CFOs on the Move: Week Ending May 1

Richard Peretz Richard Peretz has been promoted to the top finance spot at United Parcel Service, effective July 1. He takes over for Kurt Kuehn, who is retiring after heading finance since 2008. Peretz joined the company in 1981 while still in college and is now corporate controller and treasure...

By Joan Urdang • May 1, 2015

The Problems of Prosperity

U.S. finance executives have started out the year brimming with confidence, according to the most recent Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook survey. The first-quarter 2015 survey tabulated the views of 547 senior finance and corporate executives from U.S. companies, along with 41...

By David W. Owens • April 30, 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

Euro Pain

Down, down, down. One dollar thirty-nine cents, $1.29, $1.19, $1.13. From the beginning of May 2014 to the end of January, the value of the euro fell a stunning 19% against the U.S. dollar. It paused briefly, and then plunged to $1.05 in March, the lowest level since 2003. Many analysts see parit...

By Edward Teach • April 30, 2015

Is Wage Growth Breaking Out?

Compensation costs for civilian workers, as measured by the Employment Cost Index, increased 0.7% in the first three months of 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. It was the largest gain since the third quarter of 2014.Wages and salaries, which make up about 70% of compensati...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 30, 2015

SEC Awards $600K In Whistleblower Retaliation Case

A former trader for a hedge fund has been awarded more than $600,000 for providing key information that led to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s first anti-retaliation enforcement action.Paradigm Capital Management and owner Candace King Weir agreed in June to pay $2.2 million to sett...

By Matthew Heller • April 29, 2015

U.S. Eyeing Criminal Charges Against Lumber Liquidators

Two months after it was featured in a CBS “60 Minutes” investigation, Lumber Liquidators disclosed Wednesday that it was facing possible criminal charges over wood flooring products made in China.According to a regulatory filing, U.S. authorities began an investigation in September 2013 and, in r...

By Matthew Heller • April 29, 2015

Wal-Mart Will Take Its Time in China

China’s slowing economy as well as Wal-Mart Stores’ own missteps have caused the U.S. retailer to slow its store openings there.When Wal-Mart first entered the China market in 1996, it planned to open stores at the same pace as it did in the United States, according to a Wall Street Journal story...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 29, 2015

John Sculley Tells How to Build a Billion-Dollar Business

John Sculley may be 76 years old, but he doesn’t live in the past or moon wistfully for its return. In both his book, “Moonshot!” (Rosetta Books, 2014), and an interview with CFO, the storied former chief executive of both Apple and PepsiCo is fully immersed in emerging technologies, today’s cust...

By David McCann • April 29, 2015

U.S. GDP Grows Just 0.2%

The country’s gross domestic product rose just 0.2% in the first quarter of 2015, down from 2.2% in the fourth quarter, due to lower consumer spending in the harsh winter, sharp downturns in exports hampered by the strong dollar, and a labor dispute at West Coast ports. Lower oil and gas drilling...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 29, 2015

A Customer for Life

We are all customers at one time or another. And we probably all have stories related to a customer experience that endeared us to a business (and others that did the opposite). It costs a business time and resources to acquire a customer and it’s logical to conclude that a reasonable investment ...

By John Parkinson • April 29, 2015

Twitter Shares Slide on Earnings Report Leak

Twitter stock endured its second-worst day ever Tuesday, sliding 18% after a research firm leaked the social media’s disappointing first-quarter earnings report.The figures leaked by Selerity — appropriately enough, in a tweet — prompted a nearly 6% drop in Twitter shares before trading was tempo...

By Matthew Heller • April 28, 2015

Google Takes on Trolls With Patent Marketplace

Google is trying to get a jump on patent trolls, inviting patent owners to submit their patents to an experimental marketplace for sale.The search engine giant made its anti-troll intentions clear in a blog post announcing its new Patent Purchase Promotion as “an experiment to remove friction fro...

By Matthew Heller • April 28, 2015

How to Be CFO of a Venture-Capital Firm

While the title of CFO is almost ubiquitous across organizations of every type, what’s required to perform the role may appear to diverge radically between, say, a manufacturing-industry finance chief and one at a venture-funding firm.Gail Haney Just like her peers at manufacturers, Foundation Ca...

