-based publication, which also notes that the Fair Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has suggested new guidelines for reporting discontinue ...

Why VCs and Private Equity Pros are Sensitive to IRC 409A Valuations Rand Curtiss weighs in on why IRC 409A option-related valuations for small businesses do not solve real business problems for them. They set minimum exercise prices, asserts Curtiss—but that’s all they do. ...

Understanding Both Sorts of Appraisal is Critical to Valuing Minority, Partial Interests in Holding Entities that Own Real Estate and Other Assets that are Gifted, Sold, or Otherwise Transferred   Randolph Glennon, MAI, CRE, MBA, and president of Eastern Appraisal & Consulting in Portland, Maine, explains in the New England Real Estate Journal why there's growing need for appraisers who understand both ...

Congress Needs to Reduce, if Not Eliminate, Support of the Mortgage Market in Order to Encourage Private Capital to Enter the Market, Says Agency Head Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco said that Congress needs to take action to significantly reduce, if not eliminate, the government’s continued support of the mortgage market and make it more palatable for private capital ...

Past Performance is No Longer a Viable Valuation Tactic: Learn to Anticipate Future Prospects with Data Mining, Proprietary Benchmark Techniques, and a Close Look at Both Cash Flow and Capital Expenditures.    Caleb Slabbert, writing at VentureCapital.org, which bills itself as a non-profit organization that has been "a premier resource for both entrepreneurs seeking funding and for investors who want to he ...

Based in Florida and Employing 600 Personnel in 59 Offices, New Company Is Third Largest Firm Providing Commercial Real Estate Valuation Advisory Services  Forty-two independent CRE appraisal companies, with a total of 59 offices and 145 MAIs, have merged to form Valbridge Property Advisors (www.valbridge.com), Commercial Property Executive reports.  The new company, headquartered in Naples, Fla., will rank ...

Choosing an Appropriate Weighted Average Cost of Capital Definition Sometimes Depends On Context Valuation principles generally hold that the value of a business is largely a function of return on invested capital and growth, writes J. Richard Claywell, since these are the primary drivers of free cash flow. But how does this cash flow relate to the asset and liability values on the balance sheet? ...

Judge Cuts Apple Award Versus Samsung, Sets New Damages Trial  Poornima Gupta and Erin Smith report at Reuters report that Apple Inc had a major setback in its mobile patents battle with Samsung Electronics.  On Friday, March 1st, a federal judge slashed a $1.05 billion jury award by more than 40 percent and set a new trial to determine damages. Here's more:   ...

Statistical Confidence Can Help Pinpoint Value. Many questions have arisen concerning the reliability of valuations using the Direct Market Data Method (DMDM). Rand Curtiss shows how to use statistical techniques to answer them with confidence. ...

Why Estate Planners Need to Understand This Critical Valuation Element of a Buy Sell Agreement All businesses with more than one shareholder should have a current, well-written buy-sell agreement, asserts Mercer Capital. And for clients with valuation processes as part of their agreements, it is critical to understand "levels of value": Strategic Control Value, Financial Control Value, Marketable Minority V ...

Particularly When Valuing Companies with Substantial Foreign Operations, Business Valuation Analysts Know That Country-Specific Input Is Critical  David Foster at BVWire News reports that in additional to his general data update for 2013, Prof. Aswath Damodaran (NYU Stern School of Business) provides a list of country default spreads and risk premiums.  Here's the professor's assessment: ...

Investors Looked Favorably Upon Insurance Underwriters in 2012:  The Industry Index Did Better than the S&P.  Will Momentum Continue? Mercer Capital provides the insurance industry with corporate valuation, financial reporting, transaction advisory, and related services.   Download Mercer's Fourth Quarter 2012 summary here.  More: Investors looked favorably upon insurance underwriters in 2012, driving t ...

There Are All Kinds of Different Standards to Consider In Sophisticated Valuations. Here are Some Tips. Control premiums are difficult to calculate.  Why?  Because there are so many variables. You may need to adjust earnings to reflect a control value (i.e., restating owner’s compensation and adjusting discretionary expenses). But wait: There’s more!  There are minority earnings. And a variety of people to ...

Private Companies and Nonpublic Not-for-Profits are Exempted from a Particular Fair Value Disclosure as a Result of Recent FASB Amendment The Financial Accounting Standards Board responded quickly to concerns voiced in December to issue an amendment clarifying that private companies and nonpublic not-for-profits are exempted from a particular fair value disclosure.  Ken Tysiac at The Journal of Accountancy ...

Last Month’s Fiscal Cliff Legislation Included Lots of Tax Provisions. But Not Just for Individuals — There Are Tax-Saving Breaks for Businesses Too.  Here’s What You Need to Know. Bill Bischoff at The Wall Street Journal Small Business Blog reports that last month's fiscal cliff legislation included some important tax breaks for individuals; a longer version of his article appears at MarketWatch.  Here's t ...

Few Business Owners Seem to Even Know How to Make a Good Guess at What Their Business is Worth.  NY Times Introduces Technology to Help—and Certified Advisers Provide Extra Value.  Mark Cohen, at The New York Times Small Business Guide, reports:  "At 53, Joe Ritz is old enough to remember a time when many of the classic cars that now pull into his specialized repair shop were new. “It’s one field where it p ...

Aswath Damodaran, NYU's Legendary Valuation Expert, Recently Argues that there's a 90% Chance Apple is Undervalued.  Here's Why.   This comes in the wake of Apple shares' breathtaking plunge from recent highs. (That's be about $700 in September to $425 or so today.) In a new blog post, Sam Ro at Business Insider reports that Damodaran thinks that management can learn a few things from the recent market vola ...

A Valuation Principal Takes Issue With Revenue Ruling 59-60:  "Does Analysis of Macroeconomic Conditions Add Credibility to My Opinion of  Privately Owned Company Value In My Region?" Rick Warner, ASA, AVA, Principal, Great Lakes Valuations writes that "Most of us as appraisers are familiar with Revenue Ruling 59-60 and its prescription for factors to be considered as part of the valuation of the stock of c ...

At Issue:  Standard & Poor's Ratings of Mortgage Bonds Before the Financial Crisis  Jean Eaglesham, Jeannette Neumann, and Evan Perez report at the Wall Street Journal that S&P is under fire.  Here's more: ...