Are Those Losses Real? This is How You Find Out

losses

Hey everyone,

Whether you’re running a business or buying one, it’s important to understand losses. By “losses”, I mean when expenses exceed sales. In simplest terms, it’s when the income statement or profit and loss shows a negative number. You don’t need to immediately panic. You need to review the causes.

Here’s my list for non-accountants:
-> Are there personal expenses? (Pull those out).
-> Is it a Tax loss or a Cash loss? (You care about Cash).
-> Cash losses can’t keep going unless more money is invested or borrowed.

Or, stated another way…
-> Is the business worth more “alive than dead?” (Supporting a family without more debt, capital, or fraud).
-> How much cash is going in the owner’s pocket? (Assuming they’re following the rules).

Yes, there’s a lot more I could teach you about accounting if you had the time. But you don’t, so this will put you ahead of 90% of the world.

Thanks,
Josh

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Can I Help You?

Hi, I’m Josh Horn, CPA, CVA of Horn Valuation. I help with business valuations in friendly or unfriendly situations. I also help owners build valuable companies. My clients are business owners and attorneys. If you’d like more information, check out my website hornvaluation.com, email me at [email protected], or call me at 217-649-8794.

Josh Horn CPA

I’m a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and credentialed in business valuation (CVA). I’ve been a tax and business consultant in a top 100 CPA firm and a controller in a large international company. I’ve also valued and been the primary advisor to multi-million dollar and small companies in various industries.

“If you’re not working on business value, who is?” Josh Horn, CPA and Certified Valuation Analyst

Don’t Gamble with Divorce Tax Returns

gamble

If you’re concerned about using a business tax return for child support, maintenance, and assets in your divorce case, you’re in the right place. It’s a dangerous gamble unless you know what to do. Learn how you can spot the seven red flags and fix them. We begin with a typical business tax return, walk through the red flag adjustments step-by-step, and quantify the impact. You’ll be amazed how much you could be leaving on the table.

The Seven Red Flags of Business Tax Returns guide is here. This is a bullet-point instruction document that defines the seven red flags, provides guidance on why the red flag matters, and gives you detailed steps to fix each red flag. Don’t skip these steps if you’re using a business tax return in divorce.

Secure link to the video here or on YouTube here:

Call me if you would like to discuss valuing a business in divorce or litigation.

Thank you,
Joshua L. Horn, CPA, CVA
Horn Valuation
Phone: 217-649-8794
Email: [email protected]
2901 Boardwalk Dr., Suite A, Champaign, IL 61822

Horn Valuation is for attorneys, judges, and business owners who believe there’s an easier way to settle business disputes and want to work with a valuation expert using fixed fees. I’ve been a CPA since 1999, a certified valuation analyst since 2008, and valued mom and pops to multi-million-dollar businesses. Call me today if you’re interested in working together on a valuation solution.

Not Knowing This Will Cost You Big Time

big time

Recently, I’ve run into some situations where someone was trying to value a business by cobbling the assets together as the only method.  This is Part 1 of a series addressing goodwill in a business.  

Picture a business as a plain old plastic bucket.  And into that bucket, we’re going to pour things like industry expertise, a talented workforce, and maybe some patents or trade secrets.  Then, we’re going to take our “business bucket” and go out into the world and start “watering seeds” and watching the business grow.  Can you see the stuff we put in our bucket?  No, you can’t see it.  Is the bucket much more valuable than the empty piece of plastic we started with?  You bet.  And that’s what goodwill is.  It’s that “invisible stuff” that is not recorded on the business’ books and records but drives a good portion of the business’ value.

Why is this important when valuing a business?

  • A business can easily represent over 90% of a family’s net worth.
  • Unless the business is worth more “dead than alive”, if you value it using only the visible assets, you’ve valued the empty bucket.  You’ve massively undervalued the business and forgot about goodwill.  (Identify)

Why is this important in a family law (divorce) setting when a business is an asset?

  • If the business has goodwill, you may be required to determine how much there is to meet the standards of your jurisdiction. (Quantify)
  • You may then need to split the goodwill into enterprise and personal pieces. Why?  Because enterprise goodwill is marital property and personal goodwill is not marital property in states such as Illinois where I live.  (Allocate)

Business valuation skills and judgement are essential to identify, quantify, and allocate goodwill.  Not knowing how to handle goodwill will cost you big time.

If you’d like to see this concept above on video:  https://goo.gl/y2Q6qA
If you’d like to see a video of how to quantify goodwill:  https://goo.gl/aUds5k
If you’d like to see a video of personal goodwill factors:  https://goo.gl/VhRKVz

Or email me at [email protected] and I’ll send you all 3 video links in secure and downloadable format.  Let me know if you want to talk about goodwill in business valuation or family law.

Call me if you would like to discuss valuing a business in divorce or litigation.

Thanks,
Joshua L. Horn, CPA, CVA
Horn Valuation
Phone: 217-649-8794
Email: [email protected]
Website: hornvaluation.com
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Horn Valuation is for attorneys,  judges, and business owners who believe there’s an easier way to settle business disputes and want to work with a valuation expert using fixed fees. I’ve been a CPA since 1999, a certified valuation analyst since 2008, and valued mom and pops to multi-million-dollar businesses. Call me today if you’re interested in working together on a valuation solution.