The decision to end a marriage is a messy affair that becomes undoubtedly more complicated when the division of property includes a business that must be valued.  In these cases, determining a fair value for the business is best left in the hands of a forensic accounting expert who has experience serving as a marital dissolution accountant and a business valuation expert.

“The issues that have to be considered in a business valuation during divorce proceedings are complex and numerous,” said David Anderson, principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides marital dissolution and business valuation services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.  “It usually begins as an educational process in which the forensic accountant must explain to the spouses and their attorneys how a forensic accounting expert addresses valuation issues in a divorce.”

In general, four key business valuation issues arise repeatedly in marital dissolutions, said Anderson, a Certified Valuation Analyst and marital dissolution accountant in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.  They are:

• The cost of the in-spouse’s services to the business being valued (the in-spouse is the spouse who owns the business interest being valued as opposed to the out-spouse who does not have ownership in the business);
• Personal goodwill and its impact on the business being valued;
• The presence and impact of unreported cash sales;
• Personal expenses charged to the business.

This article, the third of a four-part series, will explore the issue of unreported cash sales and their impact on business valuation.

During divorce proceedings, an out-spouse will often tell the divorce accountant that the in-spouse’s business has unreported cash sales, explained Anderson, a divorce accountant and business valuation expert who provides a full range of forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.  The forensic accountant must determine if the claim is true, and, if so, the amount of the unreported sales.  This is accomplished by performing a variety of analyses, including:

• Investigating deposits into the in-spouse’s bank and investment accounts to determine how much of the deposits were cash;
• Analyzing the gross margin of the business (sales less cost of sales) and comparing that gross margin to industry averages; and
• Searching for missing invoice or receipt numbers (very often the in-spouse will complete an invoice or receipt for a cash sale, but not record it on the books of the business).

Other specific analyses also may be required depending on the type of business, said Anderson, a Certified Valuation Analyst forensic accounting expert in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.  These analyses will allow a forensic accountant to confirm or deny the out-spouse’s claim, and, if confirmed, estimate of the unrecorded cash sales to be added to the business’ revenues, he said.

“I once had a case in which the out-spouse told me her husband kept cash from unrecorded sales in his dresser at home,” recalled Anderson, a business valuation expert whose company offers a full range of forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.  “I actually went to the home and counted the cash in the dresser as part of my forensic investigation.”

The final post in this four-part series examining valuation issues forensic accountants consider in divorce cases will deal with personal expenses charged to the business.

If you are in need of a marital dissolution accountant in Philadelphia, or if you require any other services of a forensic accounting expert in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, please contact the Philadelphia forensic accounting firm of David Anderson & Associates by calling David Anderson at 267-207-3597 or emailing him at david@davidandersonassociates.com.

About David Anderson & Associates

David Anderson & Associates is a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of forensic accounting services in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.  The experienced professionals at David Anderson & Associates provide forensic accounting, business valuation, fraud investigation, fraud deterrence, litigation support, economic damage analysis, business consulting and outsourced CFO services.  Company principal David Anderson is a forensic accounting expert in Philadelphia with more than 30 years of experience in financial and operational leadership positions. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Valuation Analyst.  Anderson also has served as a divorce accountant or marital dissolution accountant in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.