Apparel and Textile Conference Series Begins on the Right Foot

Members of the New York State Society of CPAs Apparel and Textile Committee recently participated in an active exchange of ideas and information during the first of three breakfast conferences.

Held Nov. 13, 2001, at the Yale Club in New York City, the well-attended conference yielded helpful insight into the legal arena, featuring a lively question- and-answer session between the audience and the invited speakers. Those speakers included Charles Klein, Esq., of Davidoff & Malito LLP, and Richard Kestenbaum, MBA, founder of Kestenbaum Associates LLC. Paul D. Schuldiner, CPA, a national business development director for Transcap Trade Finance and chair of the committee, hosted the event.

Klein discussed the keys to successful fashion licensing and spoke about the issues that face licensors and licensees. He emphasized that brand building is crucial to attaining success in the fashion industry. Licensing is also dependent upon choosing the right brand, the right partner, and the right agent for seeking good licensees and negotiating the business terms of the transaction. A talent for setting royalties, distributing, pricing, and advertising comes in handy, too, according to Klein.

Kestenbaum focused on the current environment for mergers and acquisitions as well as the process of selling a company. He stressed the client’s need to grow business and emphasized the significance of valuing a company according to its uniqueness, trademark or brand, management team, geographic location, production facilities, and ability to reduce expenses or increase revenues.

There are many steps to selling a company, Kestenbaum said. Among those, the seller needs to understand the business of the company and make a list of prospective buyers. Then the seller should try and establish a good relationship with the buyer(s) and work toward generating offers, playing buyers against one another, signing a letter of intent, negotiating a definitive agreement, and, finally, closing the deal. Kestenbaum said current buyers are part of an uncertain environment and fall into one of three categories: bottom fishers, financial and strategic. Addbacks, or unrelated personal expenses, confidentiality and intermediaries are all matters of concern for the seller, he added.

Contact Annette Davis, NYSSCPA CPE manager, at (212) 719-8305 or adavis@nysscpa.org for information on upcoming Apparel and Textile Committee breakfast conferences that are scheduled to take place on Jan. 22 and in May.