Ervin L. Black, PhD, currently holds the Rath Chair in Accounting and is a Professor of Accounting at the University of Oklahoma. He completed his PhD at the University of Washington in 1995 and has held faculty positions at Brigham Young University, University of Arkansas, and University of Wyoming. Professor Black's research and teaching are primarily in the financial accounting and international accounting areas, with emphasis on examining the usefulness of firm financial characteristics in different settings. Journals in which he has published include The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Accounting Organizations and Society, Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Accounting Horizons, and the Journal of the American Taxation Association. Professor Black is active in the International Accounting and Financial Reporting Sections of the American Accounting Association, having served as president of the International Accounting Section. He currently serves as editor of the Journal of International Accounting Research. He is also a co-author of the BNA Tax and Accounting Portfolio 5170, Business Combinations (Accounting Policy and Practice Series).

Mark L. Zyla, CPA/ABV, CFA, ASA, is a managing director of Acuitas Inc., which is an Atlanta, Georgia-based valuation and litigation consultancy firm. Mark received a BBA degree in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA degree with a concentration in Finance from Georgia State University. Mark also completed the Mergers and Acquisitions Program at the Aresty Institute of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Valuation Program at the Graduate School of Business at Harvard University. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Accredited in Business Valuation (CPA/ABV), a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and an Accredited Senior Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers, certified in Business Valuation (ASA). Mark is the author of Fair Value Measurements: Practical Guidance and Implementation, published by John Wiley & Sons, and co-author of Bloomberg BNA's Tax and Accounting Portfolio 5127, Fair Value Measurements: Valuation Principles and Auditing Techniques (Accounting Policy and Practice Series).