Acquiring another company and merging it with your business can be the most efficient way to grow. But many acquisitions don’t pay off and it’s often management issues — not market conditions — that get in the way. Here are eight key strategies that spell the difference between success and failure in mergers and acquisitions, no...

Those of you reading this article every year must think we sound like a broken record, not much changes here. Much of what we expected to see over the last year continues to be what we expect over the coming year. Mergers: The mergers just keeping coming. Across the Midwest (IA, NE, SD, MN &...

Accounting for mergers under the old accounting rules wasrelatively straightforward. To form the combined entity, the book values of the acquiring and acquired credit unions were added together. Beginning in January 2009, this “pooling of interests” accounting was replaced with the more complex “purchase accounting.” Under the purchase accounting rules, the acquired credit union and...

When a deal is pending, the best negotiators know that the goal isn’t to scoop up everything and leave the other side with little or nothing. The real goal is generally to exchange items of value so that both sides leave satisfied they have protected their basic interests and made a deal that benefits their companies....

This is an article we have been drafting for several years now. As much as we want to provide you some profound insight into what we see coming down in the next year, this will sound like a re-run. Much of what we expected to see over the last year continues to be what we...

Sales were lower, steady and higher depending on year end – grain volumes rebounded for the most part but grain and agronomy commodity prices were lower. Lower grain margins; inverses and less opportunity to capture carries in the market. Drying revenues up based on 2013 harvest, more agronomy acres covered. Expenses continue to grow –...