We have nearly reached the end of the road for CFO in 2023. If you’re still putting in a full work week, rest assured you will receive your weekly allotment of articles, profiles, data points, and insights. Furthermore, if you are periodically checking your inbox next week, watch for two special edition newsletters on Dec. 26 and 28, a variety of end-of-year roundups, and our annual favorite column, “CFO at the Movies.”
For a hot minute I pondered whether I possessed the writing ability to compose a CFO-inspired version of Clement Clarke Moore’s classic poem.
As it turns out, I do not.
But, I have 12 months of CFO’s storytelling to fall back on. So while you and your kin continue the holiday debates as to whether “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie, or if Kevin McCallister’s house robbery was only supposed to be Tommy DeVito’s side hustle before things went sideways (“Funny, like a clown?”), here are a dozen items that I’ll remember.
- Have you had your holiday party yet? Did you follow our guidelines?
- It’s easy to forget now, but one of the biggest financial stories this year was the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in Q1. Have lessons been learned? Or will there be another?
- We featured dozens of 6 a.m CFO profiles this year, but I’ll never forget Jack McCullough’s bobblehead, Kristy Calderwood’s home office, or Mark Smolenski’s perfectly executed action photo.
- CFO covered all the in-person CFO-centric conferences we could this past year, and with it a chance to meet many of you that have in turn driven our coverage of events and people.
- Our partnership with The Hackett Group produces the definitive Working Capital Scorecard for the 1,000 largest companies in the U.S.
- The proliferation of artificial intelligence and Generative AI is one of the biggest disruptors CFOs must pay heed to.
- We profile finance chiefs from all swaths of life. But getting Lamborhini’s Paolo Poma might be one of the coolest. Though the Boston Red Sox might disagree.
- The Savannah Bananas might be the most successful sports franchise going today. And certainly the only one where their finance chief is unafraid to abide by “sun’s out, guns out.”
- Somehow, our story on the term “coffee badging” was one of the most-read the entire year.
- Finance isn’t only professional; it is also exceptionally personal, as father-and-son duo Greg and Derek Kautz shared in their creation of Black Owl Systems to aid companies in compliance reporting.
- My weekly challenge to mesh the wisdom of Shakespeare, Steven Wright, Wayne Campbell, RC Sproul, and General George S. Patton. The connections didn’t always work, but oh my, how I tried.
- Lastly, #12 is my reminder that CFO isn’t done yet, and 2024 will be even better.
To all of our successes this year at CFO to you and yours, happy holidays, and we will see you in 2024.