Michael D. Pakter CA, CPA, CFE, CIRA, CDBV, CFF, MAFF, CVA, CGMA 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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
HP Accounting Services, Inc. is a leading provider of interim and outsourced Financial Management for tech and other companies. A CPA and business valuation firm, they support their clients’ compliance with the IRC 409A and SFAS 123(R) rules, intangible asset valuation, as well as issues involving damage calculations, expert witness services in litigation.
Consulting Services:
Accounting - Bookkeeping (Monthly/Quarterly/Annual), Accounting system setup for new businesses, Personal financial statements, Business Plan Development & Loan Brokerage, Audit Preparation & Liaison, Budgeting
Business Valuation - Purchase Price Allocations — FAS 141R
Mergers & Acquisitions
Business Fraud Prevention
Robert Bates, JD, CPA (Virginia), CFE, CVA, CFO has over 30 years of Financial Management and Accounting experience as a Controller and CFO in various industries. He has been in several industries, including telecom, media, retail and financial services in addition to having consulting experience at startups in the software, technology, and life sciences fields. Mr. Bates specializes in International Accounting, Software Issues, and Obtaining Financing. AS CFO of public companies, he has completed due diligence accounting/reporting for 12 acquisitions, including performing Business Valuations and dealing with FAS 142 issues. Mr. Bates has handled accounting for complex debt instruments including warrants, beneficial conversion feature, and other derivative issues. He has also been responsible for SEC reporting: 10Q’s and 10K’s.
Economic downturns and recessions are notorious for encouraging fraud. As new and prospective fraud examiners, it's imperative that you become aware of the various fraud risks that can occur and the red flags that indicate a fraud in progress.
David Peterson, is a well-recognized ebanking pioneer, with a national reputation as a subject matter expert in Financial Technologies and Electronic Payments. i7strategies was formed to assist companies in the financial industry with determining and achieving their goals. Companies in need of assistance in determining or refining their goals will benefit by using i7strategies for strategic planning.
Our expertise lies in gathering all relevant information and working in conjunction with company executives to “boil down the issues” to reach the critical strategic goals which are crucial to the organization’s success. This “distilling” process can take the form of a brainstorming session, a multi-day strategic planning session, or an ongoing commitment to annual planning with quarterly or monthly follow up.
In certain circumstances, a company will wish to add to its existing talent base to satisfy a short-term but vital need. i7strategies can provide specific expertise across a wide range of operational and management categories, providing timely and focused consulting. By “instilling” targeted subject matter expertise, i7strategies gives companies the ability to avoid lost opportunities and operational errors.
Ian Cullimore, PhD, has over 30 years of hands-on Software and Hardware Development experience. He specializes in handheld devices, palmtops, PDAs, low power embedded systems, and Internet server technologies.
Background - Dr. Cullimore has held many employment and consulting posts as a software/hardware developer and inventor. He invented the world's first pocket PC which he licensed to Atari as the 'Portfolio'. He is also the co-inventor of the 'Poqet PC', acquired by Fujitsu. Dr. Cullimore is an experienced hi-tech CEO/CTO, yet still very hands-on with respect to architecture and coding. He has many years of experience both in the UK and California (Silicon Valley and LA) in companies ranging from small startups to large corporations, and in building and managing software and hardware teams.
An entrepreneur and start-up and young company specialist, Dr. Cullimore has helped to raise Angel and VC rounds, and has taken startups to exit. He has much experience interfacing with Boards, Investors, and sales/marketing/bizdev groups.
Litigation Support - Dr. Cullimore has a long track record as a Patent and Software / Hardware Expert Witness. His experience includes 19 cases, 16 written Expert Reports, 7 Depositions, and 1 trial. His services are available to attorneys for both plaintiff and defendant.
Stephen (Steve) T. Hopper, PE, is Founder and Principal of Inviscid Consulting. Over more than three decades, Steve has helped hundreds of clients plan and streamline their warehousing, logistics, manufacturing, and distribution operations by driving down operating costs, boosting capacity, improving service levels, mitigating risk, implementing effective supply chain solutions, emphasizing safety, and enhancing the performance of their supply chain resources: people, processes, inventory, facilities, equipment, material handling systems, transportation assets, and supply chain information technology (IT). He has worked with clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 corporations.
Steve earned a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering (BIE) degree from The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and is a board-certified, licensed, registered Professional Engineer (PE). He has served as an expert witness on dozens of cases involving supply chain operations in the US, Canada, and Australia and has advised private equity and venture capital investors. He has also been interviewed by the supply chain industry media, authored articles for industry publications, and spoken at industry events.
