How much is that doggie in the window? Choosing an expert for a standard business valuation engagement (i.e. how much is my business worth?) is not a difficult task as there are a lot of competent business appraisers within that niche to choose from. However, once you move from the standard valuation engagement to engagements that requires a strong background in economics and mathematics (ex. derivatives, guarantees, exotics, complex securities, etc.) the pool of competent candidates shrinks significantly. swiss replica watches That is not to say that the ethically-challenged business appraiser who does not have the skills or the background for the task at hand will not take the assignment. In a perfect world one would hope that this subset of appraisers is the exception rather than the rule but alas this type of malpractice runs rampant in the valuation industry. Below are a few questions that a competent appraiser within this niche should be able to answer quite easily and may assist the unknowing client in separating the wheat from the chaff...
Question #1: What is discrete time and continuous time and how do they differ?
Question #2: How does standard calculus differ from stochastic calculus?
Question #3: What are risk-neutral probabilities and how do they differ from actual probabilities?
Question #4: Explain the Black-Scholes PDE (Partial Differential Equation).
Question #5: Explain bond duration and convexity and the relevant Taylor Series Expansion.
Question #6: Explain numerical integration and under what circumstances it is used.
Question #7: Under what conditions can a square matrix not be inverted?
Please email us for the answers to the questions above and happy hunting!