Small Businesses Optimism Sags

Optimism among small business owners fell in January — as their sentiments on general business conditions over the next six months as well as their expectations for sales soured, according to the National Federation of Independent Business’s latest Small Business Economic Trends report.The Small ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 9, 2016

The Global Oil Glut Is On

The lifting of oil sanctions against Iran, as part of a broader surge in output by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, could further depress oil prices, the International Energy Agency warned Tuesday.“It is very hard to see how oil prices can rise significantly in the short ter...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 9, 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

South America Deflates Goodyear’s Earnings

Financial woes in South America weighed on Goodyear’s fourth-quarter numbers, as the Akron, Ohio, company on Tuesday posted a loss due mainly to a writedown of the company’s Venezuela operations and ongoing currency volatility.For the fourth quarter, Goodyear reported a loss of $380 million compa...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 9, 2016

Brixmor Property’s CFO, Other Top Execs Resign

Brixmor Property Group said Monday that three top insiders — including CFO Michael Pappagallo — had resigned after an internal review uncovered irregularities in its financial statements.Shares in the shopping center owner and operator, which was taken public by Blackstone Group in 2013, tumbled ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 8, 2016

PE Firm Invests $500 Million in Symantec

Symantec is teaming up with a private equity firm that has specialized in helping to revive ailing technology companies.The maker of Norton antivirus software on Thursday said Silver Lake will make a $500 million “strategic investment” and receive a seat on its board as it continues its turnaroun...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 5, 2016

CFO Outlook 2016

This story originally appeared in the January 2016 digital edition of CFO magazine.The 2016 edition of our annual CFO Outlook feature draws on the judgment of four experts. In The Economy, Patrick O’Keefe of CohnReznick predicts how the U.S. economy will fare in 2016, and analyzes factors that co...

By Edward Teach • Feb. 5, 2016

Turning On ERP Systems Can Turn Off People

In the late 18th century, a Hungarian inventor toured Europe and the Americas with a chess automaton that played a wicked game of chess. It was initially regarded as a marvel of technology but turned out to be a scam. Suspicions were confirmed when it was shown that the world famous “Mechanical T...

By Alexander Van Caeneghem and Jean-Marie Bequevort • Feb. 5, 2016

Cloud ERP Delivers Merger Value Faster

The M&A scene may be hotter than ever, but the chilled champagne toasts are short-lived for the acquirer’s management team as pressure mounts to deliver speed-to-value. The ensuing integration process can be messy. In particular, complex, disconnected systems require integration to drive syne...

By Christopher Stancombe • Feb. 5, 2016

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Feb. 5

Technology company Harris Corp. has promoted Rahul Ghai to finance chief, replacing Mick Lopez. Ghai joined the firm last March as vice president of finance, integration.Jeff McCombs Jeff McCombs has been named to lead the finance function at online restaurant reservations provider OpenTable. Mos...

By Joan Urdang • Feb. 5, 2016

Worldwide IT Spending to Reach $2.8T in 2019

As organizations turn to data analytics and other information technology solutions to help them navigate the world’s “stormy economic waters,” IT spending across the globe is expected to grow from $2.46 trillion in 2015 to more than $2.8 trillion in 2019. So says IDC’s “Worldwide Semiannual IT Sp...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 4, 2016

Evaluating CFO Career Trends Requires Long View

In today’s acutely dynamic world, there’s an unfortunate tendency to fixate on tracking the instant increments of change, and the reasons therefor, with less consideration for long-evolving trends that may shed light on the present.At the end of 2014 there were 62 women holding CFO posts at Fortu...

