Companies with Women in Leadership Roles Have Higher Profits Almost one-third of businesses studied by the Peterson Institute for International Economics had no women in the C-suite or on their corporate boards. Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Money, discusses however, the study, which was funded by EY, also found that companies where at least 30% of executive positions were held by women tended to have higher profits. To read the full article in CNN Money, click: Stunning Lack of Women in Corporate Leadership Roles Worldwide.
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2015 was a strong year for FinTech. But, there are complexities in valuing venture-backed technology companies and the ability for market/investor sentiment to shift quickly. So, as Jay D. Wilson, Jr., vice president and senior member of Mercer Capital’s Depository Institutions practice, explains, it is important to have a valuation professional that can assess the value of the company as well as the market trends prevalent in the industry. To read the full article in Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: Preferences and FinTech Valuations. This article is republished from Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog. It is reprinted with permission. …
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Hitchner, Pratt, and Fishman Answer the Call In the past month, business valuation professionals have read reviews from a number of practitioners serving as reviewers for the Q&A Guide. All of them are positive. In this book review, we go into a little more detail and discuss what these established and accomplished business valuation professionals and leaders answer in the Q&A Guide. So, what does this book cover? What is not covered? These questions are answered in this review.
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It is not Just About More “Clicks” How important is a website? In this article, Dr. Lee Frederiksen shares what his research reveals about high-performing websites; it is not about more clicks.
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Businesses Where Real Estate is Integral to Operations What is the best approach to use to value a business where real estate is indispensable to operations? In this article, Dr. Brous discusses the use of the option to abandon.
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Why Giving Employees Numerical Ratings can be Harmful Giving employees numerical ratings can cause negative emotions and can cause highly rated employees to become complacent, writes Ann Latham, founder of the consulting company Uncommon Clarity. These grades also tend to be subjective, with some managers practicing grade inflation and others refusing to give anyone the highest possible score. To read the full article in Forbes, click: Why Your Employee Performance Ratings Are Hurting Your Organization.
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Most Companies’ Guidance for Q1 Has Been Negative The first quarter of 2016 could be a rough one based on the earnings guidance that companies have released so far. Of the 72 S&P 500 companies that have provided guidance, 81% have offered negative guidance. Ciara Linnane, MarketWatch editor, discusses the issue. To read the full article in MarketWatch, click: Expectations for Current Quarter’s Earnings are Rapidly Deteriorating.
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Articulate Your Value to Business Clients Seeking Startup Financing Share this brochure and accompanying checklist, “Guide to Acquiring Startup Financing” with your clients as they explore options for securing capital, and help them understand how a CPA can assist. These tools plus a PowerPoint presentation, part of the CPA Marketing Toolkit for Small Business, outline the required steps small businesses must take to obtain additional funding. To read the full article at AICPA, click: CPA Marketing Toolkit for Small Business.
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Crowdfunding: SEC Issues an Investor Bulletin The SEC published an investor bulletin recently discussing a number of rules and features related to crowdfunding. Sujan Rajbhandary, vice president and senior member of Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Valuation Group, explains the developments, risks, and reasons of interest. To read the full article in Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: Crowdfunding: SEC Issues an Investor Bulletin. 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/.
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By Understanding Entrepreneurial Business Owners Better An estimated seven million baby-boomer business owners will exit their companies over the next 20 years. How can valuation advisors assist these entrepreneurs’ transition? When you are ready to exit from your own company, how can you transition most successfully for both your maximum financial outcome, as well as your personal satisfaction? In this article, the author describes the process of personal transition planning and shares his thoughts on how to become a trusted transition advisor.
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Effective Trial Preparation and Presentations What is the role of a financial expert? How important is the financial expert? In this article, the author answers these questions and shares his experience serving as a damage expert.
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Correlating Patent Values with Prior Citations What is forward patent citation? Why is it relevant? In this article, the author answers the above questions and details how these may be relevant to a damages expert in a patent infringement matter. These experts may need to ascertain the value attributable to the patented technology at issue. While comparable license agreements may serve useful in providing a market-based approach to arriving at a value, the damages expert must also seek to apportion out the comparable patents related to the patented technology within the comparable license agreements from that of the intellectual property…
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T.C. Memo. 2015-249: A Checklist to Address 2036 Concerns The issue raised in Estate of Purdue v. Commissioner was whether the “decedent’s desire to have the marketable securities and the building interest held and managed as a family asset constituted a legitimate non-tax motive for the transfer of property to PFLLC.”
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An Era of Reform—The Four Pillars, Volumes I and II Since 1950, the U.S. population has doubled from just more than 152 million to an estimated 320 million. In this same period, the average life expectancy has increased from approximately 68 years to over 78 years. This increased life expectancy and accompanying rise in the incidence and prevalence of diseases, conditions, and injuries is driving demand for healthcare services. Cost concerns and a rapidly evolving regulatory and legal environment have created new opportunities in healthcare consultancy for large and small firms. This two-volume set is designed to serve as a…
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What lessons can business owners learn from the experiences of others? Perhaps there is a lesson to pay attention to basics in the emerging situation at Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. Z. Christopher Mercer, founder and CEO of Mercer Capital, examines their performance between 2012 and mid-October 2015; Chipotle’s performance since the initial E. coli announcement; and the traditional valuation relationships between expected growth and risk. To read the full article in Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: Chipotle: A Growth Story Ended (for Now at Least) by E. coli. This article is republished from Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog. It…
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What Happens When Companies Ignore Disruptive Innovation One mistake companies make is assuming that disruptive innovations will target the low end of the market. This may cause them to overlook potentially industry-changing ideas and stick with old infrastructure for too long. Maxwell Wessel, venture capitalist at Sapphire Ventures, explains the issue and what’s needed to overcome it. To read the full article in the Harvard Business Review, click: How Big Data is Changing Disruptive Innovation.
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Proposal Seeks Consistency in CPE Credit Increments The AICPA and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy issued an amended proposal to create consistency in the increments of continuing professional education credits that CPAs can earn through various methods of instruction. Interested parties are encouraged to comment on the exposure draft by April 30. Ken Tysiac, JofA editorial director, explains the proposal. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: Proposal Aims for Uniformity in CPE Credit Increments.
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The National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts™ (NACVA®) celebrates 25 years of service to the accounting and consulting profession in 2016. NACVA’s Silver Anniversary conference, co-sponsored with the Consultants’ Training Institute™ (CTI™), is themed, Strong Foundations Build Bright Futures, and will be held June 8–11, 2016 at the iconic Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, CA. Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media and bestselling author, will deliver the conference keynote address, Navigating the Economy for Business Growth and Success, on the morning of Thursday, June 9, 2016. Forbes leads the most successful business news magazine in America. In both 1996…
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Qualified Business Appraiser and Appraisal Needed A November 2015 memorandum by the U.S. Tax Court in Fleming Cardiovascular, P.A. v. Commissioner found that the Internal Revenue Services (“IRS”) did not abuse its discretion in revoking the Fleming Cardiovascular, P.A. Employee Stock Ownership Plan’s (“ESOP”) qualified and tax exempt status for failure to operate in accordance with plan documents. Of note, the ESOP failed to obtain an independent annual valuation of the stock by a qualified appraiser in five out of seven plan years.
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Q&A Guide for Valuation Practitioners James Hitchner, Dr. Shannon Pratt, and Jay Fishman are co-authors of a publication that uses a Q&A approach to address important questions. The article includes excerpts from this book.