• Litigation Consulting - QuickRead Top Story

    Applying the Modern New Business Rule in Real Life

    February 25, 2026

    Overview of an Expert’s Testimony in a Precedent Setting Texas Court Case The author had the opportunity of being the economic expert for the plaintiff in the initial case in the Business Court of Texas Eighth Division. This assignment provided the author with an opportunity to argue the modern new business rule as the basis for the lost profits calculations prepared in connection with the case. It provided the first Daubert (Robinson in Texas courts) challenge in business court and the first judge’s ruling on a motion to exclude an expert’s testimony for the business court. This article reviews the…

  • QuickRead Top Story - Valuation/Appraisal

    Company Specific Risk

    December 9, 2022

    Alleged Best Practices to Whom? Peter J. Butler, CFA, ASA, MBA, founder of Valtrend, LLC and inventor of the Total Cost of Equity Calculator (TCOE), responds to comments made by Robert Reilly and Connor Thurman regarding best practices used to arrive at the company specific risk; the latter article did not discuss the TCOE and here he “key[s] in on Part III—the section which addresses empirical evidence in the selection of the company specific risk premium (CSRP)” and merits of the TCOE. Introduction I read all four parts of the “Best Practices for Estimating the Company-Specific Risk Premium” in NACVA’s…

  • Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story

    May 2021

    June 9, 2021

    How to Make Pricing Your Competitive Advantage This article is a follow up to the author’s April 2021 QuickRead article: “Here is What Prospects Believe About Our Pricing.” The lesson by the author is that prospective clients believe what the professional believes about pricing. If the professional believes that the price is too high, so will the prospect. If the professional believes that the price is a bargain for the value created, that professional is communicating that belief to the prospect. This article describes the choices the valuation professional faces in terms of pricing and how to make pricing a…

  • Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story

    April 2021

    May 5, 2021

    What Prospects Believe About Our Pricing is What We Believe About Our Pricing When prospects say, “You’re too expensive” (and some inevitably will), we may have a problem. Because on the one hand, they may be telling us the truth (or their truth). But on the other hand, we think we are worth it. This article identifies two issues, suggests that there may be one impediment, and provides readers with resources on the subject of pricing services. That is an impactful statement. And of course, it is not quite THAT simple. But it goes a long way toward explaining why…

  • QuickRead Top Story - Valuation/Appraisal

    Comments: A Follow-up Response to Michael McKean on ESOP Valuations

    January 22, 2020

    Robert Reilly Shares His Thoughts on Impressions Should a valuation analyst accept an ESOP valuation engagement? That is the question raised by Michael McKean in his article written in response to the recent QuickRead article series by Robert Reilly. In this article, Mr. Reilly shares his thoughts on the subject matter. I am old enough to remember the early television show, The Original Amateur Hour. I started watching the show in the 1950s, although it debuted on television in 1948 (before my time). I remember the spinning wheel and the phrase, “Round and round she goes, and where she stops…

  • QuickPress - Valuation/Appraisal

    Country-specific Cost of Capital is ‘By Far’ Damodaran’s Most Popular Download —BVWire News

    February 28, 2013

    Particularly When Valuing Companies with Substantial Foreign Operations, Business Valuation Analysts Know That Country-Specific Input Is Critical  David Foster at BVWire News reports that in additional to his general data update for 2013, Prof. Aswath Damodaran (NYU Stern School of Business) provides a list of country default spreads and risk premiums.  Here’s the professor’s assessment:

  • 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?

  • Financial Forensics - QuickPress

    How to Commit a $200 Million Scam: Inside the Year’s Most Shocking Credit Card Fraud —Daily Beast

    February 6, 2013

    The FBI Says it Busted an 18-Person Ring that Spanned 8 Countries and 28 States.  Make Up. Pump Up. Run Up. Daniel Gross at The Daily Beast explains:  It’s not the latest exercise fad. Rather, according to the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it’s the three-step process through which an 18-person ring allegedly committed a stunning $200 million credit-card fraud.   Here’re the basics of how it worked.  Read the full piece at The Daily Beast for all the detail on this scoop:   The complaint, which can be seen here, describes what an FBI agent involved in…

  • Practice Management - QuickPress

    Post Office to Stop Delivering Letters on Saturdays —Accounting Today

    February 6, 2013

    Six Days of Package Delivery and Five Days of Mail.  Does This Mean Stamp Prices Will Go Down by 16¢?   Michael Cohn at Accounting Today reports that the U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday that it will end Saturday delivery of letters starting in August, but will continue to deliver packages, in an effort to cut costs.  More: The Postal Service expects to generate cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually once the plan for five-day mail delivery and six-day package delivery is fully implemented. The move could have an impact on accountants and their clients who need to receive…

