Pre-Pandemic Job Levels Not Happening Until 2023: Economists

The U.S. job market is unlikely to return to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels until 2023 or later, according to a new survey released by the National Association of Business Economists (NABE).GDP Muscle BuildingThe organization, which has more than 2,900 members, conducted its latest NABE Outlook...

By Vincent Ryan • March 22, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending March 19

Trent Meyerhoefer Trent Meyerhoefer was appointed finance chief at barbecue grill retailer BBQGuys. Meyerhoefer was most recently CFO at eco-friendly packaging company Ranpak Holdings, where he led the global finance, accounting, treasury, information technology, human resources, and investor rel...

By Lauren Muskett • March 19, 2021

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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

Activist Investor Efforts Increasingly Lower Credit Ratings

Here’s another reason for finance chiefs to be wary of shareholder activist campaigns: increasingly, they lead to downgrades or other negative credit rating actions, especially for companies with already weak credit ratings.To be clear, most activist campaigns do not lead to changes in credit rat...

By Vincent Ryan • March 19, 2021

FASB Chair Jones Looks Ahead

Richard R. Jones With all the major accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board the last few years, it’s tempting to believe that finance departments are due a few years of relative quiet. However, there are plenty of issues lurking just outside the strict confines of ...

By Vincent Ryan • March 18, 2021

More Than Half Of Small Businesses Have Reopened: Survey

More than half of U.S. small businesses are fully reopened as local or federal pandemic shutdowns ease, according to a report from Kabbage, an American Express-owned fintech.What Happened: As part of an effort to track U.S. small business growth through 2022, Kabbage polled more than 550 small bu...

By Vincent Ryan • March 17, 2021

Danone Board Ousts CEO (and Former CFO) Emmanuel Faber

The board of directors at Paris-headquartered Danone announced the removal of Chairman and CEO Emmanuel Faber Monday.Gilles Schnepp will replace Faber as chairman. Véronique Penchienati-Bosetta and Shane Grant will serve on an interim basis as CEO and deputy CEO, respectively, until a new chief e...

By Vincent Ryan • March 15, 2021

CFOs Can Control the Health Care Supply Chain

Think of what we know regarding your company’s employer-sponsored health care:Health care, although a top-three expense, is not a controllable cost.Health care inflation is a constant and, because of the national medical trend, we should expect annual cost increases.Based on your company size, se...

By Nick Hansen and Randy Hansen • March 15, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending March 12

Maria Bowles Medical group IHA promoted Maria Bowles to chief financial officer. Bowles joined the medical group in 2018 as the director of finance and budget after working at General Motors for 19 years. She worked in several areas during her time at the car manufacturer, including global financ...

By Lauren Muskett • March 12, 2021

Coupang Shares Jump 40% After Monster IPO

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang had a strong market debut in the U.S. on Thursday, indicating investor confidence in its strategy of focusing on the Korean market despite growing competition.Coupang shares jumped 40.7% to $49.25 in New York Stock Exchange trading following an IPO that raise...

By Matthew Heller • March 11, 2021

5 Questions for Jack Hartung, CFO, Chipotle

Jack Hartung The pandemic and ensuing lockdowns devastated restaurant sales in 2020. As the industry slowly recovers, the question is, will there be lasting changes that affect the business model.Fast-casual food chain Chipotle is on the front line of some of that change. Its digital orders as a ...

By Vincent Ryan • March 10, 2021

Who’s a CFO?

Our February/March magazine cover story looks at the requisite competencies and skills for finance chiefs, but it leaves open the question of who gets hired as one. The annual Crist|Kolder Associates Volatility Report provides some clues. The search firm collects annual data on the turnover of C-...

By Vincent Ryan • March 3, 2021

Stock Buyback Plans Match CFOs’ Optimism

Stock buybacks may roar to life again in 2021 after being dampened by cash conservation measures to keep balance sheets fortified during the pandemic.Share repurchases began to accelerate in the third quarter of 2020 (the latest quarter for which numbers are available), when 38% of the S&P 50...

