Michael D. Pakter CPA, CFF, CGMA, CFE, CVA, MAFF, CA, CIRA, CDBV focuses on accounting, forensic accounting, financial analysis, financial forensics, economic damages, business valuation and investigations. He has experience in lost profits / earnings, business interruption claims, analysis of financial transactions and balances, Court-ordered accounting, bankruptcy, fraud examinations, investigations and the reconstruction of incomplete, misstated and/or falsified financial information.
Litigation Support - Mr. Pakter provides consulting and litigation support services to trial lawyers, trustees, examiners, receivers, business owners and managers and units of federal, state and local government. Many engagements combine financial analysis, economic damages determination, valuation issues, tracing procedures and/or other applications of Financial Forensics to assist in resolving complex commercial litigation and business disputes.
Experience - Mr. Pakter has more than 40 years of experience in forensic accounting, investigations and litigation services in numerous industries and diverse engagements, including more than 20 years of experience in economic damages and business valuations. State, Federal and Bankruptcy Courts, as well as arbitrators, have recognized me as an expert in forensic accounting, economic damages, business valuation, CPA malpractice and bankruptcy core proceedings. Mr. Pakter is a Certified Public Accountant with multiple additional certifications in economic damages, financial forensics, business valuation and bankruptcy core proceedings. He focusses his professional practice on forensic accounting, lost profits, lost earnings and other economic damages, business interruption, fraud/financial investigations, bankruptcy core proceedings and litigation support.
By: Michael D. Pakter
The purpose of this article is to introduce the reader to the new Revenue Recognition Accounting Standard (the Standard) issued jointly by the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the UK-based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and to consider the Standard’s impact on financial analyses prepared by practitioners performing business valuatio
By: Michael Pakter
The choice and use of an ex-ante or ex-post analysis can lead to divergent results in protracted litigation. The article provides an illustration of how and why the results may differ. Litigation consultants are advised to consider the above and await instruction from legal counsel regarding the approach that needs to be taken.
By: Michael Pakter
The purpose of this article - the third of three (Part I and Part II) on this topic - is to provide the reader with an understanding Chapter 3 (What Constitutes Best Evidence) of the 2018 Practice Aid as well as certain other publications containing a body of knowledge on the best evidence to support economic damages in a court of law
By: Michael Pakter
In this second article on AIRA Standards, the author discusses unique issues valuing distressed companies. These include the standard of value used, the premise of value, the intended use of the valuation, and cost of capital.
By: Michael Pakter
It is essential that creditors, managers, and shareholders - as well as the attorneys who advise them - timely identify and respond to signs of a company’s financial distress. Financial distress, according to Investopedia, “is a condition in which a company or individual cannot generate revenue or income because it is unable to meet or cannot pay its financial obligations
By: Michael Pakter
The purpose of this article—the second of three on this topic—is to provide the reader with an understanding of Chapter 2 (Costs) of the 2018 Practice Aid as well as certain other publications containing a body of knowledge on the best practices for developing “avoided or saved costs,” sometimes referred to by the courts as incremental costs.
By: Michael Pakter
The AICPA has issued two practice aids, one on 2015 and most recently in November 2018, focused on the calculation of economic profits and damages. The purpose of this article—the first of three on this topic—is to provide the reader with an understanding of Chapter 1...
By: Michael D. Pakter
This is Part 2 of a two-part article. The first part (published in the January 2014 issue of Business Valuation Update) discussed valuations of distressed debtor companies based on discounted cash flows and considered the impact of the date and stage of distress. This part describes how the financial analyst derives the cost of capital for a distressed debtor company.
By: Michael D. Pakter
This is Part 1 of a two-part article. This part discusses valuations of distressed debtor companies based on discounted cash flows and considers the impact of the date and stage of distress. Next month, Part 2 will describe how the financial analyst derives the cost of capital for a distressed debtor company.
By: Michael D. Pakter
Financial experts are frequently asked aboutthe tax impact of damage awards, both paidand received. The complexities of the InternalRevenue Code (IRC) and judicial interpretations thereofmake determining the taxability of receipts or payments difficult.The same is true when dealing with the taxability of economic damages awarded to plaintiffs in civil actions. Nuances in the IRC and the judicial interpretations may make it difficult for a taxpayer to determine the taxability of his or her proceeds from a litigation award of personal economic damages. Whether or not such is taxable often depends on how the award of economic damages is categorized and/or described in the awarding documents.
By: Michael D. Pakter
Mr. Bad Actor is a 61–year-old male who is the senior executive of the Unlucky Transportation Company. He has been in that position for more than ten years. Before his employment at the company, he worked for a series of unsuccessful transportation companies, where both he and other stakeholders lost most of their investment. He has ongoing legal and financial problems resulting from these prior business failures and from his failed marriage.
