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Seeking Help: Your Best Demonstratives or Ideas for Effective Expert Testimony in Court

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In May, I’ll be speaking at the AAML/BVR National Divorce Conference in Las Vegas. My topic is “How to Present Complex Finance to Judges.” Given that every divorce trial I’ve seen has been a bench trial, the topic focuses on judges. However, many of the same presentation techniques are certainly applicable to juries, as well.

The idea for this post is simple. I’m asking readers to provide me with examples of the best demonstratives they have seen to present complex financial and valuation issues in court. I’ll also be talking about concepts and ideas, so any thoughts regarding conceptual approaches or philosophical approaches to court testimony would also be helpful.

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Dream It, Think It, and Do It, Now

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At the end of every year, I try to make time for introspection and thinking about the future. When the mind is open, many things are possible. Last night, while sleeping, I dreamed about priorities in a variety of ways. When I awoke, the thought at the forefront of my mind was: dream it, think it, and do it, now.

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November Step Challenge Met

10,000 Steps per Day – Every Day

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Those who know me understand that I have a “thing” about counting steps. For years, my goal has been a minimum of 10,000 steps per day. In spite of my “thing,” when I looked at my steps for October, I found that I hit 10,000 steps on only 20 of 31 days. My average step count was about 7,000 steps on the days I didn’t reach the goal. On the last day of October, I set a challenge for myself — to achieve a minimum of 10,000 steps every day during the month of November.

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EBITDA: Relative Capital Intensity Influences Business Valuation

How Much Depreciation & Amortization Does it Take to Generate a Dollar of EBIT?

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The relationship between EBITDA and EBIT for any company over time is one measure of the capital intensity of that business. The greater EBITDA is relative to EBIT, the more depreciation and amortization (D&A) that is required to replace existing plant, equipment, and other acquired assets.

Given the transaction and valuation emphasis on EBITDA, it is important for business owners, advisers, and appraisers to develop a better understanding of the relationship between EBITDA and EBIT for individual companies at a point in time and over time, as well as in comparison to other companies.

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My November Step Challenge

10,000 Steps per Day for November and for Life

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Walking has been a “main thing” with me since I gave up running a number of years ago to preserve my (still original) knees. I’ve long advocated walking at least 10,000 steps each day, and many days, I achieve that goal. But I haven’t been as consistent as I’d like to be.

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Athlon Sports Communications and Fair Value in Tennessee

The Trial Court's Opinion after Reversal and Remand from Supreme Court

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Several months ago, I wrote a post about a recent ruling of the Tennessee Supreme Court addressing the issue of statutory fair value in Tennessee. The Supreme Court reversed the trial court and remanded the case for reconsideration. In my earlier post, I called this a “friendly reversal” because the Supreme Court reversed with what seemed to me to be an invitation for the trial judge to reach the same conclusion and to be consistent with the Supreme Court’s new ruling.

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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 Increased Equity Values

Don't Overlook the Forest for the Trees

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I recently delivered two presentations at the AICPA 2018 Forensic & Valuation Services Conference. This post provides a brief summary of my comments from the second presentation (Valuation Tax Panel), which provided three perspectives on the impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on business valuation.

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A Problem: Formulas to Determine Price for Buy-Sell Agreements

The Solution Lies in a Valuation Process

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If your company or your clients’ companies have formula pricing for their buy-sell agreements, the likelihood of future problems is high. It is just not possible to foresee all possible future circumstances when setting a formula today. The solution to these problems lies in a Single Appraiser, Select Now and Value Now valuation process.

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A Problem: Fixed Price Buy-Sell Agreements

The Solution Lies in a Valuation Process

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Fixed price buy-sell agreement pricing mechanisms are not good and seldom work. The problems with these agreements can be “fixed” if the parties focus on the future and take steps today to solve future problems before they occur. In this post, I discuss two single appraiser processes to help solve these problems.