Expert witness work: Sub-Specialties
I have various areas of sub-specialty, as a result of working on multiple cases in the area, or having many hours of education or work experience in the areas.
Expert Witness Sub-Specialties | CPA,
CVA, CFE, Esq.
Expert Witness Work: Sub-Specialties
I get hired as an expert witness because I’ve done the
underlying job for 35 years – Controller, CFO, board member, valuation analyst,
fraud examiner. Most of my work falls into 14 patterns where that background
matters under Sargon.
Here are my sub-specialties:
1. CPA / CFO Malpractice, Fiduciary Duty, Board Standard
of Care
Opinions on GAAP departures, tax standard of care, fiduciary duties of officers
and directors, and business judgment rule. I evaluate what a reasonably prudent
CPA/CFO would have done, causation, and damages. As a former CFO who has
supervised audits and sat on 6 public boards, I opine on both the accounting
and the governance failure.
2. Securities – SEC Reporting and Disclosures
SEC reporting including 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, S-1, and offering documents. I’ve led
5 IPOs/DPOs and raised $35M in debt and equity. I opine on material
misstatements, adequacy of disclosures, and reliance.
3. Usury, Debt, and Banking
Usurious lending, complex debt structures, loan participations, and lender
liability. I reconstruct effective interest rates, default interest, fees, and
damages under California usury law.
4. Business Valuation – Business, Goodwill, IP
Over 50 valuations for 409A, purchase price allocation (ASC 805), shareholder
disputes, buy-sell agreements, and marital dissolutions. I value businesses,
personal goodwill, and intellectual property as of varying dates.
5. Forensic Accounting – Partnership and Partition
Forensic reconstruction of books, cash diversion, partnership accounting, and
partition actions. I follow the money through POS, bank statements, and sales
tax returns to calculate what was taken and when it was discoverable.
6. Divorce – Business Valuation and Cash Flow
Valuation for community property, Pereira/Van Camp apportionment, and available
cash flow for support. I coordinate FMV as of date of separation with family
law counsel on goodwill and double-dip issues.
7. Torts – Personal Injury, Employment, Conversion,
Defamation
Economic damages: lost earnings, lost profits, mitigation, and present value.
Employment matters include wrongful termination, wage and hour, and
commissions.
8. Contract Breaches – Damages, Lost Profits, Non-Compete
I tie damages to California contract remedies: expectation, reliance,
restitution, and liquidated damages under Civil Code 1671. Lost profits,
avoided costs, and earnout/ working capital adjustments in M&A purchase
agreements.
9. M&A – Representations, Working Capital, Earnouts
I’ve been the CFO explaining a missed forecast to a board. I opine on working
capital true-ups, earnout accounting, and whether a seller’s financials
complied with GAAP as represented.
10. Referee / Receiver / Accounting Referee
Appointed as accounting referee (including an engagement from the Supreme Court
of Sri Lanka). I handle complex accountings where the court needs a CPA to sort
out the numbers.
11. Dental and Healthcare Practices
Multiple dental practice matters – purchase/sale disputes, income
misrepresentation, theft of shares/conversion, and valuation as of different
dates. I understand production/collection, hygiene, and associate compensation
models.
12. Trust Law / Elder Abuse Calculations
Accounting for breach of fiduciary duty by trustee, conservator, or
power-of-attorney holder. Damage calculations including tracing, surcharge, and
Penal Code 496(c) considerations.
13. Cannabis, Restaurants, and Other Cash-Intensive
Businesses
Cannabis (IRC 280E issues, cash controls), restaurants (POS, comps, tip
reporting), and other businesses where sales tax returns and bank deposits tell
the real story.
14. Sports / Entertainment
Royalty accounting, profit participation, and use of image/likeness.
How I Work
My reports are drafted to comply with CCP 2034.260 expert
disclosure and to survive a Sargon/Daubert challenge. Exhibits are prepared in
admissible form under Evidence Code 1271 business records exception, not just
Excel dumps.
If you’re an attorney looking for a CPA expert witness who
is also a California attorney, I can usually tell you in a 15-minute call
whether I have a niche fit and what documents to request.
Contact me at hpaccounting.com/contact.
I will examine several of these categories here.
Dental
I am currently working on a dental case, after having worked on multiple cases in the same area. This case is about a dentist who left a practice that he had purchased part of due to the fact that he wasn’t making much money.
There are valuation issues in the case-each time I value the business as of a different date I get a similar result. At issue here are things such as theft of shares/conversion. Perhaps another thing should have been plead-misrepresentation of material facts as the purchaser didn’t know his income would drop dramatically-if he had known he likely wouldn’t have made the acquisition.
CPA standard of care/tax
I’m also working on a tax case in which the CPA overstated income, resulting in a $700k extra tax bill for plaintiff. The main issues seem to be related to statute of limitations-when should plaintiff have discovered the issue (perhaps never?) and the subsequent CPA’s work. There is a noticeable lack of focus on the original CPA-why was the error made and responsibilities for damages as a result. Apparently insurance wasn’t notified in time so that’s one less avenue for recovery.
Specifically, the subsequent CPA regurgitated the incorrect numbers to a state tax auditor on an unrelated matter. The question seems to be-was he supposed to audit what he was reporting? It doesn’t seem reasonable to me, but rather seems a way to point fingers. The error was somewhat ‘hidden in plain site’-meaning once a CPA is told about it it’s much easier to discover (absent an audit).
It will be interesting to see how these cases resolve. Also currently working on a Cannabis case, two employment ones, a military one, another CPA malpractice case and a restaurant one. Currently talking with attorneys about a new partition engagement and other forensic/valuation work.