Applied Finance began as a consulting firm, assisting then Arthur Andersen to build a global Value Based Management practice in 1995. After the implosion of Andersen, we then partnered with another big four accounting firm helping them understand market expectations for their largest global clients using our proprietary Economic Margin™ framework.
Through our corporate experience we learned that relative to other analytical methods (such as price multiples or perpetuity based DCF models), our valuation approach provided distinctly different, but more accurate insights into explaining market valuations and reaching profitable investment decisions. With that insight, we began offering research to institutional investors and select brokers. By 2004 we worked with over 150 investment houses, banks, RIA’s, and larger brokers.
Our transition to asset management from being a pure research provider in 2004 began with the introduction of what is now the Valuation 50 and followed up with the Valuation Dividend in 2012. Today those products are offered in model delivery, SMA, and mutual fund formats and are available through several platforms.