(OSB) The OSB technique is indispensable to establish veracity when hearing or reading questions and answers, such as deposition transcripts, expert report content and even daily conversation. You can (and should) use the OSB mnemonic in most of your public and private communications, including if you provide expert witness testimony. And, once you begin applying the technique you will find it indispensable in your forensic practice. The following describes its application. [su_pullquote align=”right”]Resources: Forensic Accounting Academy© Financial Statements—Written Confessions Thriving in Forensics—Practice Instruction for Forensic Operators© The Art & Science of Investigating People & Money©—Behavioral and Financial Forensics [/su_pullquote] Background…
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Liability Claims May Follow In this article, the Expert Witness Exchange (EWE) discusses expert witness liability exposure. [su_pullquote align=”right”]Resources: Expert Witness Bootcamp Experts Sabotaging Themselves in Court—The Judges Tell All Testimony at Trial: What the Trier of Fact Expects From the Expert Who Wants to be an Expert? Expert Preparation for the Expert Deposition [/su_pullquote] Expert witnesses provide a great service to our court system in the United States, as well as in many other countries around the world. They are often sought out by attorneys to offer their opinion in legal matters without having any personal stake in the…
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Cerulli Associates estimates that there are just over 300,000 advisors in the U.S. This number has caused some hand-wringing in our industry—and, I’d argue, for the wrong reasons. Despite forecasts suggesting the advisory industry will shrink in the coming years, there’s plenty cause for optimism. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: Why the Market for Advisors has Never Been Better.
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The surprise split of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie puts advisors on alert: Are you prepared with appropriate retirement and tax advice if your clients divorce? It’s unlikely that Bezos will have to crack open his Amazon 401(k) or IRA to get through this event. But for your average client, that’s exactly where most of their wealth may be. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: Tax Traps for Divorcing Clients.
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Facebook has been in the news quite a bit for its ad targeting over the past year, most notably with reports that the now-defunct Cambridge Analytica used improperly obtained data to develop “personality” profiles on U.S. voters and target ads toward them during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But many users are still unaware what information Facebook actually collects for ad targeting purposes. To read the full article in Venture Beat, click: 74% of Users Don’t Know Facebook Records Their Ad Preferences.
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Introduction: The Fundamentals of Private Equity (Part I of III) Why is private equity becoming increasingly involved in the business of healthcare? How will their involvement affect the delivery of services? This first installment of a three-part series will describe the fundamentals of the private equity industry, in general, and set forth a common terminology that will be utilized throughout the series. The second and third installments will further discuss the trends in private equity utilization in the healthcare industry. A more detailed version of this article appears in The Value Examiner, January/February 2019 issue. The remaining issues will be…
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List from Scratch Last month, I wrote about the hazards of being a digital sharecropper and the benefits of reaching your leads, prospects, clients, and referral sources with your platform—like a newsletter or blog. But first you must have a list of people to send it to, and several of you asked how I got started. Let’s talk about that this month. [su_pullquote align=”right”]Resources: Using Social Media to Build Your Practice Practicing Solo Implementing Your Marketing Strategy Gaining an Advantage in a Changing Marketplace [/su_pullquote] Last month, I wrote about the hazards of being a digital sharecropper and the benefits…
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The IRS issued proposed regulations that Sec. 956, which requires an income inclusion by U.S. shareholders of controlled foreign corporations (CFCs) that invest in U.S. property, should not apply to corporate shareholders. To read the full article in Journal of Accountancy, click: Proposed Rules Would Exempt Corporate U.S. Shareholders from Sec. 956.
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Macroeconomic trends and matters of convenience will move advisors, assets, and markets this year in the ever-changing wealth management space. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: 19 Trends to Watch in 2019.
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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has provided certain advantages for clients, including a 20% deduction for qualified business income and a higher standard deduction. But a cap on deductions for state and local taxes and a different method for determining inflation adjustments could create challenges. “The TCJA has given wealthy taxpayers some interesting changes to their return,” noted Scott Kadrlik, CPA, PFS. To read the full article in Financial Advisor Magazine, click: Potential 2019 Tax Changes Your Wealthy Clients Need to Know About.
