Some American workers are worried about their financial security in retirement, according to a Transamerica survey. In this article, Todd Campbell looks at five common fears involving retirement and how they can be addressed. To read the full article in The Motley Fool, click: How to Address Common Concerns About Retirement.
-
-
Sears has booked losses of over nine billion dollars during the past eight years. The company has had to resort to shedding assets—tangible and intangible—in a bid to right-size operations and manage liquidity. In January 2017, Sears announced the sale of its Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker. Samantha Albert, senior financial analyst with Mercer Capital, explains the transaction. To read the full article in Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: Crafting a Deal in Order to Stay Afloat. This article is republished from Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog. It is reprinted with permission. To subscribe to the blog,…
-
Aligning Business Models and Business Practices A key factor in establishing a reasonable transfer price is establishing the business model used by sales and distribution organizations. In this article, the authors describe the three primary models and their relevance establishing and defending a transfer price.
-
What do You Have to Lose? Since only a fraction of the cases filed go to trial, it seems prudent to explore settlement sooner rather than later. It is not rocket science, and statistics support the claim that the earlier a case settles the lower the expense to achieve that settlement. If this is not enough to encourage someone to consider mediation sooner rather than later, then perhaps recent court statistics will. Although the trend over the past few years has shown a decline in the total number of filings, the cost and length of time to resolution has increased.…
-
Many advisers have plans for growth, but does anyone really know what causes above average sustained progress? After years of experience and study, Glenn Kautt, CFP, EA, AIFA, concluded that leading a firm requires you to have a detailed plan. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: The Growth Plan: Keeping your Practice on Course.
-
We’re quickly approaching the time of year when most contributions are made to IRAs and Roth IRAs. But there are limits to how much can be contributed to an IRA, and exceeding them can result in costly penalties. Ed Slott, CPA, tells us what to look out for. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: A Tax Nightmare: Excess IRA Contributions.
-
What risk assets are not near record valuations, aside from assets in a few sectors such as energy and retail? Investing when multiple expansion occurs over a holding period is a great thing, but multiples cannot expand forever; they also can contract. Jeff Davis, managing director of Mercer Capital’s Financial Institutions Group, explains. To read the full article in Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: Gravity Matters, Especially for Financial Investors. This article is republished from Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog. It is reprinted with permission. To subscribe to the blog, visit: http://mercercapital.com/category/financialreportingblog/.
-
Audit Risk and Use of Defined Value Clauses Estate planning attorneys and their clients are aware of the risk of an audit. Despite knowing this risk, they seek certainty. Business valuation is as much art, as it is science. Estate planning attorneys have devised techniques to hedge the aforementioned risk and provide their clients with a greater degree of certainty. One such technique utilized by estate planners is the use of Formula or Defined Value Clauses. The merit of defined value clauses seeks to mitigate audit risk, while providing the client with the certainty of knowing, at the date of…
-
After Actions Reviews A firm’s intellectual capital is the most important source of its long-term wealth creating capacity. It must be constantly replenished and created to build the firm’s invisible balance sheet. Constantly focusing on doing rather than learning, creativity, innovation, and knowledge sharing is the equivalent of eating the firm’s seed corn. In this article, Ron Baker discusses the value of AAR and how it has been used to create capacity, protect the firm’s intellectual capital, and transform company culture.
-
The Internal Revenue Service issued its annual revenue procedure containing inflation-adjusted amounts for the 2017 tax year, affecting more than 50 Code provisions, as well as the new tax-rate tables for individuals and estates and trusts. Sally Schreiber, JofA senior editor, takes us through the revenue procedure. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: IRS Issues 2017 Inflation Adjustments for Many Tax Provisions.
-
As cybercriminals become more sophisticated and cast a wider net, tax practitioners should take a number of steps to protect themselves and their clients. Shannon Smith Retzke, Esq., explains that practitioners need to be careful about everything they do online as cybercriminals proliferate. To read the full article in The Tax Adviser, click: Phishing Scams Target Tax Professionals.
-
2016’s 10 most popular posts from Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog. 2016 proved to be an interesting year, both in terms of developments in financial reporting and the range of topics covered on this blog. We’ve enjoyed sharing our thoughts in this forum over the last three years and look forward to new challenges and opportunities in 2017. To read the full article in Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: Financial Reporting Blog: Best of 2016. This article is republished from Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog. It is reprinted with permission. To subscribe to the blog, visit: http://mercercapital.com/category/financialreportingblog/.
-
Deal Structuring and Workforce in Place Considerations Under IRC and Stark Law What complications arise when two separate transactions are used to structure an asset sale of a physician practice? The key to compliance is to hit a reasonable middle ground under somewhat competing frameworks, and carefully drafting, documenting, and reporting accordingly. Valuators play a key role not only in establishing and documenting the fair market value of the purchase price, but also the corresponding allocation of corporate versus personal goodwill, including how it relates to the intangible value of workforce in place (WIP).
-
Marketing in the New Year In this article, Dr. Frederiksen discusses the importance of thought leadership marketing and how that differs from content marketing.
-
Startup Gives Employees a Way to Trade in Unused Time Off Many employees do not use all of their vacation time, which can create liabilities for the companies they work for. A startup called PTO Exchange is trying to address that problem by allowing employees to exchange unused time off for perks, such as 401(k) contributions or help with college tuition. Jena McGregor introduces us to this fresh concept. To read the full article in The Washington Post, click: You May Soon be Able to Exchange Your Extra Vacation Days for Other Perks.
-
Try This Instead of Traditional Performance Management A technique known as performance motivation may replace traditional performance management among companies interested in inspiring maximum effort and loyalty among employees. Instead of focusing on scoring employees and offering standardized feedback, companies can focus on creating intrinsic motivation to inspire their workers. Christine Comaford explains. To read the full article in Forbes, click: Why Performance Management is Dead and Performance Motivation is Here to Stay.
-
Boosted by solid consumer spending and improving international trade, the expansion of the U.S. economy rose to 2.9% in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said. Nelson Schwarts reports that economists said the biggest quarterly gain in two years will probably be enough to persuade the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in December. Charles Paikert discusses several avenues to take advantage of tax deductions. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: Gimme Shelter: Help Clients Leverage Real Estate’s Investment Clout and Tax Advantages.
-
Brewery Value QuickRead’s Technical Editor, Roberto Castro, reviews BVRs What It’s Worth: Brewery Value. This is a market niche that is highly regulated, segmented, and one where new business models are cropping up.
-
The New Revenue Recognition Standard and Accounting for Licenses Wiley author, Joanne Flood, looks at how the new revenue standard affects reporting of licensing revenue. Copyright Wiley, 2016. To be published in February 2017 in the book: Wiley Revenue Recognition plus Website: Understanding and Implementing the New Standard (Wiley Regulatory Reporting).
-
With 10-year yields up 22 basis points in October, economists anticipate an end to the Treasury bond sell-off. “Now it’s a good time to buy,” said Hideo Shimomura, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management’s chief fund investor. Anooja Debnath and Wes Goodman explain. To read the full article in Bloomberg, click: Treasury Selloff is About to End if Consensus Forecast is Right.