By Vincent Ryan • March 2, 2021

Texas Power Co-op Files Chapter 11 After Storm

The oldest and largest electricity cooperative in Texas has filed for bankruptcy, saying the state’s massive winter storm had resulted in a “catastrophic ‘black swan’ financial event.”According to CBS News, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative’s Chapter 11 petition “is likely to be the first of many...

By Matthew Heller • March 2, 2021

Metric of the Month: Invoices Billed to Customers With Credit Terms

Decisions to extend or withhold credit can be difficult to make at any time and in any economy. In a global pandemic and economic downturn, these decisions can be even more difficult as businesses struggle to manage cash flow and keep the lights on. Every company wants to bring new customers in t...

By Perry D. Wiggins • March 1, 2021

Senate to Begin Deliberations on Latest COVID-19 Relief Bill

The U.S. Senate this week will begin considering the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed by the House over the weekend.What Happened: The House of Representatives voted early Saturday morning to approve President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. It was the first major l...

By Lauren Muskett • March 1, 2021

Early Days of the Biden Presidency: The Quiz

A new presidential administration and a new political party holding a voting majority in the U.S. Senate heighten the uncertainty for U.S. executives. While it’s unlikely Congress will pass any new taxes during the pandemic, the situation deserves watching. How closely have you been following the...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Feb. 24, 2021

Special Report: Cloud Cost Control

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an accelerator of cloud services adoption. According to a report by International Data Corp., total worldwide spending on cloud computing, including hardware, software, and supporting services, will surpass $1 trillion in 2024, sustaining a compound annual growth ra...

By Bob Violino • Feb. 24, 2021

Shareholder Distributions vs. Reinvestment: The Gap Grows

Cash distributions to shareholders via dividends and share buyback programs have kindled passionate debates about the focus of shareholder value. Some market analysts and observers express chagrin at what they believe is a widespread increase in shareholder payouts, led by companies such as Apple...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 24, 2021

Protecting Against Cyberattacks in a Remote Worker World

This year will continue to focus on the fast-growing threat of cyberattacks and the scale of damage they can do. The pandemic and continuation of remote working, along with greater reliance on mobile devices, have created additional opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit. Cybersecurity breac...

By Raul Anaya • Feb. 22, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending February 19

Melinda Whittington La-Z-Boy is promoting its CFO, Melinda Whittington, to president and CEO. Whittington, who joined the furniture company in 2018, was previously finance chief for Allscripts Healthcare Solutions. Before that, she was senior vice president, corporate controller, and chief accoun...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 19, 2021

McDonald’s Sets Goals to Expand Diversity Among Senior Leadership

McDonald’s has set a goal of expanding representation of women and people of color in its leadership ranks over the next four years.In a corporate blog post titled, “Allyship Through Accountability,” the restaurant chain stated the mission to “increase representation of historically underrepresen...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 18, 2021

A Financed Emissions Standard for Banks

President Biden wasted no time after his inauguration in creating the “largest team ever assembled inside the White House to tackle global warming” and announcing an aggressive “all of government” approach to climate change. Biden is expected to order government agencies to calculate the costs of...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 16, 2021

Biden’s Trade Policy Stresses Investment in U.S. Jobs

The Biden administration may be less than a month old, but its early words and actions have provided clear signs of where trade policy is headed and what that means for businesses. Washington politics and policy are lining up to create a trade environment that will incentivize companies to bui...

By Lou Longo • Feb. 12, 2021

Your Company Survived 2020; It’s Time to Tell the Story

Year-end reporting has always been a critical time for companies to step back and assess their achievements and shortfalls, evaluate how those results compared to the prior year and set the stage for the future. Since every crisis ends with lessons learned, innovation and reinvention, proactive c...

By Moira Conlon • Feb. 11, 2021

Bumble Courts Wall St. With Increased IPO

Bumble has boosted the size of its IPO from 34.5 million shares to 45 million shares in a bet on investor enthusiasm for its “women-first” dating app and plans to broaden its products.The shares would be priced at between $37 and $39 per share, meaning Bumble is now aiming to raise $1.8 billion a...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 10, 2021