Making Room to Grow

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that history is proving of little value to U.S. companies in their attempts to return to “business as normal” following the global recession. This time around, economic recovery is more of a marathon than a sprint, and consumers, businesses, and the Federal Res...

By David W. Owens • Sept. 22, 2015

Friendly States

Thumbtack.com, an online marketplace for local services, recently released its 2015 Small Business Friendliness Survey, which gathered responses from nearly 18,000 small-business owners. To find out which states and cities ranked as the most (or least) friendly for small business, take our quiz.1...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Sept. 22, 2015

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

Data Center Software: Progress Without Profits

“When my hair gets long, I kind of look like him.” Matei Zaharia jokingly evades the question about what he thinks of being compared to Bill Gates. But the 30-year-old Romanian-Canadian computer scientist is indeed reminiscent of Microsoft’s former boss in his early days: he is considered one of ...

By Economist Staff • Sept. 21, 2015

Regulator Recognizes Bitcoin as a Commodity

In its first recognition that virtual currency is a commodity, the U.S Commodity Futures Trading Commission has charged a Bitcoin exchange with operating an unauthorized trading platform.The Coinflip exchange began offering Derivabit, a platform for trading Bitcoin options and futures contracts, ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 18, 2015

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Sept. 18

The Madison Square Garden Co. has named Bret Richter to lead the finance function of its media spin-off, MSG Networks, once the transaction has been finalized, which is expected by the end of the month. He comes to the new company from Cablevision Systems, where he was executive vice president of...

By Joan Urdang • Sept. 18, 2015

GM Settles Ignition Defect Charges for $900M

Seeking to move on from a scandal that has tainted its recovery from bankruptcy, General Motors agreed Thursday to pay $900 million to settle criminal charges it concealed a lethal defect in car ignition switches.In a deferred-prosecution agreement, GM admitted liability for wire fraud and schemi...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 17, 2015

Hackers Are the Problem, Workers the Weak Point

In the old days, “hackers” would hang out in bars across the street from the plant or office at quitting time and make friends with the workers, slowly learning and eventually stealing business secrets. Although this tactic may still work, these days the hackers are hanging out in their bedrooms ...

By Mary A. Chaput • Sept. 16, 2015

HP Slashing Up to 33,000 Workers

Ahead of splitting into two companies, Hewlett-Packard has announced it will eliminate more than 10% of its workforce, with most of the job cuts coming from the HP Enterprise spinoff.The company expects to save about $2.7 billion by cutting 25,000 to 30,000 jobs from HP Enterprise and 3,300 from ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 16, 2015

Kellogg Forms Joint Venture in Africa

Kellogg on Tuesday said it had entered into a joint venture with Tolaram Africa, the African arm of Singapore’s Tolaram Group, to develop snacks and breakfast foods for the West African market.The Battle Creek, Mich., company will also pay $450 million for a 50% stake in Lagos, Nigeria-based Mult...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Sept. 15, 2015

Three Charged With Medical Firm ‘Pump-and-Dump’

Continuing a crackdown on manipulation of microcap stocks, federal authorities have accused the chairman of Endeavor Power and two others of conducting a “pump-and-dump” scheme to raise $1.5 million by selling shares of the medical diagnostics company at artificially inflated prices.According to ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 15, 2015

The Fed: More Red Lights Than Green

Pity the central banker. When models of the economy go haywire, academics can retreat to their offices to fix them. But even when signals flash red, amber, and green at once (see chart, below), central banks must continue to steer the economy. When the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate-setters meet...