  • Mergers and Acquisitions/Exit Planning - QuickPress

    The Bond Vigilantes Have Been Taken Out Back And Shot —Seeking Alpha

    February 5, 2013

    Fed Buying Is Having Profound Implications. Bond Vigilantes Have Been Selling Heavily and May Continue. That Means We Still We Won’t See Much of an Impact on Interest Rates. Paul Santos at Seeking Alpha claims you don’t need to worry about the bond vigilantes anymore.  I, personally, have always been a big fan, and think they will return.  But hey: This is Mr. Santos’ opinion piece, not mine, so I’ll let him cut to the chase.  Santos doesn’t claim they’re in hiding.  He simply claims they’re gone. Santos asks:  “So when did the mass killings take place in the U.S.?…

  • Practice Management - QuickPress

    Closing Tax Loopholes Could be Key to Budget Deal, Obama Says —New York Times, CBS News, and Washington Post, Associated Press

    February 4, 2013

    Obama’s New Vision: No Further Increases in Tax Rates; Instead Focus on Eliminating Loopholes and Deductions  And just last week all the pundits were saying any sort of serious budget deal was dead.   Now, The New York Times, CBS News, and Washington Post/Associated Press report that president Barack Obama said future deals with Congress on the U.S. budget could set aside the option of raising tax rates and, instead, focus on eliminating tax loopholes and deductions to reduce the deficit. “I don’t think the issue right now is raising rates,” Obama said.  Instead, a focus might be on mortgage interest…

  • Practice Management - QuickPress

    Survey: 86% of Young Investors Ready to Fire Parents’ Advisor —Financial Planning

    February 3, 2013

    Firms Need to Update Technology, Use Social Media, and Hire Younger Advisors, Says Tom Nally of TD Ameritrade Institutional Rachel F. Elson at reports at Financial Planning:  Advisory firms need to start hiring young financial advisers to attract and keep the business of Generation X and Y investors, who will have accumulated $28 trillion of personal wealth by 2018, up from $2 trillion in 2011, said Tom Nally, president of TD Ameritrade Institutional. A recent survey showed that, if given the chance, 86% of young investors would fire their parents’ financial adviser, he said. More:

  • Practice Management - QuickPress

    Get Your Cash Faster: 7 Shrewd Tips —Inc.com

    February 2, 2013

    Cash Flow is the Most Important Financial Item for a Small Business Owners to Pay Attention To. Here’s How to Speed it Up.   Cash flow–how cash flows through your organization from sale to invoice to receipt–is the lifeblood of a small company, writes Eric V. Holtzclaw at Inc.com.  And speeding up your cash flow allows you to do more and gives your company more stability.  Here are seven tips:  

  • QuickPress - Valuation/Appraisal

    Ernst Publishing Patents Mortgage Fee Calculator —American Banker

    February 2, 2013

    Tighter Regulations Leave Less Room for Error When Computing and Disclosing How Much Mortgages Cost.  John Adams at American Banker reports that Ernst Publishing, not related to the accounting company, sells technology and closing cost data to mortgage market players. Its clients include nine of the largest ten originators and servicers and the largest five title insurance companies.  And it has now received a U.S. patent for its recording fee and tax calculator, called “System and Method for Generating and Tracking Field Values of Mortgage Forms.” Read the whole thing here. More:

  • Mergers and Acquisitions/Exit Planning - QuickPress

    5 Must-Ask Questions for Business Buyers —Inc.com

    February 2, 2013

    Many Business Buyers Probably Have Some Boilerplate Questions Ready to Ask Business Sellers — But May be Missing the Most Important Ones.   Mike Handelsman, group general manager for BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com, the Internet’s largest and most heavily trafficked business-for-sale marketplaces, recently advised readers at Inc.com that if they’re thinking about buying a business, they should put extra effort into preparation.   More:   

  • QuickPress - Valuation/Appraisal

    New Appraisal Standards Approved for Higher-Risk Mortgages —Appraiser News, Bloomberg, Housing Wire, Mortgage News Daily, Appraisal Scoop, Real Estate Advantage

    January 19, 2013

    Rule Will Require a Second Appraisal in Situations Where a Home is Being Flipped for a Quick, Higher Resale  A new rule passed Jan. 15 gives mortgage lenders an additional year to institute appraisal standards for higher-risk loans, Bloomberg reported, and Appraiser News Online highlighted.  The extension is one of the revisions that regulators made to the Dodd-Frank Act to address concerns from financial firms.    Appraiser News Online explains that:   

  • Case Law - Forensic Accounting - QuickPress

    Calculation Engagement vs Valuation Engagement

    May 12, 2011

    Calculation Engagement vs Valuation Engagement. In April, QuickRead featured some analysis of In Re: Marriage of Hagar in our Case Law—State section.  At issue in Hagar was the difference between a Calculation Engagement and a Valuation Engagement.  The Calculation Engagement the husband in the case presented was deemed unsuitable by a judge, in this particular case, because it the valuator admittedly didn’t “use judgment.” NACVA member Charlotte Reith, CPA, CVA, CFF, of The Reith Company in Pasadena, CA wrote in to say she thought our analysis “is giving calculation engagements a bad name and is misleading.  A rule of thumb valuation [used in Hagar] is not a calculation of…