Accountants' Handbook Volume Two: Special Industries and Special Topics, Eleventh Edition

Chapter 47. FINANCIAL EXPERT WITNESS CHALLENGES AND EXCLUSIONS: RESULTS AND TRENDS IN FEDERAL AND STATE CASES SINCE KUMHO TIRE

Lawrence F. Ranallo, CPA

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Keith R. Ugone, PhD

Analysis Group, Inc

INTRODUCTION^[80]

Complex business disputes often require complex financial expert witness testimony. Depending on the nature of the case or the cause of action, financial expert witness testimony could cover a very broad range of accounting, financial, and economic topics. These topics might include historically based analyses, such as the insolvency date of a business or the past profitability of a business. Alternatively, the financial expert witness might testify regarding certain counterfactuals, such as the profitability of a business in the absence of an alleged wrongful act. Finally, a financial expert witness might even testify on economic causation issues, including the impact of market-related events (i.e., industry downturns or increased competition) on the profitability of a business.^[81]

Hence, depending on the facts and circumstances of a business dispute, financial expert witnesses could have a number of interwoven important roles. The financial expert witness could provide the trier of fact with guidance as to the economic harm the plaintiff may have suffered. Alternatively, the financial expert witness could provide guidance as to the existence/nonexistence of a financial causal linkage between the alleged wrongful conduct and the claimed economic harm. ...