By Economist Staff • Sept. 15, 2015

Managing Cloud Usage Risks

How many cloud services — and which ones — are in use across your organization? Are sensitive data being stored in employees’ personal cloud accounts? Is IT running unauthorized apps or using a cloud vendor with inadequate security policies?Many executive teams don’t know the answers to those que...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 14, 2015

Apple Pays China $71 Million in Back Taxes

Apple has paid more than $80 million in back taxes and fines to China after understating its sales in the country in 2013 by $1.4 billion.China’s Ministry of Finance announced the underpayment, saying it leveled a $10 million fine on top of the $71 million that Apple owed in back taxes. The compa...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Sept. 11, 2015

Court Extends Corporate Whistleblower Protections

A divided federal appeals court has extended the scope of the whistleblower protections of the Dodd-Frank Act to those who report wrongdoing at a company internally before they go to securities regulators.The Second Circuit Court of Appeal on Thursday revived a lawsuit in which the former finance...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 11, 2015

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Sept. 11

Mike Gupta Mike Gupta has been named finance chief at open-platform sponsor Docker. He succeeds Eric Bardin, who will fill the newly created post of senior vice president of finance and business operations. Most recently, Gupta was senior vice president of strategic investments at Twitter, and be...

By Joan Urdang • Sept. 11, 2015

Banker Arrested For Illegally Profiting From Reverse Mergers

Benjamin Wey, the head of an investment firm called New York Global Group, was arrested Thursday for allegedly earning tens of millions from manipulating stock prices on Chinese “reverse mergers.”According to Reuters, the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan charged Wey, 43, and his...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Sept. 11, 2015

Study Questions Success of Inflation Targeting

Monetary policies designed to “anchor” inflation expectations may be having very little effect on business managers amid widespread ignorance about the operations of central banks and such policies as inflation targeting, according to a new study.Central bankers have increasingly emphasized the i...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 11, 2015

U.S., Microsoft Battle Over Data Stored Abroad

In a high-stakes case pitting the U.S. government against Microsoft, a federal appeals court is wrestling with the question of whether a U.S. company can be forced to turn over customer data stored in an overseas location.Microsoft is challenging a U.S. search warrant for customer emails stored i...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 10, 2015

Junk Bond Protections Find Deeper Bottom

Junk bonds issued in North America had record weak covenants in August. Bond protections for investors fell to a new record low, suggesting buyers are continuing to take on more risk in return for high yields, according to a Moody’s Investors Service report.Moody’s Covenant Quality Index, which u...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 10, 2015

Reaping the Rewards of Lower Risk in DB Plans

These days, how often can you get eight out of ten people to agree on anything? When it comes to taking financial risk out of pension plans, getting agreement turns out not to be as hard as you might think.Three times over the past six years, Mercer LLC has worked with CFO Publishing to study the...

By David W. Owens • Sept. 10, 2015

Import Prices Fall Again In August

Import prices continue to drop mainly due to low oil prices and the strong dollar, keeping inflation at bay ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates.U.S. import prices fell 1.8% in August, following a 0.9% drop the previous month, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists su...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Sept. 10, 2015

Labor-Market Index Suggests Continued Growth

A compilation of U.S. labor-market indicators rose sharply in August, suggesting the economy could continue to create a steady supply of new jobs for the rest of this year and push the unemployment rate below 5%.The Conference Board research group said Tuesday its employment trends index increase...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 9, 2015

Big Firms Expanding Voluntary Audit Disclosures

Large U.S. companies have significantly increased voluntary audit committee-related disclosures over the past four years, reflecting the demands of investors, policymakers, and other stakeholders for greater transparency, EY reports.In a review of the 2015 proxy statements of Fortune 100 companie...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 9, 2015

CPA Starting Pay to Rise up to 5.3% in 2016

Accounting professionals are commanding higher salaries and other perks as they continue to be in high demand, according to a survey by Robert Half.The staffing services provider reports in its 2016 Salary Guide that average starting salaries for U.S. accounting professionals will increase in the...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Sept. 7, 2015

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Sept. 4

José Bayardo has been appointed to the top finance spot at National Oilwell Varco, taking over for interim CFO Scott Duff. Most recently, Bayardo was senior vice president, resource and business development, at Continental Resources.Stacy McMahan, CFO, Spectranetics Stacy McMahan has resigned as ...

By Joan Urdang • Sept. 4, 2015