Has Work-Life Balance Changed After COVID-19? In this article, the author shares a personal story regarding how the COVID-19 outbreak affected her role as a professional and mother. The story shared is about perseverance and focus, and emerging emotionally stronger as a mother and valuation professional. Like many valuation analysts, I began my career at a CPA firm. Several years into my career, I became a ...

After the COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic put a strain on the U.S. and global economies as well as individual lives throughout the world. As much as most people would like to put 2020 behind us, experts will have to continue to review financial returns from 2020 in the historical data for businesses claiming to have been injured by wrongful acts in 2021 and the future. As much as an expert would lik ...

How to Increase Settlement Rates Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, distance mediation was used; however, not extensively and historically, settlement rates were significantly lower than traditional “face-to-face” mediations. With social distancing now in place, mediating by phone and/or video conferencing is getting a closer look. Although the mediation process essentially remains the same for distance med ...

A Q&A with Joel Steckel The immediate economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic extend beyond their most visible manifestations in the shutting of businesses and the dramatic rise in unemployment. A more subtle consequence that has arisen in the marketplace pertains to companies’ reputations. Brands and the public’s perception of them are impacted not only by a firm’s own actions but also by the actions ...

The Bankruptcy Court Weighs-in In Re: Body Transit, Inc. The Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania In re: Body Transit, Inc. addressed how COVID-19 impacts valuations. On August 7, 2020, the Court heard and decided the case. This case proceeded under the Small Business Reorganization Act (SBRA) whereby the debtor’s objection to a creditor’s election to have its claim treated as fully secu ...

An Opportunity for Gift and Estate Planning at Low Valuations The disruption brought about by COVID-19 created certain industry “winners” and “losers.” Many of those that emerged as losers are small and medium-sized privately held businesses such as restaurants, bakeries, gyms, hair salons and spas, and the corresponding real estate holding entities that leased to such businesses, held retail and office spa ...

Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic Business leaders, tax practitioners, and attorneys are considering how to address the serious challenges that may arise from disruptions in commercial activities due to business closures, travel restrictions, and stay-at-home orders that were put in place in many countries around the world in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This is also impacting transfer pricing syst ...

and “Voodoo” Economic Forecasts? One of the issues facing the business valuation community as well as business owners is the newly created accounting metric called “EBITDAC”, which stands for Earnings Before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization, and Coronavirus. This is a non-GAAP accounting metric used by some companies today to raise more debts from lending institutions by adjusting or recasting t ...