COMMERCIAL DAMAGES
Fulcrum’s personnel often serve as the “expert witness” to present economic damages calculations in complex commercial litigation. This role is critical because of the complexity of damages calculations, the specialized nature of the work, and the credibility and independence that only a highly credentialed outside witness can provide. It is essential that a damages expert have command of the matter’s complexity, yet be able to present the calculation in a manner understandable to judges and jurors. Fulcrum’s damages experts come from accounting, economics, finance, appraisal, statistics, and other quantitative science backgrounds.
Even when testimony is not required, outside financial advisers are often necessary because most commercial litigation requires a large effort in a short period. Internal resources have other responsibilities in running the ongoing business, and may not have the specialized training necessary to efficiently or appropriately support the litigation plan.
INJURY & EMPLOYMENT DAMAGES
Fulcrum offers a sophisticated interactive model that calculates economic damages associated with personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful termination, failure to promote, and other lost earnings matters. Fulcrum’s proprietary program delivers accurate answers and provides sensitivity analysis at a much lower cost. Our software calculates lost compensation based on government statistics, economic studies, and market conditions. Additional inputs are based on Plaintiff’s demographics and earnings data.
Such economic factors considered in the calculation include those generally accepted in these matters:
- Future earnings and earnings growth
- Value of employment benefits
- Expected work life
- Present value discounts for future investment earnings
If needed, we offer additional services and customization to meet the needs of your particular case or local law.
FORENSIC ACCOUNTING
Fulcrum provides a wide variety of investigations to help ensure that your business is treated fairly.
For example, you may need to know:
- Am I getting all of the royalties owed by my licensee, distributor or other business partner?
- I suspect that an employee, vendor, or business partner is cheating me.
- How can I find out? How much was stolen?
- I am owed an accounting, but I am not getting what is required. How can I obtain the information myself by reconstructing existing records?
- I am potentially purchasing a business but need to know whether the seller’s representations to me are correct.
- Paper records are destroyed. What can I learn through computerized records?
- My business and related records were damaged in a fire or other natural disaster. I have business interruption insurance, but my key records were destroyed and I am too busy rebuilding my business to prepare the detailed claim.
- One of my operating units has possibly prepared fraudulent financial statements. How can I learn what really happened?
VALUATION AND APPRAISAL
Fulcrum’s appraisals are typically used to:
- determine a fair price when purchasing or selling a business or other large asset
- substantiate a tax position
- establish the fairness of a price between related parties or when negotiating a transaction as a fiduciary
- assess business and investment alternatives
- establish damages in litigation
BANKRUPTCY AND RESTRUCTURING
Most companies in financial difficulty require advice to determine what went wrong and what needs to change. After a plan is developed, transitional assistance is needed to implement the most important decisions.
Fulcrum provides:
- Restructuring Advice, both operationally and financially
- Financial Investigations including Fraud Auditing
- Asset Monitoring and Supervision, for Secured Lenders
- Interim Financial Management
- Appraisals for sales of assets and fraudulent conveyance determinations and Fresh Start Accounting
- Insolvency analyses need to prosecute or defend avoiding-power litigation.
- Analyses of feasibility and/or liquidation necessary to advance or defeat a plan of reorganization
WHISTLEBLOWER SYSTEMS
Section 301(4) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”) requires Audit Committees to establish procedures for the collection and resolution of employee complaints covering an extremely broad range of financial and accounting control issues. The system must allow for anonymous and confidential submissions.
Whistle-blower reporting systems are widely considered a best practice for nonprofit organizations. Form 990 now includes disclosure whether the nonprofit has adopted a whistle-blower collection mechanism.
Fulcrum can help you avoid the following pitfalls:
- Most internal whistle-blower solutions (when either collecting or investigating complaints) provide an unacceptably high risk of encouraging retaliation claims. Any money saved by using internal resources is immediately lost when the first retaliation claim occurs.
- By relying on a single collection vehicle (phones), “hotline” services provide an incomplete and mechanical solution that unnecessarily constrains communications.
- By using inflexible and overly simplistic scripts/forms, most outside vendors fail to collect important information.
- By using unskilled personnel to collect the complaints, uninformed or prank calls waste investigation resources, rather than being quickly identified for what they are.
