The Impact on Employed Physician Groups The CMS 2016 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System downwardly revised reimbursement for GI/endoscopy services and reduced by 0.77 percent the Physician Fee Schedule to all services because CMS failed to meet the one percent net reduction target for misvalued codes in 2016. In this article, the author discusses how the proposed CMS changes announced in July 2015 could impact gastroenterological and endoscopy group practices.
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Why the Choice Between Prime and Treasury Rate Matters Many bankruptcy practitioners have focused on the recent decisions in Momentive[1] that forced secured creditors to refinance prepetition loans at below market interest rates. Most of these practitioners’ publications focus on the courts’ findings and the potential implication on future matters. However, three interesting questions are not addressed in most (if any) of these publications.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission staff published a report of its review of the definition of “accredited investor”. Congress directed the SEC to review the definition every four years in Section 413(b)(2)(A) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the staff recently submitted their recommendations to the Commission. To download this report, click: Report on the Review of the Definition of “Accredited Investor”.
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Filing Tax Returns Early May Foil Identity Thieves People may be able to thwart crooks targeting their tax refunds by filing their 2015 tax returns as early as possible. Russ Wiles for USA Today, explains how clients can get some of the supporting paperwork completed now so their returns can be filed as soon as the Internal Revenue Service starts accepting them. To read the full article in USA Today, click: To Beat Crooks to Your Tax Refund, Start Taxes Now.
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How the Best Managers Practice Attentiveness Attentiveness is a common trait for managers who excel in the workplace. The best leaders treat employees as individuals, make feedback a priority, and listen to what their staff has to say. Sydney Finkelstein is the author of Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Manage the Flow of Talent from which this article was adapted. To read the full article in the Harvard Business Review, click: What Amazing Bosses Do Differently.
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With the New Year just around the corner, Mercer Capital is beginning their countdown a little early. Here are this year’s 10 most popular posts from The Financial Reporting Blog. Happy New Year 2016! To read the full article in Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: Financial Reporting Blog: Best of 2015. 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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The IRS is Challenging the Appropriateness of Discounts when Preparing a Valuation The current regulations, Revenue-Ruling 93-12, allow for discounts when valuing a Family Limited Partnership (FLP). The proposal is expected to potentially limit the allowed discount and consequently raise the taxable portion of the trust or estate structures. This article reviews the current requirements for FLPs, their history, and the potential exposure to FLP’s in the near future.
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Secured Creditors Lost Almost $200 Million in Economic Value Due to the Imposition of Below Market Interest Rates Many bankruptcy practitioners have focused on the recent decisions in Momentive[1] that forced secured creditors to refinance prepetition loans at below market interest rates. Most of these practitioners’ publications focus on the courts’ findings and the potential implication on future matters.
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Duff & Phelps has released its 2015 U.S. Goodwill Impairment Study. This is prepared in partnership with the Financial Executives Research Foundation, analyzing the general and industry trends of goodwill impairment of over 8,700 U.S. publicly-traded companies. To download your complimentary copy, click: Goodwill Impairment Study 2015.
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The 2014 Purchase Price Allocation Study by Houlihan Lokey is complete and available for you to download. Included in this study is their review of public filings for merger and acquisition transactions, and shows how they analyzed the portion of purchase consideration allocated to tangible assets, intangible assets, and goodwill. To download your complimentary copy, click: 2014 Purchase Price Allocation Study.
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Buyers do not offer premiums simply for the sake of gaining control, but rather, through exercising the prerogatives of control, those buyers expect to generate economic benefits. Travis W. Hams, leads Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Valuation Group, looks at the Appraisal Foundation’s white paper on the subject of JAB Holdings’ acquisition of Keurig Green Mountain. To read more about the results of this report in the Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: Single-Serve Control Premium? 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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How to Account for Current or Proposed Legislation in the Business Valuation Engagement Oftentimes a valuation engagement presents a unique set of challenges for the appraiser. For instance, a particular engagement may be the first look at how companies in a particular industry operate. Other times, it may be a look at a company experiencing a downturn, and the appraiser must determine how to properly determine its value, so as not to overemphasize the downturn, while not overvaluing the company at the particular date of valuation. Other times, particular engagements present the issue of how to adequately account for current…
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Improving Organizational Well-Being Why have an employee hotline? What are the benefits, if any, of an employee hotline? In this article, Ray Dunkle shares his views and the results of implementation. While many forward-thinking organizations are increasingly implementing hotlines, the best practice of such a hotline is so new to most, that few know how to successfully do so. The remainder of this article provides practical insights, including how to gain support from those who are resistant to change.
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The Present Value of Future Lost Profits, and the Time Value of Money Experts estimating the present value of a business’ future lost profits have much less direction from the courts than their counterparts estimating the present value of a person’s lost earning capacity. Professional literature has attempted to fill this gap providing many articles discussing the differing methods for analyzing lost profits (e.g., yardstick, before-and-after, but for) or how to determine the discount rate by applying a weighted cost of average capital, equity rates of return, or some form of risk premium build-up. This article moves away from these…
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This article covers recent developments in employee benefits, examining, among other things, the Affordable Care Act’s complicated reporting requirements, the proposed fiduciary responsibility rules, and updated procedures to correct employee plan failures. Terry Richardson, principal, and Bryce Tholen, manager, both with PwC LLP in Dallas, take an in depth look at what’s involved.. To find out more on The Tax Adviser article, click: Current Developments in Employee Benefits and Compensation.
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Financial Abuse of Seniors Could Grow as the Population Ages As more people enter their golden years, they become increasingly susceptible to financial fraud and financial elder abuse, especially if their mental faculties start to decline. This article looks at the case of an 86 year old Seattle widow bilked out of much of her savings and how easily it can happen. To find out more about The New York Times article, click: Financial Abuse of the Elderly: Sometimes Unnoticed, Always Predatory.
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The International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation (IPEV) Guidelines were developed in 2005 to set out recommendations on best practices in the valuation of private equity investments. Karolina Calhoun, senior financial analyst with Mercer Capital, looks at the draft amendments to the existing guidelines published in October 2015. To read more about the results of this report in the Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: Updated: Valuation Best Practices for Venture Capital and Private Equity Funds. 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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on Business Valuations in Litigation In this article, Paul Fullerman, CPA, CVA, discusses techniques which can assist the accredited valuation professionals performing a business valuation.
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You and Stress Is work stress inevitable? Something that professionals need to embrace and live with, like it, or not? How does an organization or management know if stress is affecting the well-being of its employees? In this article, Nancy Yeend shares a process management can employ to answer these and other questions.
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SPARC the Analysis and Shine Have you ever asked your clients what drives the value of their businesses? If they feel comfortable that they know what drives their business’ value, have you ever asked them why it does? In this article, first of a two part series, Sarah von Helfenstein shares her thoughts on the kinds of things that we, as business analysts and appraisers, should consider when assessing business value.