By David McCann • Feb. 4, 2016

U.S. Productivity Falls Sharply Lower

Companies may be hiring more workers, but they are producing less goods and services, leading to higher unit-labor costs and stagnant wages.U.S. productivity fell at a 3% annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2015, the biggest drop since the first quarter of 2014, the Labor Department said Thursda...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 4, 2016

Special Report: ERP’s Second Act

ERP is bringing standardization, innovation, and efficiency to many businesses. But for some companies implementing it has remained an expensive, frustrating exercise. Studies by Panorama Consulting show many ERP installations still go overtime and over-budget, and fail to bring the benefits the ...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 4, 2016

Trend Spotting: ERP in 2016

An enterprise resource planning system can be one of the most transformative investments a company makes. By integrating accounting and finance with sales, manufacturing, human resources, and other functions, an ERP system can significantly improve a company’s efficiency and productivity, and hel...

By Edward Teach • Feb. 4, 2016

Study Downplays Security Threat of Encryption

Encryption runs counter to the business interests of many companies, according to a new Harvard University study that questions whether U.S. intelligence-gathering and surveillance capabilities are in danger of “going dark.”With tech companies facing increasing pressure from policy makers concern...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 2, 2016

Aetna Suffers Losses On Affordable Care Act Business

Another health insurer — Aetna — has reported losses on its Affordable Care Act business.While the Hartford, Conn.-based firm’s overall net income rose 12% in the fourth quarter, to $320.8 million, or 91 cents a share, it lost money on its ACA business in 2015, with a negative margin of around 3%...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 2, 2016

Mobile Search, YouTube, Ads Propel Alphabet’s Solid Q4

As Alphabet makes inroads on its “other bets,” its search engine Google continues to drive the results of the company once named for it.Google accounted for roughly 98% of the Mountain View, Calif.-based Alphabet’s total sales in the fourth quarter of 2015. Google, a subsidiary that encapsulates ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 2, 2016

The Cost of Privacy

Figuring out who owns or can work with the “information exhaust” of an individual consumer’s online activity has always been something of a challenge. On the one hand, there are many opportunities to look for patterns in this data and make helpful suggestions or predict future actions and positio...

By John Parkinson • Feb. 2, 2016

Consumer Spending Unchanged in December

U.S. consumers, worried over the potential of a global slowdown, were cautious spenders in December and inflation remained well below the U.S. Federal Reserve’s target.Personal spending was unchanged in December from a month earlier, the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Monday. Consumption cl...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Feb. 1, 2016

Knee-Deep in Escheat? How to Protect Your Bottom Line

Many states across the country have increasingly come to realize the financial importance of unclaimed property laws. Under these laws, a “holder” of unclaimed property has the obligation to report and remit property to a state after the property has remained unclaimed by its owner for a specifie...

By Kendall Houghton and Matthew Hedstrom • Feb. 1, 2016

Twice as Many Firms Plan Asset Sales in 2016

Significantly more companies are planning to divest assets to recommit to core businesses or fund innovations to keep up with changing consumer preferences, according to EY’s 2016 Global Corporate Divestment Study.Roughly half (49%) of the corporate and private equity executives surveyed by EY ar...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 29, 2016

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Jan. 29

In a Jan. 26 regulatory filing in which virtualization infrastructure firm VMware said it will take a charge of $55 million to $65 million to cover the cost of laying off 800 employees, the company also announced a switch of CFOs, effective March 1. The finance reins will pass from Jonathan Chadw...

By David McCann • Jan. 29, 2016

Light Trucks Power Record Profit for Ford

Americans’ appetite for high-margin pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles helped drive Ford Motor to a record profit in the fourth quarter, while results also improved in Asia and Europe.Ford ‘s net income of $1.9 billion in the final three months of 2015 compared with a revised loss of $2.5 b...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 29, 2016

EBay Forecasts Weaker Revenue and Profit

EBay on Wednesday forecasted weaker-than-expected revenue and profit for the current quarter and full year, as the online retailer tries to revamp its core business and manage the effects of the strong U.S. dollar.The San Jose, Calif. company forecast 2016 full-year adjusted profit of $1.82 to $1...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 28, 2016

Facebook’s Posts Better-Than-Expected Q4 Earnings

Facebook posted better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter due to higher numbers of monthly active users and higher advertising revenues.The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company on Wednesday said that net income rose 46% from a year ago, to 79 cents per share, and that revenue r...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 28, 2016