Upcoming Webinar

VPS Straight Talk Series

Upcoming Webinars

  • September 26, 2024: How to Prepare/Defend a Business Valuation Review Analysis and Report of an Opposing Expert’s Work in Litigation
  • October 10, 2024: Improving Your Cost of Capital Estimates – Theory vs. Practice Using a Case

Thursday, September 26, 2024, 1:00 – 3:00 pm EDT

How to Prepare/Defend a Business Valuation Review Analysis and Report of an Opposing Expert’s Work in Litigation

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Speakers:

Jim Hitchner, CPA/ABV/CFF & Harold G. Martin, Jr., CPA/ABV/CFF, ASA, CFE

The main highlight of this session will be the issuance and detailed discussion of a new USPAP/NACVA/AICPA-compliant sample valuation/appraisal review report. Hitchner and Martin will also discuss and present checklists for a USPAP review analysis and report and a NACVA review analysis and report.

An organized checklist format will be used that allows the technical reviewer to determine whether the valuation data sources, assumptions, and methods are reliable and supportable in a litigation environment. This process can also be used for quality assurance and technical reviews in internal senior staff reviews. Several testimony skits with the RIGHT answers to tough cross-examination questions will also be included.

Webinar Outline:

  • When and how to perform a valuation/appraisal review
  • Development of a valuation review
  • Reporting of a valuation review
  • Litigation
  • Non-litigation
  • Internal
  • USPAP/NACVA/AICPA compliance
  • Length and structure of valuation/appraisal review reports
  • What goes in a valuation/appraisal review report
  • Scope of work
  • Intended use and users
  • With and without a separate opinion of value
  • Proper language
  • Improper language
  • CAARR
    • Completeness 
    • Adequacy 
    • Appropriateness 
    • Relevance 
    • Reasonableness 
  • Ethics compliance
  • Assumptions and limiting conditions
  • Representation/certification
  • What should NOT go into a valuation/appraisal review report
  • Good and bad data sources and uses
  • Correct and incorrect normalization adjustments
  • Valuation method issues and input testing
  • Testimony skits

Learning Objectives:

  • Using the sample review report handout, the participant will learn what needs to go into a USPAP/NACVA/AICPA-compliant appraisal review analysis and report 
  • The participant will learn how to use compliance checklists 
  • The participant will learn how to perform a technical review of any kind of business valuation and/or report of an equity/ownership interest
  • The participant will learn what the “best practices” are in preparing and presenting a review valuation and report
  • The participant will be alerted to common errors and unsupportable uses of data, assumptions, methods, and applications
  • The participant will learn about testing/sensitivity tools in preparing technical reviews
  • The participant will learn how to withstand rigorous cross-examination

Handouts:

  • VPS webinar PowerPoint slides
  • Sample Valuation/Appraisal Review Report
  • BV Review Checklists
  • Following the webinar, attendees will have access to a video recording of the program

About the Presenters:

  Jim Hitchner, CPA/ABV/CFF

  • Inductee in the AICPA BV Hall of Fame
  • Two-time recipient of the AICPA BV Volunteer of the Year award
  • Managing Director, Financial Valuation Advisors
  • CEO, Valuation Products and Services
  • President, The Financial Consulting Group
  • 43 years in valuation services
  • Former member of the AICPA BV Standards Writing Task Force
  • Coauthored over 20 courses; taught over 60 courses
  • Published over 150 articles; made over 400 presentations
  • Editor in Chief, Hardball with Hitchner
  • Coauthor, Discount for Lack of Marketability Guide and Toolkit
  • Coauthor, Hitchner Pratt Fishman: A Consensus View, Q&A Guide to Financial Valuation 
  • Coauthor, Financial Valuation Applications and Models, 1st–5th editions

 Harold Martin, CPA/ABV, CFF, ASA, CFE

  • Inductee in the AICPA BV Hall of Fame
  • Two-time recipient of the AICPA BV Volunteer of the Year award
  • Managing Director, Financial Consulting Group
  • Director and former Partner-in-Charge of Valuation and Forensic Services Practice and member of Executive Committee, Keiter
  • Over 40 years’ experience in valuation and forensic services, public accounting, and financial services
  • Adjunct faculty member, The College of William and Mary
  • Taught over 50 AICPA courses on valuation and forensic accounting, including AICPA BV School, AICPA ABV Exam Review Course, and AICPA Expert Witness Skills Workshop
  • Co-author, Financial Valuation Applications and Models, 1st–5th editions 
  • Contributing author, Cost of Capital: Estimation and Applications, 2nd–4th editions

