Amanda Miller, Ph.D.
Executive Director Ernst & Young LLP
Amanda Miller has over fifteen years of experience in helping clients to understand and manage risk, assess probabilities of uncertain events, and develop quantitative models to measure value in an uncertain world. She specializes in assisting clients with the valuation of illiquid investments, equity & fixed income derivatives, contingent assets and liabilities and other complex securities. Specific areas of focus include:
Privately-Held Company Securities. Amanda assists clients in the use of option pricing models and probabilistic analysis to value options, warrants, preferred and common stock in privately-held companies with complex capital structures, considering both the economic rights associated with these instruments as well as discounts related to the marketability of these securities in the available exit markets. Clients use these analyses for financial reporting purposes, tax planning and investment decision-making. In addition, she assists clients with the valuation of management incentive plans, including those with performance-based and market conditions. Amanda is a member of the AICPA Task Force that recently released a revised Guide on valuing privately-held company securities.
Private Equity & Venture Capital Investments: Amanda assists private equity, venture capital and other investment companies with valuation issues related to financial reporting related to their portfolio investments under ASC 820. Amanda is a member of the AICPA Task Force that is developing a new guide, Determining Fair Value of Portfolio Company Investments of Venture Capital and Private Equity Firms.
Illiquid Credit Instruments: Amanda assists clients in understanding the value of their illiquid fixed income investments, including auction rate securities and structured products.
Contingent Considerations and Other Probabilistic Instruments. Amanda designs probability-weighted models to capture the full range of possible outcomes and estimate values under uncertainty. These engagements help clients gain confidence in the projections used in financial planning and financial reporting for transactions, technology investments, “but for analyses” for litigation, and strategic decision making. In addition, these analyses are used in the valuation of contingent considerations under ASC 350, for analyzing warranties and other guarantees under ASC 460-10, and to help companies determine whether they need to consolidate certain variable interest entities under ASC 810-10 and for Value at Risk forecasting and model validation for the banking industry.
Amanda earned her Ph.D. at Stanford University in Electrical Engineering in 1994, where her thesis developed a new statistical approach for Positron Emission Tomography (“PET”) imaging. She also holds dual M.S. degrees from Stanford in Statistics and Electrical Engineering, and dual B.S. degrees from the California Institute of Technology in Mathematics and Engineering & Applied Science. She completed the Berkeley Finance Series programs in Derivatives and Bonds, ABS & Risk Management in 2007.
