Dec 21
Many of you are in the midst of (and the most diligent of you have already completed!) your holiday shopping, so you have likely encountered one or more “mail-in rebate” offers which caught your discriminating eye. If not, you are in the minority, as one source estimates over $8 billion of rebates were issued to …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/12/the-big-business-of-mail-in-rebates/
Dec 20
This week, PWC released their Global Economic Crime Survey [Click here to see the actual survey]. No company is immune from fraud risk. Significant motivators of fraud are economic pressure, rationalization and opportunity (often described as the “Fraud Triangle”). Although the study reports that account fraud has dropped to 16% compared to 24% in 2009, …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/12/fraud-on-the-rise-in-u-s-companies/
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/12/checking-it-twice-is-a-good-suggestion-beyond-santas-list/
Dec 15
For the first time ever, the cost of the gifts featured in the Christmas carol, “Twelve Days of Christmas,” totals more than $100,000. Financial services company, PNC Wealth Management, just released its 28th annual estimate of the “Christmas price index”, a whimsical economic indicator that tallies the prices of the following basket of Christmas gifts …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/12/the-12-days-of-christmas-a-lesson-in-how-a-complex-appraisal-can-go-astray/
Dec 11
On December 8, 2011, the Federal Reserve released its third quarter 2011 report, “Flow of Funds Accounts in the United States”. A virtual cornucopia of data, the report is 127 pages of detailed tables of assets, liabilities and changes in the U.S. If you are an economic data nerd, it is almost all one could …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/12/federal-reserve%e2%80%99s-statistics-show-pain-at-u-s-households/
Dec 02
Lost profits are typically understood to yield higher damages than reasonable royalties, but this is not always the case. Higher reasonable royalty damages most frequently occur when the patent holder (inventor) is not in a position to exploit the invention by manufacturing the product himself. In such event, (i) there are no realistic profits to …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/12/federal-circuit-again-redefines-a-reasonable-royalty/
Nov 28
On October 25, 2011, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) added regulatory provisions formally recognizing the use of sampling methods in CBP audits, and in importer disclosures. The final regulations do not materially change the proposed regulation issued around two years ago. Statistical sampling is a practical and expeditious way to accurately assess large …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/11/sampling-methods-and-offsets-now-available-in-customs-matters/
Nov 25
When a minority interest in a privately-held company is transferred, a discount from the value of the entire company is calculated to reflect the lack of marketability of such an interest. These discounts for lack of marketability (DLOMs) are important in many estate plans and related transfers. In August, 2011, the IRS publicly released a lengthy practice …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/11/irs-marketability-practice-aid-falls-far-short-of-its-potential/
Nov 20
The District Court appointed an independent expert on the issue of damages pursuant to rarely-used Rule 706 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The report will likely be made public soon. No doubt, the District Court is frustrated by the wide range of damage claims that the parties are offering, and is attempting to reign …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/11/court-appointed-expert-will-likely-have-the-final-word-on-damages-in-oracle-vs-google/
Nov 14
MF Global customers had their accounts frozen after the October 31, 2011 bankruptcy filing. The freezing occurred because, shortly after the bankruptcy filing, MF Global reported that over $600 million of what should have been client-segregated funds were missing. Like the 2008 failures of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch, MF Global fell shockingly …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/11/the-plot-thickens-%e2%80%93-theft-at-mf-global/
Dec 19
“Checking it twice” is a good suggestion beyond Santa’s list…
December 19, 2011
News reporting is notorious for requiring rapid turnaround on emerging stories and budget cuts have certainly increased the pressure. Perhaps as a result, there have lately been a number of glaring mistakes from organizations that pride themselves on their economic and business reporting. For instance, Business Insider recently provided an article regarding “6 Awesome Math Tricks That Will Make Your Life …
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