Last year, in a compelled buyout, the Court of Appeals sided with the departing minority shareholder when it found discounts did not apply in a closed-market sale. In a freshly minted decision, the Indiana Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, finding there was no blanket rule disallowing discounts in a compelled buyback. This is especially true where the parties exercised a shareholder agreement whose terms suggested the use of fair market value. Read more >>

The 2020 AICPA Forensic and Valuation Services (FVS) Conference held this past November was loaded with great speakers and interesting sessions—so much so that we can’t include everything. Here are some key takeaways from the early sessions we attended. Read more >>

Back in January, BVWire ran a news item on a recent article from the Star Tribune. The article states that the executor of the estate of Prince, the late world-famous rock star, and the Internal Revenue Service are currently locked in a fierce estate and gift tax dispute. The IRS argues the executor has seriously undervalued the estate, and the executors claim the IRS’ calculations “are riddled with errors.” Read more >>

In BVR’s recent webinar, Power Panel: Live Expert Answers for Today’s Tough BV Questions, experts Jay E. Fishman, Michelle Gallagher, Ken Pia, and Jeffrey Tarbell covered various hot topics that affect the business valuation profession. These questions ranged from the basics, such as “What will 2021 look like?” to “What are your thoughts on the current state of the ESOP litigation environment particularly with the new administration coming in?” Here, we summarize five of the questions and answers. For more information, be sure to check out the complete recording and transcript of the session. Read more >>

Most people do not realize how different it is appearing in court through virtual technology compared to being there in person. Valuation experts who have not yet had the “pleasure” of attending virtual hearings may be concerned about it—and rightly so. In person, you are in control of how you look and sound, but, when you are online, you are at the mercy of technology, which can make you look good—or very bad. Fortunately, at the recent AAML/BVR Virtual Divorce Conference, valuation experts and attorneys shared their experiences and tips for testifying in a virtual world. Read more >>

Complicated as the year 2020 was, it was not boring. The past year offered a wealth of lawsuits dealing with business valuation and economic damages issues. The list below shows our Top 10. Read more >>

What a year! In its 25 years, Business Valuation Update (BVU) has not seen anything quite like the year 2020. Virtually everything in the practice of business valuation changed, and BVU chronicled these developments as well as the latest thinking in methodologies, changes in regulations, court cases, new and updated resources, and practice-building ideas. Here’s a sampling of what we covered in 2020. Read more >>

Family law attorneys, valuation professionals, and industry experts connected virtually this fall to share advice during the Virtual Divorce Conference brought to you by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and Business Valuation Resources (BVR). Here are the top 10 key takeaways from the many great sessions with top thought leaders in the profession. Read more >>

Every quarter, subscribers to the FactSet Mergerstat/BVR Control Premium Study receive a Control Premium Study publication that includes a thorough analysis of controlling-interest transactions whereby the transaction results in the acquirer obtaining a 50.01% ownership interest or more in the target company. A controlling interest is considered to have greater value than a minority interest because of the purchaser’s ability to effect changes in the overall business structure and to influence business policies. Read more >>

It’s always very informative and helpful to listen to judges talk about the valuation cases they hear. At its annual conferences, NACVA regularly presents sessions with judges. At its Business Valuation and Financial Litigation Super Conference in June, a session included a panel of four judges and one moderator. The panelists shared their views of when they detect potential problems with appraisers when they are on the witness stand. Read more >>

The final chapter on the impact of the pandemic on the full-service restaurant sector has yet to be written. In the meantime, thinking continues to evolve on conducting valuations in the current environment. In a new special report, What It’s Worth: Valuing Full-Service Restaurants, BVR covers the fundamentals and unique considerations for restaurant valuation—as well as how to assess the long-term outlook for consumer preferences and financial performance. Based on conversations, webinars, and conference sessions with many valuation experts, here are six pandemic-related issues you should consider. Read more >>

A recent article in the New York Times extols the virtues of employee ownership through employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). And trade groups for employee-owned businesses have noted bipartisan Congressional support for ESOPs. But ESOP experts (trustees and appraisers) worry that the Department of Labor’s antagonistic attitude toward ESOP transactions, validated by key victories in court, has stymied ESOP formation. Read more >>

One of the key takeaways from the recent ENGAGE 2020 conference sponsored by the AICPA was one of particular interest to business valuers. “The pandemic has created some temporary financial planning opportunities,” says Steve Siegel, JD, LLM, president of The Siegel Group. “If you have a client who plans to pass their business along to a child one day—while business values are low, this is a useful time to get a new business appraisal. If you wait, values may recover, and federal tax laws may be less generous to business owners seeking to transfer their interests to family members.” Read more >>

Business Valuation Resources recently published EBITDA multiples by industry in our DealStats Value Index (DVI). DVI presents an aggregated summary of valuation multiples and profit margins for over 40,000 sold private companies listed in our DealStats platform. Below are some of the highlights from the most recent report, 3Q 2020. Read more >>

How do you resolve a divorce case during COVID-19, when many businesses in all kinds of industries are coping with significant losses and continuing uncertainty over future performance? This was the topic of an excellent panel discussion that was part of the recent virtual AAML/BVR divorce conference. Read more >>

Business valuators must have a firm grasp on the current state of the economy in order to successfully complete a business valuation engagement. Many finance and valuation professionals rely on economic components and indicators as a key point of reference in their work. These components can have a significant impact when valuing businesses, evaluating mergers and acquisitions, and performing a variety of other financial analyses. Read more >>

We find it perplexing how often S corp. owners—who invest in their business with an eye on the future and carefully analyze the cost/benefit of every decision—take a short-term, simplistic approach to reasonable compensation: Just pick the lowest possible number to minimize payroll taxes. Read more >>

Back in 2012, BVWire ran a news item reporting that the era of the business valuation generalist was over. Since then, this notion was reinforced in ongoing coverage. For example, we reported in 2015 that attorneys look for specialized skills when engaging an appraiser. Today, the advice to specialize continues to resonate. Read more >>

The first major multiday, multitrack conference of the year, the NACVA and the CTI’s 2020 Business Valuation and Financial Litigation Super Conference, was held online over five full days in June. Business Valuation Update attended, and we found excellent speakers and interesting sessions, and the technical details all went smoothly. COVID-19 was a hot topic of discussion in a number of the sessions, so, here we present 10 takeaways on dealing with the pandemic’s impact on business valuation. Read more >>

Business valuations prepared for divorce purposes can be much more challenging than valuations can be for other purposes because the rules differ among jurisdictions. There are no clear valuation guidelines for divorce in most states. For example, there’s no specific definition of value in state statutes governing divorce. Also, divorce courts exercise a great deal of discretion—even if there is an abundance of judicial precedent (which can be confusing and contradictory). Read more >>