Here’s what you’ll see:

• “Valuation Impact of Corporate-Owned Life Insurance on SCOTUS’ Agenda” (Roger J. Grabowski, FASA). The goal of this paper is to inform readers about a valuation issue that is the subject of a petition put before the United States Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split. The issue is how does corporate-owned life insurance designed to fund the redemption of a deceased shareholder’s stock impact the fair market value of the subject company and the value of the decedent’s gross estate. The author examines the applicable U.S. Tax Court, district court, and two appellate decisions so the reader can understand the arguments made and the basis for the legal conclusions.
• “BV Year in Review 2023: Recruiting Push” (BVR Editor). The business valuation profession continued to thrive in 2023 amid ongoing challenges, such as how to reflect uncertainty, inflation, and market volatility in valuations. But another issue loomed large in the profession: attracting and retaining new young talent.
• “Fair Market Value: A Complicated Standard” (Mark O. Dietrich, CPA). This article was triggered by a recent article by Jim Hitchner that maintained that it is a “myth” that fair market value assumes a financial buyer, without synergistic benefits. The author believes the answer to the question is more nuanced than the term “myth” suggests, which prompted him to revisit his thinking on the concept.
• “What to Know From the 2023 ASA International Conference, Part 2” (BVR Editor). More takeaways from the ASA’s annual conference, on the topics of personal goodwill, new SEC valuation requirements for PE/VC funds, customer concentration, buy-sell agreements, equity compensation, real estate-centric entities, and more.
• “BVLaw Review: The Top Valuation Cases of 2023” (Jim Alerding, CPA/ABV). The BVLaw platform added approximately 70 cases during 2023, bringing the total to about 4,300 cases in the database. The cases are all related in some way to valuation, economic damages and lost profits, and other litigation. This article is a rundown of some of the more important cases for 2023.
• “Future Plans for the AICPA FVS Section” (BVR Editor). The AICPA Forensic and Valuation Services (FVS) section has some impressive plans going forward, a panel revealed at the FVS conference in Las Vegas this past November. Their plans include strengthening their training offerings, increasing education opportunities, career development support, and outreach to universities to raise awareness among students.

The issue also includes:

• A full section of “BV News and Trends/Global BV News and Trends”;
• Regular features: “Ask the Experts” and “Tip of the Month”;
• BV data spotlight: “DealStats MVIC/EBITDA Trends,” “FactSet/BVR Control Premium Study” “Economic Outlook for the Month,” and the “Cost of Capital Center”; and
• BVLaw Case Update: The latest court cases that involve business valuation issues with one case featured in a detailed analysis.

To stay current on business valuation, check out the January 2024 issue of Business Valuation Update.