Erin D. Hollis, Author at Financial Poise

All Articles by Erin D. Hollis

About Erin D. Hollis

Since 2000, Ms. Hollis has worked with advisors and closely-held business owners for valuation needs, and has experience providing valuation advisory and economic analysis services in the areas of litigation, taxation, transactional, and planning purposes, including ESOP valuation. Erin is a Director in the Financial Opinions Group at Marshall & Stevens, a national appraisal firm. She is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) and a prolific author and speaker on the topic of business valuation and a qualified expert witness for litigation matters. She is a member of the Business Valuation Committee of the ASA and a member of the Valuation Advisory Committee of The ESOP Association. Industries of expertise are, but not limited to, wholesale, retail, services, medical, manufacturing, auto dealerships, transportation, construction, and oil and gas.

What Is An ESOP and Do You Want One? Pros and Cons of the Employee Stock Option Plan

June 25, 2019
/ Investors
/ By Erin D. Hollis

Tags: Business Management, Business Planning, Small Business,

Handled well, the ESOP functions as a means of financing the ownership transition of a closely-held business in a tax-favored manner. But it’s not right for everyone.

What is an ESOP?

Tags: Business Management, Business Transition and Exit Planning, Employment & Labor Dynamics, Selling Your Business, Succession Planning,

An Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) is a qualified, defined contribution employee benefit plan, under Sections 401(a) and 4975(e)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code, that invests primarily in the stock of a sponsoring employer company. ESOPs allow employees to acquire an ownership interest in the employer company by participating in the ESOP. An ESOP is unique from other qualified plans in that it may borrow money and engage in related party transactions to acquire company stock from the business owner. As such, the ESOP functions as a means of financing the ownership transition of a closely-held business in a tax-favored manner.

Business Valuation: Expert Analysis Methods in Plain English

Tags: Business Transition and Exit Planning, Selling Your Business, Valuation,

Business valuations are used for a variety of purposes: in transactions, for financial and retirement planning, for taxation, and in connection with litigation. A valuation can be as loose as a guess, to a ‘back of the envelope’ calculation, to a formal opinion rendered by a third-party professional business valuation expert. Although a valuation is commonly considered to be ‘part science, part art’; experts utilize sound financial and time-tested methodologies.