Please take a short, five-minute survey on the use of Big Data in forensic accounting in preventing and detecting fraud. The University of Memphis is conducting research. Read more >>

New fair value regulations and the Mandatory Performance Framework (MPF) apply to everyone, not just holders of the new CEIV credential. Read more >>

A recent Tax Court case rejects an appraiser's valuation of an estate asset, and the undervaluation is enough to normally trigger penalties under IRC Section 6695A. Read more >>

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has doled out its first batch of certifications for the new Certified in Entity and Intangible Valuation™ (CEIV™) credential for individuals doing fair value measurements. Read more >>

Valuators may think they know all there’s to know about quantifying the appreciation of nonmarital property by using the active versus passive framework. Think again. A recent Florida divorce case illustrates that the premature categorization of assets may lead to an improper valuation. Read more >>

The AHLA Transactions Resource Guide is a free collection of articles from leading healthcare experts that discuss significant transaction issues in the healthcare industry. Some of the authors are with Duff & Phelps, VMG Health, Wipfli, and others. Read more >>

In the recent Amazon Tax Court case, the IRS challenged the valuation of trademarks the company transferred to its overseas subsidiary. But Amazon prevailed, and here's an explanation of the comparable uncontrolled transaction (CUT) method its expert used to sift through thousands of transactions. Read more >>

Results of the “2017 Private Capital Markets Report" from Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business and Management. BVR is a research sponsor in Pepperdine’s efforts in developing a private cost of capital method as a legitimate alternative to looking to the public markets. Read more >>

Federal discovery rule 26 expressly protects draft expert reports from discovery. But experts testifying in federal court know that this protection is by no means absolute. Questions as to the scope of protection persist, and a recent discovery ruling in a patent infringement case makes clear that concern over the strength of protection is warranted. Read more >>

For the second time in March 2017, a court found an ESOP trustee liable for causing the plan to overpay. The most recent decision chronicles in exhaustive detail how the trustee failed the plan in terms of ensuring that no more than fair market value would be paid for the seller’s shares. Read more >>

Only after a thorough due diligence is done can an analysis be made of what intellectual property is worth. Read more >>

Appraisers have to consider each of the valuation approaches, but the income approach is the only way to value a solar company, says a valuation expert in the industry. Read more >>

A new book not only gives judges and attorneys a reference guide of fundamental business valuation concepts, but it's also a refresher course for valuation experts, and it will help them prepare for court. Read more >>

Inadequate trustee performance was at the center of a recent case, featuring a nontraditional ESOP structure. The court found that, if the trustee had engaged with the underlying valuation, it would have discovered numerous weaknesses and prevented the ESOP from overpaying for the company stock. Read more >>

A recent Wisconsin case illustrates that a shareholder agreement in place is no guarantee for a smooth buyout of the minority shareholder. The case also includes a caution to experts to strive for clarity in their expert reports. Read more >>

Missouri's governor recently signed into law a bill in favor of adopting the Daubert standard applicable to the admissibility of expert testimony. The move by the governor apparently is the first in several major tort reform measures he hopes to accomplish during his term. Read more >>

The business judgment rule has featured prominently in a number of recent breach of fiduciary duty cases in front of the Delaware Court of Chancery. Under the rule, the court must not interfere in a transaction if a majority of the minority shareholders approved the deal and the vote was “uncoerced and fully informed.” Read more >>

What do you think of this method a valuation expert and forensic accountant uses for allocating goodwill between its enterprise and personal components? Read more >>

Class actions have their own rules, including when it comes to expert testimony. An unresolved issue is whether damages expert testimony is subject to a Daubert inquiry at the class certification stage, before the court has approved the request to proceed as a class action. The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to give clear guidance, but defendants are increasingly proactive and move to exclude the testimony at the beginning of the litigation in an attempt to thwart class certification and knock the case out early. Read more >>

Tennessee does not consider personal goodwill in a solo proprietorship a marital asset. But what about trail income, the money a financial planner makes from managing his or her clients’ funds and portfolios? In Fuller v. Fuller, the owner-spouse argued the goodwill analysis applied to the treatment of trail income as well. The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently disagreed. Read more >>