Legal Cases and Statutory Factors Used to Assess the Reasonableness of Compensation U.S. courts have established multiple factors and guidelines to assess reasonableness in compensation. This article reviews the factors and statutory criteria used to assess the reasonableness of compensation. Determining reasonable compensation for shareholder employees in closely held companies remains a key concern for bu ...

A Primer on the Tax Law Issues Years ago, “golden parachute” payments were fully tax deductible by the employer if they were “ordinary and necessary” business expenses under Internal Revenue Code § 162. However, due to controversy over large executive pay packages, the Tax Reform Act of 1984 added § 280G to the Internal Revenue Code. This article discusses planning and tax deductibility issues under the cur ...

Internal Revenue Code § 4958 imposes excise taxes on the excessive portion of compensation paid by a non-profit organization. Excise taxes must be paid by “disqualified persons” who receive unreasonable compensation as well as by the individuals who approve it. Despite the “excise tax” label, these taxes are generally considered to be a severe form of penalty. In considering whether compensation is unreason ...

Healthcare Valuation 2021 Update The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly all businesses and is poised to continue to do so through at least the end of 2021. In healthcare, there has been additional issues due to the industry’s unique position at the crossroads of the front line of care and policy response. As of January 19, 2021, important updates have gone into effect concerning the two most significant ...

Perceived Value is the Driver Alan Weiss wrote a book titled Value-Based Fees, How to Charge - and Get - What You’re Worth. Even though the book was published more than fifteen years ago, it still offers pearls of wisdom for consultants today. One key takeaway involves recognizing the importance of perceived value, which should be the basis of the contractual relationship. Alan Weiss wrote a book titled Val ...

The Limits Applied to Public and Private Companies The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) made important changes to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code. That section limits a publicly held corporation’s tax deduction for compensation paid to each covered employee to a maximum of $1,000,000 per year. A corporation is publicly held if it has issued securities required to be registered under Section 12 of th ...

Must Know Accounting Rules Earnouts are often used in transactions to bridge the gap between what a buyer is willing to pay up front and what a seller wants in the way of total compensation to complete a deal. Therefore, earnouts are typically constructed to allow the seller to enjoy additional upside if the acquired company reaches certain performance targets after the sale while providing the buyer with d ...

If your firm is considering making any changes to your existing partner compensation plan, from a minor tweak to a major overhaul, there are some basic concepts that you should keep in mind. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: How to Compensate Partners to Keep Your Firm on Track. ...

In a tighter labor market for advisors, compensation is rising, as are firms’ efforts to make work more enjoyable. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: Pay Day—Breakdown of Financial Advisor Salaries and Perks. ...

To a Key Employee—Part II of II In this second part, the author provides readers an illustration of the decision-making and allocation issues. These include issuing options, phantom stock, and converting the existing entity. Read Part I here. ...

To a Key Employee—Part I of II The author encourages, as a starting point, owners of a closely held company to consider numerous issues with regard to the compensation of key employees. If the closely held company operations are successful, valuable and long-term employees sometimes seek to be compensated through an equity ownership in the company. This key employee desire for equity ownership has practical ...

Insights for Your Practice Four cases are presented in this article that provide valuation, litigation support professionals, and M&A advisors insight regarding how courts are addressing damages claims, challenges to experts, appraisal action challenges, and claims of fraud and breach of contract in connection with M&A transactions. Although the cases are from Delaware and California, they provide i ...

Challenging and Defending Compensation and Use of the Independent Investor Test C corporations and S corporations should pay shareholder/executive compensation based on the fair market value of the executive services rendered—or risk being audited and possibly penalized by the Internal Revenue Service. Forensic analysts can help companies determine reasonable shareholder/executive compensation using free or ...

Medical Director Compensation This article is the fourth in a series involving current healthcare management issues. An in-depth article on this issue was published in The Value Examiner’s September/October 2017 issue. In that issue, the authors discuss issues setting forth medical director services and establishing defensible compensation arrangements. ...

NACVA Member Survey Findings on Employee Recruitment and Retention Hinge Marketing recently completed a NACVA member survey. In this survey, Dr. Frederiksen learned that NACVA members sought to improve recruiting and retention in their firms. These were the two highest. In addition, gathering insights about how firms approach these challenges, we also asked employee-candidates how they search for and evalua ...

Physician On-Call Services This article focuses on physician on-call services and issues that valuation professionals must anticipate and consider in such an engagement. The article is a distillation of an in-depth article published in The Value Examiner July/August 2017 issue. In that issue, the authors also discuss classification and valuation of compensation for physician services and valuation of medica ...

Executive Services (Part II of IV) In the May/June 2017 issue of The Value Examiner, the authors gave a detailed description of how clinical services for physicians can be calculated. QuickRead is pleased to present an overview of this series, which will be presented in four parts. Please look for the more detailed analysis in The Value Examiner. This article is a follow up to the April 23, 2017 QuickRead a ...

Clinical Services (Part I of IV) In the March/April 2017 issue of The Value Examiner, the authors gave a detailed description of how clinical services for physicians can be calculated. QuickRead is pleased to present an overview of this series, which will be presented in four parts. Please look for the more detailed analysis in The Value Examiner. ...

Complying with Rule 26 of the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (Part V of VII) What does Rule 26 of the Rules of Federal Civil Procedure provide? Using FRCP 26 as a basis for what is needed in federal court and possibly state court, the author discusses what is required from experts in their report. ...

The Compensation-Productivity Nexus Affiliate employer agreements that do not involve designated health services may not be subject to Stark Law. However, where there is an ownership nexus—shared parent or direct subsidiary—between the hospital and affiliate employer, regulators may be able to find Stark Law violations. As governmental agencies drill down well beyond simple compensation comparatives, into t ...