Industry Experience
3PL / Outsourced distribution and fulfillment
Apparel / Footwear
Building materials
Consumer goods
Direct-to-consumer / Ecommerce / Catalog
Food / Beverage / Grocery
Furniture
High-tech / Electronics
Industrial / Automotive / Aerospace
Mining / Drilling
Pharmaceutical / Health and life sciences
Rentals
Retail
Reverse logistics / Returns
Wholesale / General distribution
Supply Chain Solutions Expertise
Warehouse management systems (WMS)
Warehouse control systems (WCS)
Warehouse execution systems (WES)
Slotting and order picking systems
Transportation management systems (TMS)
Labor management systems (LMS)
Order management systems (OMS)
Voice and automatic identification systems
Equipment, automation, robotics, and software used for handling, packaging, storing, and transporting materials
Principal, EJ Janik, CPA, CFF, CFE is a Certified Public Accountant with 40 years of professional experience. He has been engaged as an accounting consultant on issues involving, among other things, public and private company audits, due diligence, fact finding, asset tracing, lost profits analysis, damage analysis, fraud analysis, insurance claims and business valuations. Mr. Janik holds a Master of Science in Accounting from Louisiana State University and a Bachelor of Commerce from Rice University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Janik has provided expert testimony in over 88 matters including testimony in 58 trials or hearings in 8 states. His experience also includes over 23,000 hours of Engineering and Construction auditing and consulting work on construction claims matters involving:
Acceleration
Change Orders
Costs
Defective Plans
Differing Site and Concealed Conditions
Direct Costs
Disruption
Evaluating Claims
Indirect Costs
Overhead
Payroll Fringe Burdens
Profit
Pre-Qualification Filings
Superfund / Hazardous Waste Sites
Terminations
Other Construction Issues
Mr. Janik provides accounting, financial, economic, fraud, and business dispute consulting. He has provided over 150 financial audits and consulted in over 765 business disputes. Janik's clients include Bank of America, Coca-Cola Company, FDIC, General Motors Corporation, IBM, Travelers Insurance, and many more. Specific areas of expertise include:
Jason McDonald, PhD, is an accomplished Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google Ads (AdWords) (PPC), and Social Media Marketing professional - teacher, corporate trainer - with over 20 years of expertise in online media. Dr. McDonald works to strategize with clients all over the world. His consulting services include:
Search Engine Optimization
SEO Page Tags, Density, etc.
Link-Building Campaigns
Landing Page Optimization
Google AdWords / PPC
Ad Strategy vs. Marketing
Campaign Set up & Copywriting
Google Analytics & Metrics
Social Media / Online PR
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
Youtube & Google+ Marketing
e-Newsletters & Press Release
Background Experience - With a BA from Harvard and a PhD from Berkeley, Dr. McDonald began working at a number of San Francisco Bay Area start ups, ranging from Omnibus, Computer Currents, and MW Media. He also wrote freelance for many years with articles appearing in trade journals and press such as EE Times, Dr. Dobb’s, and Software Development Forum. In 1995, he left MW Media and was one of the co-founders of eg3.com.
Today, Dr. McDonald is Senior Editor for content at eg3.com and is responsible for website coverage (keywords), the monthly newsletter, and the series of Insiders’ Guides on topics from RTOS to FPGAs. He also is the Senior SEO Director at the JM Internet Group. The author of the best-selling SEO Workbook, Google Ads (AdWords) Workbook, and Social Media Marketing Workbooks on Amazon, Dr. McDonald currently teaches at Stanford University Continuing Studies and has taught in the past at the Bay Area Video Academy (BAVC), and AcademyX in San Francisco, California.
This book covers 'On Page' and 'Off Page' SEO, the 'new' content marketing, blogging, link-building, social media SEO (including REVIEW MARKETING on GOOGLE and YELP) and every other esoteric technical tactic in plain English for mere mortal such as GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE and GOOGLE ANALYTICS.
This book is a your step-by-step guide on how to market your business on social media, with up-to-date information on how to market on all of the major social media platforms.
This fun-filled Toolbook will identify so many free tools you'll soon have your head spinning. With joy. With elation. With the smug satisfaction that while your competitors are either clueless about social media marketing or paying for high-priced tools produced by self-satisfied smarty pants, you (my friend) will be using FREE tools to create FREE marketing programs on everything from Facebook to Instagram to Pinterest to LinkedIn and more.
