The Trial Balance is CFO’s weekly preview of stories, stats, and events to help you prepare.

Part 1: Is It Time for a Career Break? 3 Finance Leaders Tell Their Reset Stories

What do CFOs do when they need a reset? Whether time away from work is voluntary or imposed, sometimes executives step away from employment to focus on their health and wellness while taking stock of where they want to go next in their careers. This Friday (9/15), we talk to three CFOs who have taken this type of reset and see why they took it, what they did with the time off, and what they plan to do next. 

Also on Friday, reporter Adam Zaki will share his reporter’s journal from FinovateFall, which he will be attending this week. Bookmark our tracker to stay on top of upcoming in-person conferences and events for finance executives.

Part 2: This Week

Treasury-minded finance professionals should check out the New York Cash Exchange annual conference this week at the Jacob Javits Center in New York, September 12-14. Hosted by the Treasury Management Association of New York, this event features keynotes by Olympian Sherry Winn and CNN senior legal analyst Elie Hong. The agenda is chock-full of meaty treasury sessions on cash forecasting, corporate liquidity investing, real-time payments, open banking, and more. Registration is still available.

Apple launches its iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro at an event on Tuesday (stream here, 10 a.m. Pacific time). As usual, most of the feature details about the new phones have already been leaked, including the replacement of the Lightning cable with a USB-C charger. The launch comes just days after Apple shares were hammered on reports that China plans to ban iPhone use by government employees.

With Congress back in session, committee hearings abound this week. Two of note are the Senate Banking Committee hearing on oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission, featuring SEC Chair Gary Gensler, and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s dive into the topic of The Need for Transparency in Artificial Intelligence.

Economic releases this week include the consumer price index (Wednesday) and U.S. retail sales (Thursday), both for August. The EU Central Bank announces its latest interest rate adjustment on Thursday. Earnings from tech giants Oracle and Adobe also arrive this week.

Friday evening begins the two-day celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Part 3: The Importance of 13-Week Cash Flow Forecasts 

The 13-week cash flow forecast provides CFOs with pivotal visibility into liquidity, alleviating concerns around working capital challenges and placing less reliance on high-interest rate debt for funding operations or strategic growth. This column addresses the importance of greater visibility and granularity of working capital, liquidity-based decision-making, and book and bank cash reconciliation. (9/12)