RABCPA PC Blog
Authors Note
Robert A. Bonavito is a forensic accountant with over 30 years’ experience in dealing with employee theft issues and has investigated for and testified in both civil and criminal actions involving employee theft.
Correspondence to this paper should be addressed to Robert A. Bonavito, Scotch Plains, New Jersey. Email robert@rabcpafirm.com
Posted July 25, 2018 by Robert A Bonavito in Forensic Accounting
The valuation of companies seems to be very difficult, but much of the difficulty is self-imposed. The way I value a company is just like any other investment. How much actual cash are you going to get over the life of the investment? When you own a company or stock, its value depends on its dividend and the cash you get when you sell the company. One simple way to calculate value is to take the dividend and divide by your capitalization rate. For example, if you have a dividend of $1,000 per year and your capitalization rate is 8% the company’s value is $12,500. Posted July 19, 2018 by Robert A Bonavito in Business Valuations
Many people ask me what it takes to be considered a good forensic accountant. Surprisingly many of the attributes that make someone a good forensic accountant are not typically sought out in the business world.
For example, one of the most important things is that you think differently than the rest of the people.
You need to have to understand on a PhD level many aspects of finance, accounting and business. You need to understand statistics, marketing, accounting, finance, and pretty much everything else. Your writing skills and mathematical skills need to be second to none. I Typically like to see someone who went to a good public or state college, followed up with a Masters in Finance and additional coursework at a good ivy school like Harvard University.
The third thing is you need to have physical stamina and have been tested especially during early years from age 8 to 18. It is important to have played competitive sports such as football, soccer, wrestling and mixed martial arts
The fourth thing is time travel. You need to be able to travel forward and backward in time. A lot of what we do requires us to go back and figure out what happened decades or even hundred years in the past and then carry that forward to the future. Posted July 10, 2018 by Robert A Bonavito in Forensic Accounting