Litigation - When a case is not to the point where an expert needs to be designated, clients and attorneys often benefit from consulting with an expert in order to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their case. Our firm offers services in these early stages, allowing the attorney to consider key questions, such as whether or not the case has enough value for litigating, potential settlement value, and often times forming the framework for discovery requests. With our in-depth experience in banking and real estate, we have been able to help our clients identify key issues to investigate in a deposition, consider different complexities of a case, and assist in fact development by suggesting documents or information to request. When we work in this consulting capacity, our communication is covered by the attorney-client privilege, so our clients and attorneys are free to discuss trial strategy without the worry of discoverability. This has allowed us to add value by performing preliminary analyses to assess the viability of different strategic directions for the case.
Bank Negotiation - Situations may arise where you could benefit from the knowledge and experience of an unbiased party in a financial situation. Whether you need help negotiating a short sale on your commercial property, working with the SBA, or renegotiating an operating line of credit with your bank, we can help. Our many years in the banking industry have given us the knowledge and contacts necessary to help you through the transaction. For these situations that require a greater depth of experience than you may have on staff, JBH Real Estate Experts can do the job on a project basis.
Real Estate Brokerage
Jay Hibert is a licensed Real Estate Broker CA DRE #01523075 . He is happy to assist your existing broker, or he can represent you in a transaction. Jay's expertise is in negotiating transactions between buyer and seller, identifying purchase opportunities for 1031 exchange, contract review, and arranging financing.
Keegan Linscott & Associates, PC is a full-service Accounting Firm with more than 27 years of experience providing the highest quality of service to clients through a multi-dimensional team of dedicated and trusted professionals.
Leaders in their industry of practice, the professionals at KLA are Certified Public Accountants, Certified Fraud Examiners, Forensic Accountants, and Certified Insolvency, and Restructuring Advisors. They are committed to providing their clients and community with exceptional service, specializing in such matters as complex commercial litigation, FAR audits, all taxation matters, bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency issues, and fraud detection, investigation, and prevention.
Audit Services - Audits, Reviews, Compilations, Federal Acquisition Regulations
Business Services - Quickbooks, Small Business, Payroll, Part-Time CFO, Cash Flow, Bank Financing, Strategic Business planning, Business Valuation, Succession in Planning, New Business Planning, Non-Profits, Internal Controls
Christopher G. Linscott, CPA, CFE, CIRA, is a Director of Keegan Linscott & Associates and is the Director of Litigation, Forensic Accounting, and Bankruptcy Support Services. He also manages corporate financial audits and tax clients. Mr. Linscott was previously employed with the international CPA firms of Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), and Peat Marwick (now KPMG). He has more than 25 years of experience in public accounting.
Mr. Linscott specializes in the areas of Litigation Support, Bankruptcy Reorganization, Fraud Investigations and Prevention, and Business Consulting. He has served clients in industries including construction, health care, home builders and developers, law firms, manufacturing and distribution, non-profit, professional services, real estate, restaurant franchises, retail service, and wholesale.
Mr. Linscott is a Member of the Arizona Society of CPA's, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, National Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, and a Director of the Board of Directors at Bashas’.
Leonard J. Backer has over 28 years of extensive and successful Furniture Industry experience in all key areas including:
Sourcing
Private Label Production
Product Development
Original Design
Marketing
Branding
Import and Distribution
Vendor Qualification
Supplier Relations
Contract Negotiations
Customer Service
Competitive Analysis
Sales Agreements
Designer Driven Approach
Mr. Backer has executive level perspective in start-up, turnaround and aggressive growth situations with long term industry relations, both domestically and overseas. He specializes in Private Label Manufacturing, Sourcing, and Product Development expertise.
Leonard Backer has provided extensive consulting work on short and long term projects. He has provided consulting work on various topics over the past few years for private equity companies, large branded manufacturers, and independent product designers. Mr. Backer has conducted site visits to 80 overseas and domestic factory operations. Worked closely with independent product designers.
Many restaurants, independent hotels and timeshare resorts have much tighter budgets these days when it comes to purchasing seating for their properties. At the same time, there seem to be many “attractive” options available for their chairs, barstools and benches...
Basic but very important points which could help minimize owners' liability and financial exposure to accident and personal injury claims on their premises.
