Business Valuation
Equitable distribution is about numbers and tracking assets and liabilities as well as the division of those assets. Alimony means looking at disposable income — all income, even that which is hidden in the family or closely-held businesses. Adequate representation requires someone who understands Excel™ spreadsheets and Quickbooks™ information and the way accounting records are kept. No one does that like Iwanyshyn & Associates.
Our firm’s founder started her professional career as a Certified Public Accountant or CPA. While working for two world-class accounting and consulting firms, she specialized in what the courts call Forensic Accounting. She was also the “Chief Accountant to the Allegheny County Controller’s Office” managing a staff of 30 accounting professionals.
As if working as a CPA during the day, being a mother, and pursuing a law degree at night was not enough, during law school she pursued an additional pedigree as a Business Appraiser. As a professional Business Appraiser, Deborah valued hundreds of companies and participated in the resolution of many business and private-party disputes concerning the value of an owner’s share. Many times she was asked to testify in court regarding the valuation of businesses. She was a member of the board of the American Society of Appraisers.
A Business Appraiser is a highly trained and certified professional who establishes or estimates the economic value of a business. The act of executing an appraisal or valuation is a rigorous process, using a set of procedures established for a particular type of business or financial endeavor. A Business Appraiser is often retained by a party to determine an owner’s interest in a business for the purpose of selling or refinancing a business; it is often used during divorce proceedings for family-owned and closely-held businesses.
Valuation is used by financial market participants to determine the price they are willing to pay or receive to affect the sale of a business. In addition to estimating the value or selling price of a family or closely-held business, a business appraiser is often asked to use the same techniques and tools to establish an algorithm, formula, or other financial constructs to allow parties to agree to a figure, or range of figures, for the purchase price of a business. The expertise of Business Appraisers is often sought to resolve disputes related to estate and gift taxation, divorce litigation, to allocate the business purchase price among business assets, and to establish values of partners' ownership interest for buy-sell agreements. Additionally, Business Appraiser expertise is sought for legal and other business needs such as to resolve ties or deadlocks among shareholders, as well as legal contest of values of estates.
Find Relevant Experience and Legal Knowledge at Iwanyshyn & Associates: Practicing law effectively requires a strong knowledge of the law and the ability to use that knowledge to successfully resolve client problems. In the area of family law, it is also important to not only understand the law, but to also understand the financial and emotional aspects of the problems our clients are facing in order to better resolve their issues in an effective way.
The circumstances surrounding a business valuation are important to know and understand, these are referred to as the premise of value and standard for business valuation. Standards can range from “fair market value” to “investment value” to “intrinsic value”. Iwanyshyn & Associates understands these differences, the pros and cons of each, and how to use them.
Courts have been known to appoint a Forensic Accountant such as Deborah Iwanyshyn as the expert executing a business valuation for matters of divorce and trusts.
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