Dynamic Financial Planning for Real Events, Not the Calendar

Many companies stumble in their financial planning. As just one example, consider how Peloton, the exercise equipment and training company, made highly optimistic consumer demand forecasts, assuming that the surge of demand during the COVID-19 pandemic would last. The problem was compounded by a ...

By Michael Heric, Steve Beam, and Anup Juneja • July 11, 2022

Exit Strategy: How SaaS Founders Cash Out

While more companies transact and store their business off-premises, software as a service (SaaS) companies have seen a run-up in their valuations.Since 2015, the SaaS market continues to grow, 18% annually, while 99% of organizations are using at least one cloud solution to drive demand.From an ...

By Tom Aiken • June 14, 2022

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

6 Areas CFOs Should Support to Build Business Resilience

Significant headwinds continue to challenge small business CFOs and their organizations. During the best of times, small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operate within tight budgets and often struggle to balance cash flows. Now, supply chain issues, inflationary pressures, and talent gaps exa...

By Steve McNally • June 13, 2022

Can the Global Minimum Tax Get Across the Finish Line?

Is the global minimum tax about to die on the vine? The proposed deal would introduce a uniform minimum tax rate on corporate profits. But it was stalled in both the United States and the European Union after Poland vetoed an EU agreement to implement the measure at the end of 2023.The Poland vot...

By Brian Peccarelli • June 8, 2022

How to Discuss Capital Allocation With Investors

Your company could have a highly successful capital allocation strategy, but, if you’re not sharing that story with investors, you're missing an opportunity to add value and build trust. Recent EY research indicates most companies don't communicate enough details with their shareholders about cap...

By Govind Gupta and Akhilesh Kulkarni • May 31, 2022

CFOs Gather Once Again: A Conference Notebook

Live, in-person conferences are again upon us, and I recommend attending one or more this year. The CFO Leadership Council spring conference, May 19-20, in collaboration with MIT Sloan, was the perfect reentry — vibrant, topical, mostly sales-free, and highly accommodative to networking. (Anyone ...

By Vincent Ryan • May 27, 2022

The IRS Makes Filing for the R&D Credit Tougher

Senators Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire Democrat, and Todd Young, and Indiana Republican, have been at the forefront of efforts to bolster one of the most powerful tax incentives in the U.S. tax code.Earlier in May, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of a resolution to expand the research and developme...

By Eric Hylton • May 24, 2022

Growth at ‘Any Cost’ Is Over: CFO Panel

Managements have been obsessed with growth for a long time. But the fitful economic recovery from the pandemic and the unfamiliar pressures of inflation call for a shift in gears.What’s clear — from earnings calls and stock market reactions to poor performance — is the pursuit of growth "at any c...

By Vincent Ryan • May 19, 2022

Steering the Sales Force Away From the ‘Easy Sale’

Discussions about increasing sales force effectiveness happen a lot these days. They usually result in ideas to help salespeople generate more revenue. However, not every dollar of revenue is created equal. Misguided efforts to sell unprofitable products and services to customers destroy rather t...

By Marwaan Karame • May 4, 2022

A Faster Close with NetSuite ERP

Learn how Ubiquity Retirement + Savings switched from QuickBooks to NetSuite ERP and brought their close from 21 days to five.

By CFO Editorial Staff • May 2, 2022

A Better Way to Do Ecommerce

Learn how Precision Medical leveraged OneWorld to cut the cost of billing in half and added $2.5M in annual revenue.

By CFO Editorial Staff • May 2, 2022

Bargain Purchases: Causes, Timelines, and Accounting Treatment

A bargain purchase occurs when a buyer purchases an asset for less than it is worth. However, they are not very common. Normally, companies will work to generate interest from as many buyers as possible before selling an asset, even a distressed one, to ensure the highest price. Bargain purchases...

By Walter O’ Haire and Jason Muraco • April 25, 2022

Using M&A to Redefine FP&A’s Role

Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) capabilities are essential when the pressure’s on to show results from ambitious transformation and value-creation goals. Rather than risk falling behind amid significant merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, CFOs can use transactions to catalyze ch...

