40 Percent of the U.S. GDP is in Privately Held Businesses. Here’s What You Need to Understand and Operate in This Market. Performing business valuation and mergers and acquisition work requires understanding a number of core discipline areas. With the expanded understanding of middle market finance, it is helpful to have a roadmap to complete any successful transaction or engagement.  ...

Keys:  Talk to Existing Staff.  Hire a Specialist Attorney.  Don’t Negotiate Directly.  Exercise Care—and Sleep on it Before Signing.  James Doulgeris at Physicians Practice describes a common scenario where physicians agree to a buy out and later come to regret it: ...

Acquiring Companies Need to Conduct a Brand Valuation Post-Acquisition to Comply with IFRS.  Here's Why it Makes Sense to Do it Before the Acquisition.   As all companies complying with IFRS must carry out a brand valuation post acquisition for compliance, there’s a strong argument for carrying out the necessary due diligence and valuation beforehand, explains the marketing director of Intangible Business, ...

Healthcare Practices Still Command Significant Goodwill Value. Here’s How Owners Can Successfully Plan an Exit. According to The Health Care Group’s Goodwill Registry, a database of buy-in and sale transactions, medical and dental practices are still commanding significant prices for intangible value/goodwill. Here’s the detail on the numbers and guidance for optimal ways owners can find a successor, partne ...

Beyond Deal Price, Consider Deal Structure, Earnouts, and Appropriate Standard of Value    When one company is acquiring another, the deal price is often the primary factor considered. Too many times, however, critical issues are overlooked, explains Sean R. Saari, CPA/ABV, CVA, MBA.  Smart Business spoke with Saari about five questions any business valuation any acquirer needs to consider:   ...

In Berquist v. Commissioner, Judge Swift Finds a Company’s Pending Liquidation is Relevant and Foreseeable. Brand valuation is becoming an ever more critical business as intangible assets are increasingly being recognized as highly valued property, writes Sophie Roberts in Intellectual Property.  Consider: A vast majority of work your business is already doing today almost certainly affects brand value. Whe ...

Six Critical Questions to Ask Would-be Buyers When prospective buyers call, it’s critical owners use the opportunity to capture valuable information about the market, who active buyers are, and what’s driving the value of their company. MidCap Advisors suggests six critical questions to discern what profit levels and growth rates a buyer is looking for and, most importantly, how a buyer approaches valuing c ...

Bankers Say M&A 'Good for Good Companies' Which Can Often be Sold for 9-10x Earnings  Luisa Beltran at PE Hub wonders:   "Is there an M&A slowdown?"    ...

Uncertainty Surrounding the Court's Pending Decision Causes Transaction Delay  Private Equity International's Graham Winfrey reports that whatever way the Supreme Court rules on healthcare may end up driving more industry activity.   ...

Terri Eyden at AccountingWeb analyzes new research from the American Accounting Association and finds that M&A restatements are common.  Excerpt: ...

Competitive Intelligence is Key to Smart Acquisitions Part of growth is acquisition.  To do smart acquisitions, you need insight into a business owner’s thoughts—specifically, her concerns vis-à-vis selling the businesses. These are not questions with simple yes or no answers; it’s more critical to figure out what an owner thought was missing in previous acquisition overtures. What, aside from price, will i ...

You can’t hold back the demographic tide. In the U.S., another baby boomer turns 60 every eight seconds. This translates into a leadership change in the near future at many CPA firms. In an important article in the Journal of Accountancy last year, John F. Raspante, CPA, and Joseph A. Tarasco, CPA explain:  Thousands of partners are at or reaching retirement age now and in the next five years, putting a tre ...

M&A Will Likely Pick Up in New Year An Ernst & Young survey indicates longer term appetite for deals has increased, reports Anthony Noto at Mergers & Acquisitions. Private equity firms are more confident in the worldwide economy, suggesting an increase in M&A activity for the New Year, according to a report Ernst & Young released Wednesday. In the longer term, the appetite for M&A in ...

The Exit Planning Institute Opens Northeast Ohio Chapter  The Exit Planning Institute (EPI), NACVA's Exit Planning partner and issuer of the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) credential, has opened a new chapter that will be serving the Cleveland and Akron region in Northeast Ohio. The chapter president will be Christopher M. Snider, a partner at Aspire Management in Cleveland. Christopher M. Snider, C ...