This is a webcast of the live New York session.Why you should attend
The ability to identify and appropriately use financial and accounting information is relevant to a wide range of legal and regulatory matters for attorneys and allied professionals. Litigators and transactional attorneys alike will benefit from this practical course designed specifically for non-accountants and taught by members of the nation’s top accounting, tax and advisory firms, leading law firms, in-house counsel and universities.
What you will learn
- Key factors shaping financial reporting
- Foundational finance, accounting and economics terminology and principles
- How to “navigate” and understand the basic financial statements - the balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows and statement of shareholders’ equity
- Practical corporate finance concepts, including financial ratios and analysis
- The use of valuations in business transactions and fairness opinions, as well as in common claims and defenses in litigation
- Strategies for uncovering fraud in financial statements
Special Features
- Earn one hour of Ethics credit
- Earn Skills credit
- Designed specifically for non-accountant attorneys and allied professionals
- Case studies and practical examples employed throughout the program
Who should attend
External and in-house attorneys and allied professionals who work with financial information, whether in the course of litigation or in business transactions, will benefit from this program.
PLI Group Discounts
Groups of 4-14 from the same organization, all registering at the same time, for a PLI program scheduled for presentation at the same site, are entitled to receive a group discount. For further discount information, please contact membership@pli.edu or call (800) 260-4PLI.
PLI Can Arrange Group Viewing to Your Firm
Contact the Groupcasts Department via email at groupcasts@pli.edu for more details.
Cancellations
All cancellations received 3 business days prior to the program will be refunded 100%. If you do not cancel within the allotted time period, payment is due in full. You may substitute another individual to attend the program at any time.
All times are E.D.T.
DAY ONE: 9:00 a.m. - 5:15 p.m. (E.D.T.)
Morning Session: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (E.D.T.)
9:00 Opening Remarks and Introduction
James J. Agar, Ewa Knapik, Dana G. McFerran
9:15 Key Factors Shaping Financial Reporting
- Objectives of financial reporting
- Basic accounting terms and concepts
- Overview of authoritative financial accounting literature
- SEC-registered and public company vs. private company accounting and reporting
- Compilations, reviews and audits
- Accounting vs. auditing
- Other key factors
Bradley McGrath, Mark S. Radke
10:15 Networking Break
10:30 A Detailed Look at Basic Financial Statements
- The purpose of financial statements
- Reporting to stakeholders
- Comparability
- Basic Financial Statements
- Income Statement
- Balance Sheet
- Statement of Cash Flows
- Statement of Shareholders’ Equity
- Accounting fundamentals and core concepts
- Matching principle, accrual method
- Historical cost, fair value
- Estimation and judgment
- Case Study: Business Transactions
- The mechanics of accounting
- Impact to financial statements
- Disclosures and footnotes
- How to read financial statements
Steven L. Skalak, Sandra Maria T. Parrado
12:00 Lunch Break
Afternoon Session: 1:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. (E.D.T.)
1:15 Practical Elements of Finance
- Discounted cash flow (DCF)
- Net present value (NPV)
- Internal rate of return (IRR)
- Discount rate
Nels Pearsall, Dubravka K. Tosic
2:30 Networking Break
2:45 Capital Structure
- Overview of capital structure theories
- Common financing alternatives - debt, equity and hybrids
- Factors affecting capital structure
- Sources of funding
- Stock buy-backs
Shaan Elbaum, Christopher Rhodes
3:45 Legal and Accounting Perspectives on Securities Fraud and Financial Accounting and Reporting Irregularities
- The “Dark Side” of Fraud and Earnings Management: the “what,” “how” and “why” of improper manipulation of reported earnings and results of operations
- Recent securities fraud cases and their legal and accounting implications
- Current legal and accounting issues regarding frauds by SEC registrants
- Whistleblowing after Dodd-Frank
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) enforcement
- The state of internal corporate investigations
Daniel V. Dooley, Sr., Patricia A. Etzold
5:15 Adjourn
DAY TWO: 9:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. (E.D.T.)
Morning Session 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (E.D.T.)
9:00 Valuation Application and Methodologies
- Concept of Value
- Historical Financial Analysis
- Overview of valuation approaches
- What to look for in a valuation
- Valuation applications: M&A, Fairness opinions, disputes, commercial damages, debt capacity, etc.
