Weighted average cost of capital, or WACC, is one of the most important inputs in a business valuation because it translates risk into a discount rate, and the discount rate determines how much today’s dollars are worth compared with future cash flows. For privately held businesses, even a small change in WACC can materially shift […]
Terminal value is the portion of a discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis that estimates what a business is worth beyond the explicit forecast period, and for most privately held companies it is the single biggest driver of indicated value. Because a DCF converts future economic benefit into present value, the terminal value often accounts for […]
Discounted Cash Flow, or DCF, is one of the most conceptually powerful methods in business valuation because it estimates what a privately held business is worth based on the cash it is expected to generate over time. In practice, however, the output is only as reliable as the underlying assumptions. For business owners, buyers, and […]
The three core approaches to business valuation, income, market, and asset, form the foundation of most privately held business appraisals in the United States. Each approach answers a different question about value, and the right one depends on the company’s earnings profile, asset base, industry, and the reason for the valuation. Understanding when each approach […]
Forensic accounting in bankruptcy and insolvency is not just about finding missing money. For business valuation purposes, it is about reconstructing the true economic picture of a distressed company so creditors, owners, trustees, and courts can determine what the business was worth, what value may have been transferred away, and what recoveries are realistically available. […]
Business interruption claims are not just insurance exercises, they are valuation exercises. When a privately held business suffers a fire, flood, cyberattack, supply chain disruption, or other covered event, the core question is how much income the company would have generated absent the interruption, and how that lost earnings stream should be measured, normalized, and […]
In breach of contract disputes, damages are not just a legal remedy, they are often a valuation question. Business valuation experts are frequently engaged to quantify what was lost, what was reasonably incurred, and what additional harm flowed from the alleged breach. In a privately held business context, the core task is to translate legal […]
In business valuation disputes, the best expert report is not necessarily the longest one. It is the report that applies accepted valuation principles, explains its conclusions clearly, and can survive the scrutiny of cross-examination. For privately held businesses, that means linking the opinion of value to recognized standards such as IRS Revenue Ruling 59-60, using […]
When a business dispute, breach of contract, or intellectual property claim affects a privately held company, the damages analysis often comes down to a critical choice: should the claimant pursue lost profits, or should the case be framed around lost business value? In business valuation, this is not a semantic difference. It changes the economic […]
Shareholder and partnership disputes often turn on a central question, what is the business actually worth? In oppression claims, buyouts, deadlock situations, and contested exits, an independent valuation expert helps establish a defensible value conclusion that can withstand scrutiny from owners, counsel, courts, and opposing experts. Because these matters often involve conflicting incentives and competing […]