By David McCann • April 28, 2015

Private Companies Plan More Hiring

Nearly two-thirds of private companies are expecting to hire more fulltime workers this year, though they are increasingly concerned about a lack of qualified workers and growing wage pressure, according to PwC U.S.’s latest Trendsetter Barometer.Headcount at private companies is expected to incr...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 28, 2015

Disability Lawsuits: Hobbling Businesses

The Bikini Beach Hotel in Panama City Beach, Florida, serves sunbathers of all types. So John Gheesling, the owner, was surprised to be sued for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Apparently a visitor last August found the pool lacked a wheelchair lift, though the hotel keeps on...

By Economist Staff • April 28, 2015

Risk Managers See Reputation Damage as Top Threat

Damage to brand and reputation has risen to the top of an annual survey of risks facing global companies amid a wave of product recalls, hacker attacks, fraud investigations, and other headline-grabbing incidents.Aon Risk Solutions noted in its Global Risk Management Survey 2015 that a long list ...

By Matthew Heller • April 28, 2015

Antitrust Issues Derail Another Merger

Applied Materials said Monday that it had terminated its pending deal with Tokyo Electron due to regulators’ unresolved antitrust concerns.After the United States Department of Justice told the parties that the “coordinated remedy proposal” they submitted would not be sufficient to replace the co...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 27, 2015

Apple Antitrust Monitor Reports ‘Significant Setbacks’

A court-appointed monitor has reported “significant setbacks” in his efforts to ensure that Apple is improving its compliance with antitrust laws in the wake of an-book price-fixing case.Among other things, external compliance monitor Michael Bromwich said in a report to U.S. District Judge Denis...

By Matthew Heller • April 24, 2015

If You Spot Fraud: Handle It In-House or Call the Cops?

If you discovered a major fraud at your company, would you handle it in-house or call law enforcement?That was the topic of a discussion on proformative.com, a networking site for finance executives. Participants in the discussion offered an eclectic mix of observations.If, say, “Bob” was caught ...

By David McCann • April 24, 2015

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending April 24

Hyatt Hotels has named Atish Shah as interim CFO. Shah, who joined the hotel chain in 2009, had been senior vice president of strategy, financial planning and analysis, and investor relations.Sam Mudro Architectural design company HKS has chosen Sam Mudro to head finance. Previously, he was senio...

By Joan Urdang • April 24, 2015

Brazil Oil Firm Takes $5B in Charges over Scandal

Petrobras, Brazil’s national oil company, Wednesday reported a 2014 loss of $2.1 billion, mainly due to an asset impairment charge and a write-down totaling about $5 billion arising from improper payments identified in an anti-corruption investigation by the Brazil Federal Police.“Today is an imp...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 23, 2015

Nouveau Fraud: Hot Recipes for Cookin’ the Books

Joe St. Denis CFOs are well aware of the more common ingredients of financial fraud: bogus or premature revenue recognition, improper capitalization or valuation of assets, and the misuse of accruals to smooth earnings. Along with their audit committees, they expend plenty of effort designing int...

By Joe St. Denis • April 23, 2015

Economists Predict Q2 Rebound

Economists on average expect the U.S. economy to pick up pace in the second quarter as consumers spend the money they’ve saved on gas — provided the strong dollar doesn’t slow things down, according to a Reuters story on Wednesday.Reuters’ survey of 85 economists this month forecast gross domesti...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 22, 2015

Google Search to Favor Mobile-Friendly Sites

Google began rolling out its previously announced “mobile-friendly update” on Tuesday. The update boosts the ranking of mobile-friendly pages on mobile search results.“Now searchers can more easily find high-quality and relevant results where text is readable without tapping or zooming, tap targe...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 21, 2015

Family Companies: To Have and to Hold

Families have always been at the heart of business. Family companies are among the world’s oldest. The Hoshi Ryokan, an inn in Japan, has been in the same family since 718. Kongo Gumi, a Japanese family construction firm, was founded even earlier, in 578, but went bust in 2006. The Antinori famil...

By Adrian Wooldridge • April 21, 2015