Philip J. Antoon, Jeffrey L. Rothschild
10:30 Networking Break
10:45 Managerial Accounting Basics
- Key differences between financial accounting and managerial accounting
- Cost classifications and their impact on managerial decisions
- Cost behavior: understanding variable and fixed costs
- Cost-volume profit analysis
- Critical performance metrics, including ROI and residual income
- Inventory costing options and their impact on profitability and comparability
- Ratio analysis
Jonathan Doherty
12:00 Lunch Break
Afternoon Session: 1:00 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. (E.D.T.)
1:00 Solvency, Restructuring and Bankruptcy
- State of the capital markets and outlook
- Analysis of indicators and causes of financial distress
- Solvency
- Liquidity
- Financing
- An overview of the restructuring process and alternatives
- Out-of-court
- Chapter 11 reorganization
- Impact on constituents (employees, creditors, suppliers, customers)
- Real estate considerations
Richard J. Bernard, Ford R. Phillips
2:00 Closing Business Transactions
- A detailed look at negotiation
- How to divide-and-conquer when working with an investment bank
- Common stumbling blocks to closing transactions
- Examination of “fringe” deal issues that often create transaction friction
Gabriel Saltarelli, Bartholomew A. Sheehan, III
3:00 Networking Break
3:15 Practical and Ethical Considerations for Corporate Transactions Today
- Reconciling deal considerations with ethical obligations
- Common pitfalls associated with drafting transaction documents
- Ethical negotiation of representations and warranties
- Post-acquisition considerations
Jennifer A. Paradise, Bartholomew Sheehan, III
4:45 Adjourn
Co-Chair(s)
Ewa Knapik ~ Director, Advisory Forensic Services, PwC
Speaker(s)
Program Attorney(s)
PLI makes every effort to accredit its Live Webcasts. Please check the CLE Calculator above for CLE information specific to your state.
PLI's Live Webcasts are approved for MCLE credit (
unless otherwise noted in the product description) in the following states/territories: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho*, Illinois, Indiana
1, Iowa*, Kansas*, Kentucky*, Louisiana, Maine*, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire*, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York
2, Ohio
3, Oklahoma, Oregon*, Pennsylvania
4, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia
5, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming*.
*PLI will apply for credit upon request.
Arizona: The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement.
Arkansas and Oklahoma: Audio-only live webcasts are not approved for credit.
1Indiana: Considered a distance education course. There is a 6 credit limit per year.
2New York: Newly admitted attorneys may not take non-transitional course formats such as on-demand audio or video programs or live webcasts for CLE credit. Newly admitted attorneys not practicing law in the United States, however, may earn 12 transitional credits in non-traditional formats.
3Ohio: To confirm that the live webcast has been approved, please refer to the list of Ohio’s Approved Self Study Activities at http://www.sconet.state.oh.us. Online programs are considered self-study. Ohio attorneys have a 6 credit self-study limit per biennial compliance period. The Ohio CLE Board states that attorneys must have a 100% success rate in clicking on timestamps to receive ANY CLE credit for an online program.
4 Pennsylvania: A live webcast may be viewed individually or in a group setting. Credit may be granted to an attorney who views a live webcast individually. There is a 4.0 credit limit per year for this type of viewing. A live webcast viewed in a group setting receives live participatory credit if the program is open to the public and advertised at least 30 days prior to the program. Live webcasts viewed in a group setting that do not advertise at least 30 days prior the program will be considered "in-house", and therefore denied credit.
5Virginia: All distance learning courses are to be done in an educational setting, free from distractions.
Running time and CLE credit hours are not necessarily the same. Please be aware that many states do not permit credit for luncheon and keynote speakers.
Note that some states limit the number of credit hours attorneys may claim for online CLE activities, and state rules vary with regard to whether online CLE activities qualify for participatory or self-study credits. For more information, refer to your state CLE website or call Customer Service at (800) 260-4PLI (4754) or email: info@pli.edu.
If you have already received credit for attending some or the entire program, please be aware that state administrators do not permit you to accrue additional credit for repeat viewing even if an additional credit certificate is subsequently issued.