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About the Business of Healthcare Araliya Valuation Consulting (AVC), based in Tampa, FL, surveyed over 1,000 physician business owners to find out their perspective on the current healthcare environment, in a business context. AVC team surveyed several medical specialists, including: dentists, ophthalmologists, psychiatrists and psychologists, family medicine practitioners, chiropractors, podiatrists, physical medicine and rehabilitation providers, pediatrics, orthopedic surgeons, and internal medicine providers, among other disciplines. This article summarizes the survey results. Araliya Valuation Consulting (AVC), based in Tampa, FL, surveyed over 1,000 physician business owners to find out their perspective on the current healthcare environment, in a business context. AVC…
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Step-by-Step With increasing competition in the accounting field, you want to ensure that clients and prospects can easily find your content through search engines like Google. You can do so by optimizing the copy (i.e., marketing text) on certain pages of your website. This article describes the process of web text optimization. With increasing competition in the accounting field, you want to ensure that clients and prospects can easily find your content through search engines like Google. You can do so by optimizing the copy (i.e., marketing text) on certain pages of your website. The process starts with identifying appropriate…
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Despite the changes that came with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, clients can still claim the child and dependent care tax credit on their 2018 returns. Working parents who paid for day care, summer camp or a babysitter should take advantage of this tax break, which can help them save as much as $1,050 per child below age 13. Those who intend to claim are advised to pay their babysitter legally and remit the necessary employment taxes. “In general, the nanny tax is paid as part of your tax return,” an expert says. To read the full article in…
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Millennials are using TDFs more than others. Digital firms are paying attention. Some of the leading RIAs, asset managers and TAMPs updated their retirement packages with new tools to track target-date funds and savings statistics, ultimately giving clients more sophisticated information about their retirement options. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: Why Digital Retirement Tools are Targeting Younger Clients.
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If stock market volatility has drained value from your traditional IRA, this might be a good time to convert the account into a Roth IRA to take advantage of tax-free asset growth. The move may be especially appealing for retirees who have delayed their Social Security benefits and are younger than 70½. To read the full article in CNBC, click: This Failing Market Offers an Opportunity to Cut Your Taxes in Retirement.
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Measuring the Relative Performance of Small Stock vs. Large Stock and the Cost of Equity Roger Ibbotson and James Harrington discuss two different ways of measuring the relative performance of small stocks versus large stocks in this article: (i) the “small stock premium” and (ii) the “beta-adjusted size premium”. Ibbotson and Harrington demonstrate why using a non-beta-adjusted size premium within the context of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) to estimate cost of equity capital will likely “double count” beta risk, and therefore overstate risk and understate value. The authors also demonstrate that a non-beta-adjusted size premium used in conjunction…
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February 2019—U.S. Tax Court on Valuation of Conservation Easements and Expert Testimony The U.S. Tax Court issued two valuation decisions in late December 2018 that may be of interest to QuickRead readers. The opinion is 116 pages long and delves into what is a qualified real property easement that qualifies for a charitable deduction, and the 36-page memorandum provides guidance regarding how the court weighs expert witness testimony in this area of easements. On December 27, 2018, the U.S. Tax Court issued two lengthy decisions: an opinion and memorandum decision that focus on what is a qualified real estate easement…
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Still, time is limited. Tell clients they’d better take advantage of the current exemption before it expires. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: Thanks to New IRS Decree, Clients Can Relax When Making Large Gifts—For Now.
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If your clients are super wealthy and want to avoid a big tax bill, they’re better off retiring in Michigan than in Maryland. The IRS collects around $18 billion in estate taxes annually, according to the agency. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: Where Should Rich Clients Retire?
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CPA financial planners name charitable giving, business structure and estate plans as the areas of clients’ financial plans they have had to adjust most frequently after passage of the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Planners can tap into their technical expertise to evaluate how different tax strategies would align with a client’s overall financial picture, said Robert Westley, CPA/PFS. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that plans “support [clients’] life goals and to keep them and their family secure,” said Andrea Millar, CPA/PFS. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: How Tax…