• Financial Forensics - Litigation Consulting - QuickRead Top Story

    The Evolution of Fraudulent Schemes: Increased Misuse and Sophistication of AI to Commit Digital Fraud

    July 16, 2025

    The level of sophistication used by fraudsters continues to increase. Fraudsters are using voice recognition and voice swapping, as well as other generative AI tools that continue to evolve. It is critical to constantly reassess internal controls and understand how AI is used and misused. In this article, the author shares some of the schemes used and issues a challenge to entities as well as to accounting and fraud examiners. At this point, the idea of artificial intelligence (AI) generating content is nothing new. You have likely seen plenty of videos and pictures of AI-generated content on Facebook, YouTube, etc.…

  • Litigation Consulting - QuickRead Top Story

    Is BIPA Liability Lurking on that Company’s Balance Sheet?

    February 1, 2023

    An Additional Consideration for Business Valuation and Forensic Accountants When Valuing a Company The Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), 740 Ill. Comp. Stat. 14/1 et seq., is not just for Google and Facebook. While the technology giants have been sued for allegedly violating BIPA, so too have countless other companies. In the last few years, plaintiffs have sued hundreds, if not thousands, of companies across a range of industries for alleged violations of BIPA. The author discusses BIPA, liability that companies are exposed to for violating BIPA, and questions valuation analysts and forensic accountants must ascertain a company’s exposure to…

  • Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story

    10 Social Networking Tactics I Would Use to Build My BVFLS Practice

    March 10, 2021

    If I Were Starting Today Business valuation and financial litigation services (BVFLS) practitioners—since the COVID-19 disruption—have embraced the use of social media. Yet, some BVFLS practitioners remain on the sidelines. In this article, Rod Burkert shares 10 social networking tactics he would use today to build his BVFLS practice. One thing I have seen since COVID-19 began is the uptick in social media usage by business valuation and financial litigation services (BVFLS) professionals … first, by those who were already using social media and who were amping up their efforts, and second, by those who were not previously using social…

  • QuickPress

    74% of Users Don’t Know Facebook Records Their Ad Preferences

    February 20, 2019

    Facebook has been in the news quite a bit for its ad targeting over the past year, most notably with reports that the now-defunct Cambridge Analytica used improperly obtained data to develop “personality” profiles on U.S. voters and target ads toward them during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But many users are still unaware what information Facebook actually collects for ad targeting purposes. To read the full article in Venture Beat, click: 74% of Users Don’t Know Facebook Records Their Ad Preferences.

  • Practice Management - QuickRead Featured - QuickRead Top Story

    Are You a Modern-Day Digital Sharecropper?

    January 9, 2019

    Or, Why Aren’t You Hosting Your Own Content? (Part I of III) Many of us create content for, and market on, social media platforms—like LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The questions are: Is this a dangerous practice? And if so, what should we be doing instead? Many of us create content for, and market on, social media platforms, like: LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The questions are: Is this a dangerous practice? And if so, what should we be doing instead? What is Digital Sharecropping? Originally, the term “sharecropping” referred to a farming practice that became common after the Civil…

  • QuickPress

    How to Achieve Social Media Success in 15 Minutes or Less

    July 19, 2017

    Social media does not have to be time-consuming.  Increase the effectiveness of your firm’s social media outreach by connecting with the right people, posting different content on different social networks, and using an appropriate profile image. To read the full article in InvestmentNews, click: How to Achieve Social Media Success in 15 Minutes or Less.

  • QuickPress

    Compensating for Something: Facebook’s GAAP Change

    May 10, 2017

    It seems like it was just last year when we mused if non-GAAP earnings measurements were becoming a permanent fixture of the market.  How quickly the times change.  Samantha Albert, senior financial analyst with Mercer Capital, explains. To read the full article in Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: Compensating for Something: Facebook’s GAAP Change. 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/.

  • QuickPress

    4 Ways Accountants Can Get More Out of Social Media

    November 16, 2016

    Social media presents risks and opportunities.  Demonstrating expertise and reaching new clients are among the ways social medial can be valuable for finance professionals.  Sean Stein Smith, assistant professor at Rutgers, discusses how you can utilize this tool to your benefit. To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: 4 Ways Accountants Can Get More Out of Social Media.

  • Practice Management - QuickPress

    Social Media: Be Careful What You “Like”

    October 14, 2015

    When you “like” a company or group on Facebook, you may unwittingly be surrendering certain legal rights.  J. Carlton Collins, Journal of Accountancy’s contributing editor, discusses some of the pitfalls and what could potentially happen. To find out more on Journal of Accountancy’s article, click: Social Media: Be Careful What You “Like”.

