in Not-for-Profit Entities There is an established body of knowledge that addresses economic damages in connection with for-profit organizations, but little about how these concepts apply to not-for-profit organizations. In this article, the author sets forth how those concepts apply to charitable organizations. “You will be much more in control, if you realize how much you are not in control.”―Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor Valuation experts deal with a variety of engagements when it comes to economic damages, which may include loss of profits, earnings (past or future), damage to property, or loss of business value. Most of literature and…
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In Measuring Trustee Breach of Fiduciary Duty Damages (Part II of II) The second part of this article focuses on the methodologies employed to quantify the economic damages when a fiduciary breach is claimed.
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In Measuring Trustee Breach of Fiduciary Duty Damages (Part I of II) The prudent investment of trust assets can minimize the potential for trustee fiduciary litigation risk, in addition to maximizing the trust beneficiaries’ economic interest in the trust. However, trust beneficiaries may initiate a breach of fiduciary duty tort claim when they feel that the trustee has breached any investment management fiduciary duties to the trust. For trust beneficiaries, and their legal counsel, who have brought breach of fiduciary duty tort claims against a trustee, one of the issues is how to measure the “damage” to the beneficiaries because…
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For Calculating Future Lost Profits Robert Dunn and Everett Harry published their oft cited Modeling and Discounting Future Damages in 2002. The article laid out the process for assessing future lost profits and discounting them to present value. They argued modeling future losses reduced the uncertainty related to the loss calculation and therefore reduced the risk premium to be included in the discount rate. They also argued modeling future losses and using a risk-reduced, relatively low discount rate was easier for judges and juries to understand. While their discussion on a risk-adjusted discount rate has been somewhat controversial, the need…
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Forecasting “But-For” Revenue for Lost Profits In this article, the author provides a brief discussion of each major approach considered in an economic damages engagement and then discusses circumstances in which multivariate analysis could provide the greatest benefit in formulating a comprehensive damage model.
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When are “subsequent events” knowable, and what about IRC Sec. 6662(g)(2) penalties? Trout Ranch, LLC v. Commissioner raises additional causes for concern, including subsequent events in appraisal documentation and failures to include them, which may create more valuation penalties on tax filings.
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How Can You Defend “Reasonable Certainty”? Here are Some Tips One of the common issues raised when an expert calculates damages is “reasonable certainty.” It is not uncommon for opposing counsel to suggest that the expert’s calculated damages are speculative, explain the editors at the Fraud Files blog. The calculation of damages necessarily requires estimates and assumptions. Something has happened, and a company or individual is claiming that there are lost profits because of it. We can never know with complete certainty what revenue or profits would have been if that incident or action had not taken place. Mathematical precision…