Transaction Advisory Services

“You can use all the quantitative data you can get, but you still have to distrust it and use your own intelligence and judgment.” – Alvin Toffler

There are plenty of economic indicators quoted by the media, but many lag or are coincident to the business cycle.  Let’s review a few leading indicators to gauge where the cycle is going.

One of Warren Buffett’s favorite old time indicators was counting the train cars to gauge the change in the overall economy.  The latest data shows another increase...

“Know something not everybody else knows.”
– Bill James, baseball writer, historian, statistician

Moneyball is a movie based on a book by Michael Lewis about the 2002 Oakland Athletics baseball team.  It is the classic underdog story mixed with statistics, a different way of thinking, and, of course, Brad Pitt for the ladies.  It was just nominated for six Oscars last month, including Best Picture.

Even though the movie takes poetic license with the story (as it really does not cover the top three...

“Investment is an activity of forecasting the yield on assets over the life of the asset… speculation is the activity of forecasting the psychology of the market.”     – John Maynard Keynes

After stealing the headlines last fall, it seems most people became exhausted with Europe’s debt problems.  The European Central Bank’s (ECB) Long Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO) provided a strong helping of liquidity to the sovereign debt markets, giving global markets a sigh of relief, and alleviating some...

This month's Special Delivery e-newsletter includes:

• Payroll Tax Cut Extension
• IRS Reverses 1099-K Reporting Rule
• New Strategic Marketing Website and E-Book Available
• Take Tax Credit When They Are Due
• Locking in Deductions for Mortgage Interest
• How to Reduce Employee Turnover
• Ohio Construction Reform is here
• IRS Issues Guidance on Work Credit for Hiring Veterans
• Join the 123 College Facebook

Payroll Tax Cut Extension
 
Although not signed into legislation just yet, the Senate and the House have both...

This month's issue of Valuation & Litigation Advisory Insights includes the following articles:

• Reality TV and Related-Party Transactions in Litigious Valuation Engagements
• Boltar Illustrates the Dangers of Expert Advocacy
• Poking Holes in Your Damages Case

Reality TV and Related-Party Transactions in Litigious Valuation Engagements
By Sean R. Saari, CPA/ABV, CVA, MBA

My wife loves “reality” TV shows - Big Brother, Survivor, The Bachelor, The Apprentice, pretty much any show on Bravo, and the list goes...

Tax qualified retirement plans are required to hold employer and employee contributions in an irrevocable trust, which is separate from the employer’s funds.  ERISA, which governs these programs, creates various types of legal liability for a plan’s fiduciaries.   Department of Labor penalties and litigation from plan participants can arise, and can be brought against an individual fiduciary.  The issue of who is or is not a fiduciary is not determined solely by a person’s title.  

ERISA’s...

This month's issue of Valuation & Litigation Advisory Insights includes the following articles:

• Management Involvement in Purchase Price Allocations
• How Do You Value a Startup Company
• Business Contingencies – What Are They and Why Should You Care?

Management Involvement in Purchase Price Allocations

It is common for companies to bring in a third-party valuation expert to value the intangible assets acquired in a business combination for financial reporting purposes.  It is important to note...

Adversarial.  Hostile.  Inequitable.  These are words commonly associated with traditional divorce proceedings.  Typically, these proceedings include pre-trial negotiations and settlement procedures which are transacted under the shadow of the court, subject to the authority of the judge, who has the power to reject or amend settlements in cases where they may appear inequitable in the eyes of the court.  The pre-trial process is typically adversarial in nature and business valuation experts are...

Taxpayers who paid a success-based fee to an investment banker or private equity firm that was contingent on the successful closing of the transaction may be able to deduct a large portion of the amount on their 2010 tax return.   Under previous IRS regulations, success-based fees were generally required to be capitalized. 

Earlier this year, the IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2011-29 which provided taxpayers with favorable treatment of these success-based fees.  However, the Rev. Proc. was...

Did you hear that? That loud sigh of relief? That was me exhaling now that it is official that football will be on my TV screen during Sunday afternoons this fall. Now that teams are wrapping up the mad scramble to add free agents and resign players, the football world’s collective thoughts naturally turn to which team is the favorite to win the NFL championship. At the beginning of the year, there are always a number of teams that the pundits believe have a good shot at making a title run. As...

