One of my favorite accounting professors, Dr. Larry Watkins, PhD, CPA, retired last year from Northern Arizona University, where I took many accounting courses before finishing up & graduating from Arizona St University in Tempe. In the years after I got my ASA and before he retired, we got together a few times for what CPAs think of as fun.
In the fall of 2012, Larry arranged for me to talk with students in an Advanced Accounting Case Studies class at NAU’s W.A. Franke College of Business. The presentation, officially labeled as Accounting Issues and Machinery and Equipment Appraisals, allowed me to share with the business students how their training and skill sets could fit into the appraisal profession. I did point out that most CPAs in the appraisal profession are Business Valuation appraisers; I may be the only MTS ASA, CPA. Very few of them were even aware of the possibilities that the appraisal profession can offer business students so they had a lot of questions. Eventually Larry had to run them off to their next class and we got to have a visit.
That visit inspired us to collaborate on an article that was published as “Case Study: Appraisers for Acquisition Accounting” in the March 2015 issue of International Research Journal of Applied Finance. You can find it here on our publications page. This was a fun case study to put together with Larry and I appreciate his professional generosity.
Although the 2020 dairy outlooks is considered “somewhat better than 2019,” this case study of the fictionalized Morning Dew Dairy could be more pertinent now than it was in 2015. It addresses some practical accounting considerations in the acquisition of a closely-held integrated dairy products operation and in the subsequent disposal of a portion of the acquired assets, especially the accounting implications of asset disposal in light of the initial acquisition accounting. The use and oversight of appraisers for determining fair value amounts necessary for acquisition accounting is also examined in the article.
It’s helpful when producing appraisals for fair value and business acquisition to understand the CPA side of the equation. As a CPA, and KPMG audit department alumni, I have a good understanding of IFRS and FASB Financial Reporting Standards. CPAs, CFOs and audit firms depend on our equipment appraisals for a variety of financial accounting uses, particularly purchase price allocations, fresh start accounting and mark to market valuations. If you’d like to talk with me about how NorCal Valuation can help you with your appraisal needs, give me a call.
Jack Young, ASA—MTS/ARM, CPA
KPMG audit department alumni
NorCal Valuation Inc.