Grant D. Stiefel, Esq. is a nationally-recognized, full time attorney fee consultant, testifying expert and the principal of Litigation Limited, a boutique legal fee consulting firm
Mr. Stiefel has testified in nearly 100lawsuits, including matters in federal district courts, California trial courts, JAMS/AAA arbitrations, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, State Bar courts, and attorney-client fee arbitrations
He has qualified to testify and has testified live at trials and arbitrations as a designated attorney fee expert
Mr. Stiefel’s methodology for reviewing, auditing and evaluating legal invoices has been cited, approved and adopted by California state and federal courts
He has been retained as a testifying attorney fee expert by the world’s largest law firms, including Reed Smith; McDermott Will and Emery; Jones Day; Sheppard Mullin; Sidely Austin; Dykema Gossett; Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe; and Littler Mendelson, among many others
Mr. Stiefel is a member of the California State Bar and is unique among fee experts in that he practiced law for many years at two of the world’s largest law firms (Akin Gump and K&L Gates)
Mr. Stiefel has managed a multi-billion dollar litigation portfolio and has audited hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees from law firms nationwide since 2008
He has developed and implemented outside counsel billing and case management guidelines for Fortune 500 corporations
He is a California State Bar-approved continuing legal education instructor on attorneys’ fees who has trained hundreds of executives and in-house counsel from a host of Fortune 500 corporations
Mr. Stiefel is qualified as an attorney-client fee dispute arbitrator with the California State Bar’s Mandatory Fee Arbitration program and as a judge pro tem with the California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles
SAMPLE ENGAGEMENTS
Grant Stiefel was the testifying fee expert on a series of fee applications by class counsel in Jones v. Wells Fargo, on behalf of aggrieved California consumers in the first consumer class action brought under the Unruh Act. Relying upon Mr. Stiefel's testimony regarding the reasonableness of hourly rates and overall work performed, the trial court awarded more than $25 million in attorneys' fees to class counsel
The district court for the Central District of California adopted and approved Mr. Stiefel's methodology for identifying and quantifying block-billed, vague and redacted billing entries in cutting Plaintiff's fee request by more than sixty percent in CNS v. Planet, from $4.8 million to $1.9 million
In Vides v. ABM Janitorial Services, the trial court reduced Plaintiff's fee request in a FEHA action by over $1 million based upon Grant Stiefel's expert testimony. Plaintiff moved for an award of $1,578,232.50 in attorneys' fees, which the trial court reduced to $544,183.12. Mr. Stiefel's testimony showed that the hourly rates claimed by Plaintiff's counsel were unreasonable under the circumstances, that excessive time was spent on inter-office communications, and that the matter was overstaffed
LITIGATION LIMITED 3377 W. Clyde Place Denver, CO 80211 (424) 223-8252
"Grant Stiefel draws on his experience as a big firm trial lawyer to help companies save on outside legal fees." -- NALFA (National Association of Legal Fee Analysis)
“Mr. Stiefel’s qualifications as a testifying fee expert cannot seriously be in dispute.” Hon. Michael Paul Lindfield, Los Angeles County Superior Court (Trial Proceedings, February 14, 2014)
mdi Consultants, Inc - Experts in FDA regulatory affairs, quality assurance and ISO 9000 certification. With 6 years in the FDA and 26 years consulting to the industry, mdi Consultants, Inc. has been an invited Speaker worldwide on FDA regulations and policies and has obtained FDA expert status as third party auditors.
OUR APPROACH
We utilize the following three part approach to providing high quality services to our clients:
Unsurpassed consultant experience – we identify and recruit only top quality consultants with deep industry knowledge to provide the most complete and insightful advice to our clients
Up-to-date systems and processes – we have highly defined systems (e.g. manuals, training programs, technical files) and processes (e.g. audit methodologies, 510(k) submission, validations) that are constantly refined and kept current across the ever changing regulatory environment
Involvement in regulation development – we stay ahead of policies by participating in the development of regulation (e.g. HACCP, Scientific Advisor to U.S. Congressmen)
Richard Singer is the leading expert in Golf Facility Operations, Transactions and Valuation Consulting. He has been qualified as an expert witness in cases involving golf course transactions, valuations, liability, economic potential, usual and customary practices and business plan preparation.
Mr. Singer has been the Director of Consulting Services for the National Golf Foundation (NGF) since 1997, and now has a total of 26 years of golf facility consulting experience. He first joined the NGF consulting staff in 1989 as a project analyst after completing his Finance MBA at the University of Florida. Mr. Singer has successfully managed the NGF’s well-known golf consulting practice with an industry-respected track record of success and a reputation for delivering projects on time and on budget.
