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From what I understand Under the M&A Standards, buyers must recognize earnouts on the acquisition date. This is based on fair value accounting. For liability based earnouts, changes in fair value after the acquisition date will need to be reassessed each financial year and any impairment will result in a decrease in earnings, thus can create a lot of volatility especially as with RXP it has several companies and integration risk. So this is something one will need to keep in mind...cash flow will be a more reliable measure of earnings.
I hope someone with an accounting background can clarify the accounting principles behind acquisition and earn out liability.