Halliburton Slashes Another 5,000 Jobs

The crash in oil prices to seven-year lows is sending shock waves throughout the energy industry — this time, Halliburton is again slashing its workforce.The Houston-based firm on Thursday told CNNMoney that it was cutting 8% of its workforce, or roughly 5,000 positions, bringing the total job cu...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 25, 2016

IMF Urges Emergency Plan for Global Economy

With the global economy weakening amid financial market turbulence and falling asset prices, Group of 20 nations should take “bold multilateral actions” to stimulate growth and limit risk, according to an International Monetary Fund report.IMF staffers called for an emergency plan to address glob...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 25, 2016

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 stories from CFO.com

From CPA licensure changes to undergoing a digital transformation, these are the most popular stories CFOs are reading. 

By CFO.com staff

HP Sales Down on Weak Printer, PC Revenue

While HP adjusts to life as an independent company after the divestiture of the business-oriented operations that now constitute Hewlett Packard Enterprise, its first-quarter results still reflect weak conditions in its flagship printer and personal computer products.The Palo Alto, Calif., compan...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 25, 2016

U.S. Home Prices End 2015 With 5.4% Gain

U.S. home prices again showed solid growth in December, capping a strong year, though the gains were slightly lower than expected.The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, covering the entire nation, rose 5.4% in the 12 months ended in December, greater than a 5.2% increase in November. The 10-c...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 23, 2016

Lexmark Cuts Jobs, Explores Alternatives

Lexmark International said Tuesday it would cut 550 jobs, or about 4% of its worldwide workforce, as it continues to explore strategic alternatives including a possible sale.The restructuring, announced along with Lexmark’s fourth-quarter earnings, is intended to increase profitability and operat...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 23, 2016

Scalia’s Death Harms Companies’ Interests in Supreme Court

The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia triggered more than the brouhaha over who should appoint his successor, a story that’s been vying with the presidential primaries for headlines since his Feb. 13 passing.There are also implications for a number of cases currently before the court....

By David McCann • Feb. 23, 2016

Activist Fund Seeks Overhaul of Redbox Parent

An activist hedge fund has urged the parent company of Redbox to go private and take other steps to create “immediate and sustainable shareholder value.”Engaged Capital, the second-largest shareholder in Outerwall, said “persistent failures” by the company’s board and management were to blame for...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 22, 2016

Yahoo Explores ‘Strategic Alternatives’

Yahoo on Friday provided further details on its exploration of strategic alternatives alongside its continued consideration of a reverse spin-off.The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said its board had formed a strategic review committee of independent directors to seek out and recommend “potentia...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 19, 2016

Core U.S. Consumer Prices Rise 0.3%

Companies are getting a boost in their pricing power, as much of the country’s consumer prices rose in January at by the most in more than four years.The Labor Department’s core consumer price index (which excludes food and fuel) rose 0.3% over the previous month, more than forecast and the most ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 19, 2016

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Feb. 19

Don Wallette Jeff Sheets, CFO and executive vice president, finance, at ConocoPhillips, is retiring, effective April 1. He will be succeeded by Don Wallette, Jr., now executive vice president, commercial, business development, and corporate planning.Brian McGee will take over for retiring CFO Jac...

By Joan Urdang • Feb. 19, 2016

Fed Watching

The Federal Reserve Board has been the subject of public scrutiny since the onset of the financial crisis, with investors poring over every public statement by its members, seeking clues about the direction of monetary policy. But how much do you know about the Fed’s more distant past? Take our q...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Feb. 19, 2016

IBM Adds Data With $2.6B Truven Health Deal

IBM said Thursday it had agreed to acquire Truven Health Analytics for $2.6 billion, adding another major source of data to its Watson Health unit.Truven Health provides data to hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to help them determine the efficacy of products and services. With the acquisiti...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 18, 2016

Analyst Fined $100K Over ‘Buy’ Rating on Stock

A former Deutsche Bank analyst has been charged with maintaining a “buy” rating on the stock of retailer Big Lots even though he actually believed it should have been downgraded.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that Charles Grom, 41, falsely certified that the views he e...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 18, 2016

Hooked on Startups

Forget about organization charts and job security. Since the dot-com boom two decades ago, a new breed of CFO has emerged. These finance chiefs don’t mind jumping from startup to startup, preferring the excitement of fresh beginnings to the everyday routine of a brand-name corporation.Indeed, the...

By David Katz • Feb. 18, 2016

Managing Your Margins

Who is responsible for profitability? Increasingly, concern about managing a company’s profit margin is no longer confined to finance and the C-suite, but is shared across the enterprise. For this reason, finance teams feel a growing responsibility to serve up the timely data and targeted insight...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Feb. 18, 2016

U.S., Cuba Sign Pact to Resume Scheduled Flights

The United States and Cuba have taken another step toward normalizing relations by signing an agreement to resume scheduled air services between the two countries for the first time in more than half a century.U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Assistant Secretary of Sta...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 17, 2016

Software Firm Fined $28M Over China Bribes

Software company PTC Inc. has agreed to pay more than $28 million to settle charges that it funded leisure travel to Hawaii, Las Vegas, and other destinations for Chinese government officials and made other improper payments to win sales contracts.According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Com...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 16, 2016

Common Beliefs that Lead to Unprofitable Pricing

The pricing of products and services is among the most critical decision processes in every business. Despite its importance, we find it is also one of the most misunderstood areas. There are two primary misconceptions that can be fatal: 1) Management has control over price; and 2) Pricing must c...

By Marwaan Karame • Feb. 16, 2016

Yellen Says Fed Looking at Negative Rates

In an indication that the U.S Federal Reserve is reevaulating its monetary policy amid turbulence in the financial markets, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank was considering cutting interest rates below zero as a way to stimulate the economy.The Fed in December raised short-term rates ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 12, 2016

Race Car Driver Accused of $2B Lending Scam

Race car driver and financier Paul Tucker has been charged with operating a $2 billion payday lending scam that duped millions of working people into entering into loans with illegal interest rates as high as 700%.The U.S. Department of Justice said Tucker, 53, concealed the true costs of the sho...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 11, 2016

Corporate Governance in Japan: Sharp Elbows

It is surely a promising sign for Terry Gou, the boss of Foxconn, that Japan’s largest business newspaper, the Nikkei, is reporting unflatteringly on his efforts to buy Sharp, a near-bankrupt electronics firm. At first the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), a government-backed fund, ...

By Economist Staff • Feb. 11, 2016

Tech CFOs See Lower Valuations But More Deals

Most technology CFOs expect tech business valuations to cool off this year but nearly all of them anticipate M&A activity will match or surpass 2015’s record pace, according to a new survey.BDO USA’s annual poll of 100 tech CFOs found that 48% expect valuations to increase in 2016, down from ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 11, 2016

Obama Seeks $19B for Cybersecurity Plan

President Barack Obama’s last budget includes $19 billion for a package of “sweeping” measures to beef up the security of the nation’s computer networks.The administration wove the initiatives together in its $4 trillion 2016 budget proposal as the Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP), which...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 10, 2016

Three Charged in $250K Insider Trading Scheme

A Los Angeles businessman and two of his associates have been charged with trading on inside information he obtained from an executive at GSI Commerce before it was acquired by eBay in March 2011.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the GSIC executive was a close friend of gas station...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 9, 2016

Augmenting Reality

Like it or not, we live in a world that’s increasingly drowning in data. Getting the right data to the right person at the right time — and in a form they can easily and rapidly absorb — is often a requirement for productive performance in a wide range of business critical tasks. Mobility — “unte...

By John Parkinson • Feb. 9, 2016