Mr. Singer’s consulting services for alternative golf facilities have included both new development and operational reviews for driving ranges, putting courses, miniature golf courses, golf learning centers, executive / par-3 courses, and various combinations with other facilities. He co-authored the NGF publication How to Plan, Build and Operate a Successful Golf Range.
Nevium specializes in managing and increasing the value of intellectual property portfolios. You have your business plan; you have your marketing plan…Where is your IP plan? Quite surprisingly, most businesses don’t have an IP plan; nonetheless even know the total contents of their IP portfolio. At Nevium, we manage and monetize intellectual property and intangible assets. We believe these assets need to be identified, organized and managed in order to maximize value.
Nevium specializes in valuing, managing, monetizing and providing expert testimony related to intellectual property. Nevium values IP for business transactions, tax/estate, joint venture negotiations, transfer pricing and bankruptcy.
Nevium builds and manages intellectual asset management strategies for clients who want to monetize their IP. Mr. Bania and Mr. Buss are frequent lecturers on IP valuation and licensing issues and publish articles for numerous industry publications. Areas of expertise include music, apparel, publishing, film, food, automotive, sporting goods, furnishings, advertising, media, photography, retail and not-for-profit.
Consulting Services Include:
IP Management - Nevium Identifies, organizes and values IP and IA
IP Valuation - Nevium values brands, trademarks, copyrights, patents social media and Internet assets for M&A, estate, business transactions, tax and transfer pricing
IP Monetization - Nevium assists with setting royalty rates, building licensing agreements and buying and selling IP
Doug Bania, CLP, Founding Principal, has over a decade of expertise in managing, valuing and monetizing intellectual property. Prior to founding Nevium, Mr. Bania managed 100s of projects related to brands, intellectual property and related intangible assets. He has assisted clients in intellectual property matters related to acquisitions, litigation, bankruptcy, tax, estate, family and marital disputes, and licensing. Mr. Bania delivers presentations and seminars on IP valuation, management, and damages issues for various business and legal entities across the United States.
San Diego Office 415 Laurel Street, Suite 341 San Diego, CA 92101 Telephone: 858-255-4361 Email: info@nevium.com
Los Angeles Office 9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450 Beverly Hills, CA 90210 Telephone: 310-975-3145 Email: info@nevium.com
Based on our knowledge of and ability to analyze and value businesses, valuation professionals are uniquely positioned to provide valuable information to business owners and managers regarding the financial value of their brand assets. In other words, how a company's brand assets are contributing to the company's overall financial performance. This "Special Issue" of The Value Examiner is intended to kick-start the discussion on brand valuation by identifying the opportunities and challenges in completing brand valuation assignments for our clients.
Use of the Internet and social media has become an increasingly essential element of conducting business in the United States and globally, which in turn raises new issues for calculating damages and performing valuations. With almost every business now using the Internet and social media to conduct business, cases of Internet IP infringement, IP misuse, and defamation have increased and evolved. Before the rise of these new media, cases of infringement and defamation typically occurred in print or on television and were visually obvious.
Most of the existing literature on copyright infringement is concerned with the valuation of intellectual property rather than the apportionment of the value that is directly attributable to the intellectual property asset at issue. Further, few of the currently proposed IP valuation methods and little of the literature addressing the determination of damages appears directly applicable to the case of copyright in the context of artistic productions. Within the creative arts, recorded music offers a particularly complex and interesting case within which to explore this issue, as different portions of the relevant copyright to the recorded song may be held by different persons.
Panorama Consulting Group is a technology-agnostic consultancy specializing in Digital Business Transformation and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Implementations for mid- to large-sized private- and public-sector organizations worldwide.
This highly respected firm is 100% independent of software and technology vendor affiliation. They offer a phased and integrated approach to strategy alignment and execution, enabling each client to achieve its unique business transformation objectives by transforming its people, processes, and technology.
Panorama clients include multi-national conglomerates from Amazon Robotics to Valcor Engineering, as well as governmental entities, including state and local governments, municipalities, school districs, state offices of the attorney general, and tribal governments.
Cellular Technology Limited (CTL) is a fast- growing organization in the biotechnology sector. CTL is a pioneer and industry leader in the development, use, and manufacture of standardized tools for specializing in cellular immune assays. CTL was seeking to move to a cloud solution that was industry compliant and validated.