Growing your company through mergers or acquisitions can provide a tremendous boost to business, but isn’t something to take lightly.

You have to consider how you want the organization to grow When you start identifying targets, consider what sort of operational challenges you will face. We call that smart growth — what should an organization look like for the short-term and the long-term.

Before considering growing your business through a merger or acquisition, what should a business owner think...

• Reality TV and Related Party Transactions in Litigious Valuation Engagements
• Impact of Government Contracts on Subject Company Risk
• Tax Court: Subsequent Sale was Best Evidence of Fair Market Value

Reality TV and Related Party Transactions in Litigious Valuation Engagements
By Sean Saari, CPA/ABV, CVA, MBA

My wife loves "reality" TV shows - Big Brother, Survivor, The Bachelor, The Apprentice, pretty much...

The treatment of success-based fees has been the subject of controversy between the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and taxpayers.  On April 8, 2011, the IRS issued Revenue Procedure (“Rev. Proc.”) 2011-29 that provides guidance on the deductibility of success-based fees.  These fees, generally paid to investment bankers or private equity firms, are contingent on the successful closing of certain transactions.  Often, these fees are the largest single expense of an acquisition.

Under IRS...

This month's issue of Valuation & Litigation Advisory Insights includes the following articles:

• International Business Valuation Standards: A Forecast for U.S.-Based Business Valuation Experts
• Is the Price Right? Ask an Expert.
• How Contingencies Affect a Business's Value

International Business Valuation Standards: A Forecast for U.S.-Based Business Valuation Experts

I feel completely surrounded—like the Spartans in the Battle of Thermopylae, chronicled in the movie 300 and elsewhere. Rather than...

This month's Special Delivery E-Newsletter includes the following articles:

• Key Provisions in the New Tax Act
• What Business Entity is Best for You?
• Tax Breakdown of Interest Expenses
• Summary of Key Tax Changes for 2011
• New Tax Relief Act Creates Dramatic Gifting Opportunities
• Many Smaller Employers Will Have to Use EFTPS for Payroll Tax Deposits
• Aurum Capital Markets Summary
• Understanding the Energy Efficient Deduction
• College Planning
• Audio Book Club

Key Provisions in the New Tax Act

The recent tax...

This issue of the Real Estate Monitor includes the following articles:

• Understanding the Energy Efficient Tax Deduction
• New Requirements for Asbestos Surveys from the Ohio Department of Health
• Housing: Affordability of Home Ownership
• Deductions: Passive Losses
• Mortgage Loans: New Rules
• Housing: Residential Ground Leases
• Securities: No Liability Under Securities Exchange Act
• Cleveland Market Overview

Understanding the Energy Efficient Tax Deduction

Skoda Minotti, along with CLS Facility Services, invites...

December 20, 2011 – CLEVELAND – Skoda Minotti, a CPA, business and financial advisory firm, is pleased to announce that Michael Trabert, CPA, CVA, CMAP, a partner with Skoda Minotti’s Transaction Advisory Services Group has recently earned the Chartered Merger & Acquisition Professional (CMAP) credential, awarded by the Middle Market Investment Banking Association (MMIBA) and endorsed by the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA).

MMIBA is an organization established to...

When negotiating for the purchase or sale of a business, the focus of both the buyer and seller is typically on the transaction price. If a $10 million sales price is agreed upon by both parties, what should it matter whether it is the target company’s stock or assets being sold? To both the buyer and the seller, however, the structure of the deal can be just as important as the price.

Imagine you had a quarter, which if presented to a cashier with one side up was worth $.25, but was only worth...

Many taxpayers, fearing an eventual increase in income tax rates, have taken the step of converting their individual retirement accounts to Roth IRAs, thereby paying taxes at current rates for the benefit of obtaining future tax free earnings.  A recent change in the law allows 401(k) plans to permit their participants to, in effect, re-characterize their 401(k) plan balances, within the plan, to Roth IRAs. 

What happens when a participant takes a distribution from a qualified plan? 

He or she...