FVC2142. The Business Valuator "Hired Gun": The Rogue, the Bad, and the Ugly

This session will describe the role of CPAs and Business Valuators who should provide expert testimony under the Rules of Evidence, Civil Procedure, and Professional Conduct, but where the expert has instead become a paid "hired gun" for their client. The presenter has given expert testimony in over 180 cases and will discuss judicial decisions relating to financial valuation and damage quantification where the court admonished the CPA or Business Valuator for conduct unbecoming, such as "please-my-patron" bias, lack of impartiality, intellectual dishonesty, advocacy, or violation of the Rules. This session will cite from numerous cases in which courts have expressed their outrage regarding certain expert witness testimony and will suggest how to insulate against attack by the cross-examiner.

Learning Objectives:

• Distinguish between the expectations and requirements that apply to the expert who prepares a financial expert's report, and the expert's respective obligations to the client and to the court
• Distinguish between a valuation report prepared for non-dispute purposes and an expert's report prepared for litigation.