A large capital city in the United States needed to determine the effectiveness of the organizational change management component of its ERP project. The project involved the implementation of Tyler Munis ERP software. The city was experiencing:
Panorama was engaged by the city to perform an assessment of the in-progress ERP implementation. The project had been stopped by the city in October 2019 amidst concerns about the operational readiness of the vendor’s software and the readiness of the city staff to successfully operate the new systems and corresponding processes.
The client was in the process of implementing a new HRMS system and was about a year into implementation when they encountered serious issues with the software during the testing phase. They were concerned that some key business requirements were missed at the beginning of the project and left out of the system’s design and configuration.
The Tribe hired Panorama to assist in selecting software to support its Health Service functions. This software would replace the Tribe’s current health systems. In the first phase of the project, we documented business and technical requirements, reviewed legacy systems, mapped processes, and identified pain points across
A large global retailer in the process of implementing SAP software wanted customized, on-site training for the company's internal resources. The company needed to implement inventory management modules while executing training and communications, but it had a lack of organizational change management experience.
Providing engineering, architecture, construction, and consulting solutions to the global life sciences and advanced technology industries, this firm had recently undergone an internal reorganization of its business units and operations. Each region was following its own processes, and multiple systems were being used. This led to duplicate and inconsistent data.
This multi-billion dollar professional services company was using various, disparate software applications across its worldwide operations. Many of its core business processes were not utilized globally, and dual/triple entry was demonstrated at various sites and in various functional areas.
Project Oversight Case Study: Oil & Gas: Upstream petroleum oil exploration and production company in the Middle East. Company operates several blocks, including one on the Arabian Sea, where crude oil, produced from this
While the company had little technological communication either internally or with its sister firm, the company was growing by leaps and bounds. It needed to modernize its technology and improve its business processes to continue providing outstanding customer service while meeting increased sales demand.
This consumer services company in Denver was using custom software developed in an AS/400 environment. Many of its core business processes were either manual or paper-based, and the company was struggling with the issue of sole dependency on a single employee who understood the legacy systems.
A tax and accounting firm with revenue between $500,000 and $1,000,000, was growing both organically and through acquisition. This firm had a conglomerate of various software. The main financial system (used for time, billing, and financials) was at “end of life,” meaning it was not going to be supported by the vendor in about two years time.
Client Uses environmentally sustainable practices to produce approximately 650,000 tons of chlorine-free, bleach kraft pulp annually. Generates approximately $155 million in annual revenue...
This plastic and rubber injection molding company processes orders using both a made-to-order process and engineer-to-order process. The company engineers to order through a variety of CAD systems and must undergo first article inspections prior to running production batches.
The district contracted Panorama to help in the replacement of its existing systems with a proven, commercial-off-the-shelf ERP system. The client undertook this initiative to replace aging systems, gain efficiencies and update existing processes. Another goal was to improve the timeliness, accuracy, safeguarding and consistency of information
The client was moving from manual processes and old systems to a modern system, so their employees faced a big learning curve. Unfortunately, their ERP vendor only provided them with a “jump start” program that only covered particular deliverables and activities. For example, they provided an overall communication approach but not a communication plan.
Not long ago, this global organization had implemented an ERP system across several aerospace and defense manufacturing plants. It was now considering an upgrade to the latest version of the system. However, the organization knew its end-users were still struggling to adopt the changes instituted by the prior initiative. Panorama deployed two organizational change management experts
The organization was founded in 1981 as a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. It does not just encompass a non-profit organization but also encompasses a for-profit company that has a different fiscal year. As such, the organization must focus on tracking, reporting and financial record keeping – including tracking grants and gifts from contributor to the end-product or support delivered.
Panorama was engaged by the city to select and assist in the implementation of a new ERP and related systems. Framed as an initiative to bring a high “return on citizenship” (the amount and quality of services received for taxpayer dollars) to the city’s constituents, the project’s goal was to implement a platform that would provide the same (or better) quality
The city had been using a decades-old ERP solution and had not evaluated their business processes at any point during that time. Not only was the current ERP system not the best fit for their municipality, but the city was spending an inordinate amount of money on maintenance costs for customization and did not take advantage of instituting best practices or current technology.
Vertical integration allows the company to control all aspects of beef production. It partners with ranchers and operates feed lots, ensuring cattle are fed to their standards. In addition to its processing capabilities, the company operates its own trucking line, providing products from farm to table. The company supplies beef to the US retail grocery and foodservice markets, federal school lunch programs and the US military worldwide.