Thursday, October 10th 1:00 – 4:00 pm EDT

Improving Your Cost of Capital Estimates – Theory vs. Practice Using a Case

Speakers: Carla Nunes, CFA/ABV

 

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Webinar Description:

The U.S. economy proved to be surprisingly resilient in 2023, but growth is decelerating in 2024. The process of disinflation is well under way, but while rate cuts are expected to begin in 2024 the Federal Reserve has been cautious on the timing and magnitude of interest rate cuts. The U.S. is also heading into Presidential elections, creating additional uncertainty for businesses and consumers. Failure to address the growing U.S. Federal debt burden and large budget deficits could place upward pressures on long-term interest rates. These headwinds mean that companies are now facing a higher cost of capital that matches the levels last seen during the 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis. 

This is the perfect time to revisit your cost of capital assumptions. This session will bridge the gap between the theory of how some of the cost of capital inputs are derived while also walking through a case study on how to use various Cost of Capital Navigator data sets to support industry risk and size adjustments. A brief discussion on selecting capital structures and concluding on cost of debt estimates will also be provided.

Learning Objectives:

After completing this session, attendees will be able to: 

  • Understand the background on how the Kroll normalized risk-free rate was derived and why the current spot yield on U.S. Treasuries is more appropriate as a risk-free rate for current valuations.
  • Describe various method that can be used to estimate the equity risk premium.
  • Adjust industry risk premium by selecting different types of CAPM betas.
  • Identify different formulas to unlever equity betas and understand the circumstances when they may be more appropriate to employ.
  • Understand the concept of debt betas. 
  • Distinguish between the Kroll CRSP Deciles Size Study and the Kroll Risk Premium Report when arriving at a size risk adjustment.
  • Identify the circumstances where the use of Deciles 10y and 10z may be appropriate when selecting a size premium.
  • Select a capital structure that is internally consistent with your standard of value and valuation purpose.
  • Reflect the impact of higher interest rates on cost of debt estimates.

Handouts:

  • VPS webinar PowerPoint slides
  • Following the webinar, attendees will have access to a video recording of the program

About the Presenter:

 Carla S. Nunes, CFA, ABV, is a Managing Director in the Office of Professional Practice of Kroll. In addition, Carla is the Global Leader of Kroll’s Valuation Digital Solutions group, which produces cost of capital thought leadership content and data housed in the Cost of Capital Navigator. She has over 25 years of experience in valuation, financial reporting and tax, conducting numerous business and asset valuations for a variety of purposes including purchase price allocations, goodwill and asset impairments, mergers & acquisitions, tax restructuring, debt analysis, and gift and estate tax planning. Carla also has extensive experience working with multinational companies, having addressed complex tax, international cost of capital, and foreign exchange issues. Carla is a contributing author to “Cost of Capital: Applications and Examples,” 5th edition, by Shannon Pratt and Roger Grabowski. She is a co-author of the “Valuation Handbook” series and co-creator of the Kroll Cost of Capital Navigator. She recently co-authored Kroll’s ESG and Global Investor Returns Study and was a contributing author to The Appraisal Foundation’s “The Art of Valuation. Carla is a member of the Education Committee at the iiBV, a member of the IMA’s Financial Reporting Committee, and just completed her two-year term as Practitioner Director in the Board of FMA International.

 

Jim Hitchner’s Valuation Products and Services (VPS) provides tools to assist practitioners in business valuation, litigation services, and forensics and fraud.

Valuation Products and Service, LLC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417. Web site: www.nasba.org.

The VPS StraightTalk webinar series brings you outstanding continuing professional education on business valuation and litigation topics. Unless otherwise noted, all webinars are targeted at an intermediate program level, qualify for two hours of CPE credit, and begin at 1:00 p.m. ET. Pay one fee of $239 for your staff to participate, including your remote offices. Your employees can receive 2 CPE credits for attending the live presentation at NO additional fee. (Attendees must follow the webinar participant instructions to qualify. Certain restrictions apply to firms who have more than 20 attendees.) More information on the VPS StraightTalk webinar series can be found here.