Engage and Assist Legal Counsel It is critical that the right person with the right expertise, training, and background be selected. This article will describe the various areas of specialization in which a forensic accountant performs, how counsel should select the right professional for the job, and the benefits of using a forensic accountant. ...

Appraisals from Real Estate, Machinery and Equipment to Business Valuation: Book Review by Michael D. Pakter The purpose of this book review is to introduce the reader to Shannon P. Pratt’s newest book, co-authored with John Lifflander. For those improbable few business valuation professionals who do not know who Dr. Pratt is, he is the Chairman and CEO of Shannon Pratt Business Valuation, Inc. and Publishe ...

Add Value and Differentiate Your Business Valuation Practice In this article, Dr. Sheeler issues a personal challenge to credentialed business valuation professionals. Dr. Sheeler challenges credentialed professionals to be more introspective and become more relevant in a market where commoditization does not enable clients and end users to understand the value professionals can and should bring. Dr. Sheele ...

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 t ...

When Performing a Business Valuation Earnings are not always objective and valuations apply a multiple to earnings to determine a company’s value. The elements making up a company’s valuation involve determining normalized earnings, a decision whether income taxes would be applied, and the capitalization rate to be used to get the value. There are also other factors, but this article looks at the quality of ...

Issues and Opportunities This article discusses some of the issues in using the Pratt’s Stats transaction data, which can be used to develop multiples in a Market Approach or to develop a private market discount rate used in an Income Approach. The information presented is relevant to both business brokers/intermediaries and business appraisers. ...

Valuation of the Customer Base The value of the customer base is a function of attribution. Measuring percentage attribution requires access to internal data, and this data is often missing. Where it is available, the valuation professional can use the Constant Revenue or Revenue Decline Model. This article explains how these models are developed. ...

Reconciling compliance with multi-agency valuation standards While standards exist to uphold the integrity of business valuation, multi-credentialed professionals can face a daunting task when trying to compare and comply with all guidelines across the spectrum of issuing agencies. This article seeks to root out possible conflicts and create clarity among standards so valuators may perform with less effort ...

The impact of hoarded cash in valuations The impact on business valuators in this economic and political climate is largely observational. Observational because any forecasted financial information installed in any formula must include the impact of managements’ sources and uses of “hoarded cash.” ...

A two-way street In this article, Britt Madden and Britt Madden, Jr. respond to Jim Hitchner’s July 2013 QuickRead article on “Rigging the Cost of Equity”. The authors contend that the rigging is more likely the result of a lack of understanding the current status of small business in the present economy, which has left it forever changed. ...

Is there a disconnect between client expectations and advisory services? Valuation professionals are uniquely positioned to help clients identify opportunities and third parties that can take them to a proverbial next level. Business valuation is about more than just benchmarking and deriving a defensible conclusion of value, it should entail understanding the value and interplay of governance, risk, relati ...

Historical perspective and current recommendations The Internal Revenue Service published Discount for Lack of Marketability: Job Aid for IRS Professionals (Job Aid) in August of 2013.  Now, two new books provide  advice on how to prepare a DLOM and which methods valuators  should consider and why.  These will help any business valuation practice, whether working on a DLOM for the IRS or any other purpose. ...

In defense of the Discounted Cash Flow Method Richard R. Conn challenges criticism of the Discounted Cash Flow Approach and premise that the Market Approach is superior to an Income-Based Approach, even when there is more just superficial observations. The author proposes that “ it is important to realize that the circumstances in which the DCF Method indicates a different value than the market price should ...

Will the valuation report prepared by the non-accredited CPA be admitted? The author was recently involved in an Oklahoma domestic relations case where the opposing expert contended he did not have to abide by AICPA valuation standards, reporting or otherwise, since he was not a member of the organization. This article summarizes how this issue was handled by the Oklahoma judge. ...

Book Review ...

Valuation professionals must continually keep abreast of the latest news and developments.  Whether it’s the latest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruling, a new, wide-ranging court decision, or newly issued standard, trying to stay on top of it all—while managing a practice—can pose a significant challenge.  But as Nancy Gault recently learned at NACVA’s Annual Consultants’ Conference, Around the Valuation ...

Understanding Both Sorts of Appraisal is Critical to Valuing Minority, Partial Interests in Holding Entities that Own Real Estate and Other Assets that are Gifted, Sold, or Otherwise Transferred   Randolph Glennon, MAI, CRE, MBA, and president of Eastern Appraisal & Consulting in Portland, Maine, explains in the New England Real Estate Journal why there's growing need for appraisers who understand both ...

Held at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC, the Annual Consultants’ Conference Will Feature 57 Sessions Covering the Highest-Demand Specialty Areas in Financial Consulting  The National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) and the Consultants’ Training Institute (CTI) will collaborate to host the 2013 Annual Consultants’ Conference, June 5–8, 2013, in Washington, DC.  Themed “Innovate. Co ...

Top 100 Firms in 2012 Also See Big Jump in Demand for Attest Services, Cash-Flow Forecasting and Management Accounting Today reports in its latest iteration of Top 100 Accounting Firms that the top two fastest-growing niches in accounting services are now international tax services and state and local tax services, edging out business valuation, last year's fastest-growing niche.   Danielle Lee reports (fre ...

Choosing an Appropriate Weighted Average Cost of Capital Definition Sometimes Depends On Context Valuation principles generally hold that the value of a business is largely a function of return on invested capital and growth, writes J. Richard Claywell, since these are the primary drivers of free cash flow. But how does this cash flow relate to the asset and liability values on the balance sheet? ...