  • Practice Management - QuickRead Featured - QuickRead Top Story

    How Social Media Impacts Business Development

    September 30, 2015

    Not all Social Networks Are Created Equal Has your firm embraced social media? Be ready! The days of ignoring social media are long gone. Professional services firms looking to accelerate their growth need to embrace social media and dedicate the resources needed to create a strategy, implement it, and track it. In this article, the author presents research on the impact and value of social media to professional service organizations.

  • Practice Management - QuickPress

    E-mail 40 Times More Effective Than Social Media

    February 5, 2014

    In an enlightening article by McKinsey & Company, a compelling case is put forward for something you always felt was true, but couldn’t quite prove.  When it comes to marketing professional services or products, good old-fashioned email is much more effective than social media.  How much more effective is it?  The report states that email is so significant in generating new business that it’s 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined.  That isn’t a license to bombard potential clients or customers with spam.  McKinsey lays out an explanation of how to maximize the benefits of email without alienating…

  • Case Law - QuickPress

    A Federal Appeals Court is Scheduled to Hear Arguments Today Over When Software is Patentable —Wall Street Journal, Seeking Alpha

    February 8, 2013

    “It’s a Huge Case for the Patent-Law Community.” On One Side: Google, Facebook, Intuit.  On the Other? IBM. “Because the patents are often unclear, there’s no way to know whether an infringement claim by a competitor or a troll is legitimate until you’ve spent $8 million in litigation fees,” said Mr. Schruers Ashby Jones in the Wall Street Journal  reports this morning that a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., will hear arguments Friday over a fundamental question that has vexed the technology industry for nearly two decades: When is a piece of software patentable?

  • Practice Management - QuickPress

    Small Firms Say LinkedIn Works, Twitter Doesn’t —Wall Street Journal Plus: YouTube Starts Charging

    January 31, 2013

    Six Out of 10 Small-Business Owners Buy Business Benefits of Social Media; 41% Prefer LinkedIn; Only 3% Vouch for Twitter  Not that that stopped Twitter from getting a $9B valuation this last week.   Emily Maltby and Shira Ovide report that the Wall Street Journal and Vistage International recently surveyed 835 small business owners.  Here are the results.

  • Financial Forensics - QuickPress

    SEC Ramps Up—New Enforcement Tools Include Cluster Analysis, Fuzzy Matching. Plus—Open Channels to DOJ, FBI.

    May 23, 2012

    “With New Firepower, S.E.C. Tracks Bigger Game,”  Ben Protess and Azam Ahmed  report at the New York Times Dealbook. Embarrassed after missing the warning signs of the financial crisis and the Ponzi scheme of Bernard L. Madoff, the agency’s enforcement division has adopted several new — if somewhat unconventional — strategies to restore its credibility. The S.E.C. is taking its cue from criminal authorities, studying statistical formulas to trace connections, creating a powerful unit to cull tips and assign cases and even striking a deal with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to have agents embedded with the regulator. In one of the agency’s first efforts,…

  • QuickPress - Valuation/Appraisal

    ‘If Facebook’s Profit Model Stays the Same, This Valuation Doesn’t Make Any Sense’ –Espen Roback, Pluris, in The Atlantic

    May 18, 2012

    The most highly anticipated IPO in history didn’t put on much of a show. Facebook closed today within decimal points of its opening price of $38. Even so, the company’s market cap is higher than McDonald’s or Pepsico. Espen Robak is the president of Pluris Valuation Advisors, where he studies and values private companies trading on the secondary market. Derek Thompson at The Atlantic talked to him this morning right as Facebook trading began.   One of Robak’s first points was “The people who bought in the secondary market came in right around $44. Those shares are locked for 180…

  • Practice Management - QuickPress - Valuation/Appraisal

    Connect with NACVA Members via Social Media

    May 7, 2011

    LinkedIn Features Booming CVA/AVA Activity Have you visited LinkedIn lately?  The NACVA AVA/CVA Certification group as of this writing has 935 members.  Follow the link and join in the conversation! This year is NACVA’s 20th Anniversary.  What milestones do you remember being a part of?   QuickRead’s Conversations with the Masters staff is preparing for an interview with Shannon Pratt.  Do you have questions you suggest we pose him?  Other LinkedIn conversations have ranged far and wide, with Association folks sharing information and offering tips on everything from how best to use the ValuSource Report Writer, the proper applicability of Benford’s…