By Bob Nannini and Lukas Hoebarth • April 11, 2022

Metric of the Month: The Cost of a Shared Services Center

Imagine a grocery store chain with numerous stores across the country. Each store needs someone to process payroll, pay vendors, and carry out other key finance processes. Rather than hiring staff for accounts payable or payroll at every store, the business is likely to be part of a growing numbe...

By Perry D. Wiggins • April 4, 2022

Will the New Tax Treatment of R&D Expenses Stand?

Tax executives, certified public accountants, CEOs, and CFOs of companies that spend a lot on research and development (R&D) have a special tax problem this year: a 2017 change to the U.S. tax code disallows immediately deducting R&D expenses and requires them to be capitalized and amorti...

By Vincent Ryan • March 21, 2022

Be Less Equitable When Allocating Resources

Management teams of diversified companies should manage portfolio businesses in much the same way investors manage their portfolios — focusing their resources on segments and projects expected to yield the most value creation. Unfortunately, across our clients, we find that this is rarely the cas...

By Jason Gould and Frank Hopson • March 16, 2022

EBITDA Add-Backs Require Caution

If accounting gods and powerful lenders had any mercy, they would give finance teams free rein to add back to profits all kinds of COVID-19 expenses. For example, the cost of paying idled employees or the rent and utility bills on facilities idled during lockdowns. Or the tens of other “abnormal”...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 10, 2022

2022 Outlook: 4 Charts to Watch

 In engineering, the signal-to-noise ratio compares the level of the desired signal to the level of background noise (which obscures the signal). You want the signal (the information). But the noise (background interference)? Not so much. In economics and business, there is lots of data and infor...

By Vincent Ryan • Jan. 25, 2022

Aimbridge’s Thomas Song Discusses Outlook of Hospitality Industry

Thomas Song may have gone from the frying pan into the fire when he left the restaurant industry in February 2021 to become finance chief of Aimbridge Hospitality. Aimbridge manages hotel properties for famous brands like Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt but did not go unscathed by the pandemic. The g...

By Russ Banham • Jan. 21, 2022

2022 M&A Outlook: Deal Market Expected to Continue Hot Pace

M&A volume likely will be robust this year, driven in part by deals that can be transacted with richly valued equity or cheap debt, say economists and analysts. But at the height of the market, experts advise taking risk mitigation steps during due diligence and deal structuring.The deal mark...

By Vincent Ryan • Jan. 20, 2022

Is Goodwill Accounting’s Future in the Past?

Portfolio managers and other investment professionals surveyed by the CFA Institute last week would prefer the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) not travel back in time 20 years to attempt to improve the U.S. accounting standard for goodwill.  FASB, however, seems intent on making the j...

By Vincent Ryan • Dec. 15, 2021

AmEx Fires Workers Over Payments Sales Pitches

American Express has disclosed it terminated employees for making improper sales pitches to business customers about the tax benefits of using its wire payment services.According to AmEx, the employees “positioned certain products inappropriately, specifically with respect to tax benefits,” with ...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 23, 2021

Accounting Profs Decry Corporate Minimum Tax

A group of accounting experts has urged Congress not to use book income as the basis for levying a 15% minimum corporate tax to help pay for President Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation.Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Angus King, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden proposed the tax as an...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 8, 2021

Cycle Time to Complete the Annual Budget: Metric of the Month

Do you remember the classic holiday song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams? Well, if you ask CFOs and business unit managers about their favorite time of year, few, if any, would say budgeting season. In some organizations, the budgeting process can start in June or eve...

By Perry D. Wiggins • Nov. 1, 2021

Senators Propose Corporate Minimum Tax

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, and Angus King Senate Democrats have proposed levying a 15% minimum tax on large companies’ income to help pay for President Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation.Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Angus King, Maine Indepedent, and Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden offered the t...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 27, 2021