How to Build a Strategic Relationship with the CIO

According to a recent Gartner report, “How CIOs Can Work Effectively with CFOs to Optimize Cost,” CIOs “have not demonstrated the ability to effectively optimize IT spending to their CFOs’ satisfaction, leading to arbitrary budget cuts.”While the CEO and CFO tend to share the same narrative aroun...

By David McCann • April 30, 2019

Tech Companies to Watch 2019: Yapta

In this third year of CFO’s Tech Companies to Watch, we found a notable shift in the applications being offered by vendors. In every functional area of the companies that made our annual list — process management, recruiting, travel expenses, receivables management, and compliance among them — th...

By Lauren Muskett • April 30, 2019

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

Tech Companies to Watch 2019: YayPay

In this third year of CFO’s Tech Companies to Watch, we found a notable shift in the applications being offered by vendors. In every functional area of the companies that made our annual list — process management, recruiting, travel expenses, receivables management, and compliance among them — th...

By Lauren Muskett • April 29, 2019

Parker Hannifin to Buy LORD for $3.68B

Parker Hannifin on Monday announced it has agreed to buy LORD, a privately held manufacturer of advanced adhesives and coatings and other specialty materials, for about $3.68 billion.In a statement, Parker Hannifin said LORD’s product set would strengthen its aerospace and defense businesses and ...

By Vincent Ryan • April 29, 2019

Slack Files for Direct Listing

Cloud-based collaboration company Slack has filed to pursue a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange.In its S-1 filing released Friday, the company reported $400.6 million in revenue for the latest fiscal year but said it had a net loss of $140.7 million. Its revenue was up 82% year-over-y...

By Lauren Muskett • April 26, 2019

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending April 26

Erika Noonburg-Morgan Ventura Foods appointed Erika Noonburg-Morgan to head finance. She takes over for Andy Euser, who has been promoted to chief administrative officer. Noonburg-Morgan formerly worked at Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, where she was responsible for running its commercial, financia...

By Joan Urdang • April 26, 2019

Tech Companies to Watch 2019: Completed.com

In this third year of CFO’s Tech Companies to Watch, we found a notable shift in the applications being offered by vendors. In every functional area of the companies that made our annual list — process management, recruiting, travel expenses, receivables management, and compliance among them — th...

By David McCann • April 26, 2019

U.S. Economy Posts Surprise 3.2% GDP Gain

The U.S. economy grew more than expected in the first quarter amid a sharp decline in imports and a buildup of inventories but economists said underlying trends are consistent with an economic slowdown.The Commerce Department reported Friday in its initial estimate of first-quarter growth that gr...

By Matthew Heller • April 26, 2019

Stay or Go: The Quiz

If inhabitants of the United Kingdom had access to a time machine, we’re pretty sure they would turn back the clock to February 20, 2016. That’s the date former Prime Minister David Cameron announced a public referendum on whether the UK should leave the European Union. See how much you know abou...

By CFO Editorial Staff • April 25, 2019

Buybacks: Is Reform Overdue?

Fueled by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, 2018 was a bonanza year for stock buybacks. According to numbers from Standard & Poor’s, U.S. companies repurchased $806.4 billion of their own stock last year, up 55% over 2017. Buybacks accounted for the lion’s share of the $1.23 trillion (35% more than ...

By Ramona Dzinkowski • April 25, 2019

Surescripts Sued Over Anti-Competitive Practices

The Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust lawsuit against the health information network Surescripts, accusing the company of using illegal vertical and horizontal restraints to maintain monopolies over electronic prescribing markets.In a lawsuit filed April 17 in the U.S. District Court fo...

By Lauren Muskett • April 25, 2019

Occidental Makes $57 Billion Bid for Anadarko

Occidental Petroleum offered $76 a share to buy oil and gas driller Anadarko Petroleum. The Occidental offer was sent in a letter to Anadarko’s board and offered $38 in cash and 0.6094 Occidental shares. The deal values Anadarko at $57 billion, including debt.The offer follows an April 12 announc...

By Lauren Muskett • April 24, 2019

Hire Quickly and Compliantly Worldwide

For a growing company, pursuing and achieving the goal of international expansion can be fraught with challenges—especially for firms unaccustomed to navigating the legal, regulatory, and cultural terrain of an unfamiliar locale. Indeed, in a new survey of U.S. senior finance executives working a...

By Gerry Marletta • April 24, 2019

First Person: Andy Fastow and Me

Twenty years ago, CFO gave Enron finance chief Andrew S. Fastow a CFO Excellence Award in the category of “capital structure management.” In a feature story naming him an award recipient, Fastow said, “Our story is one of a kind.” Little did he know how prophetic those words would soon become.I r...

By Russ Banham • April 24, 2019

Tech Companies to Watch 2019: FortressIQ

In this third year of CFO’s Tech Companies to Watch, we found a notable shift in the applications being offered by vendors. In every functional area of the companies that made our annual list — process management, recruiting, travel expenses, receivables management, and compliance among them — th...

By David McCann • April 24, 2019

Rent-A-Center Reaches Settlement Over Failed Merger

Rent-A-Center announced it has reached a settlement agreement with Vintage Capital Management and its financial partner B. Riley Financial over the breakup of their merger agreement last year.Under the terms of the settlement, Vintage will pay $92.5 million in cash instead of the original merger’...

By Lauren Muskett • April 22, 2019

Fintech Lender Settles with SEC for Overstating Investor Returns

The returns investors can earn from marketplace lending sometimes sound too good to be true. In the case of fintech company Prosper, they were.On Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that San Francisco-based Prosper Funding LLC had miscalculated and materially overstated annua...

By Vincent Ryan • April 19, 2019

Softbank’s Investment in WeWork: No Problem

A client asked recently for my view on Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group’s substantial investment in WeWork, whose CEO evidently profited by selling WeWork stock in order to buy properties that he then leased back to WeWork.My client’s question is whether these transactions constitute a confli...

By David McCann • April 18, 2019

Pier 1 Imports Hires Turnaround Expert as CFO

Pier 1 Imports named a restructuring expert as interim CFO to help lead a turnaround effort that has yet to deliver results.The struggling retailer said Wednesday that Deborah Rieger-Paganis, a managing director in the turnaround and restructuring practice at global consulting firm AlixPartners, ...

By Matthew Heller • April 18, 2019

JPMorgan Chase Names New CFO; Lake to Head Consumer Lending

Jennifer Piepszak, new CFO of JPMorgan Chase Jennifer Piepszak, JPMorgan’s current CEO of card services, is headed to the office of the CFO. After the markets closed on Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase confirmed that Piepszak would take Marianne Lake’s place as the chief financial officer of the banking...

By Vincent Ryan • April 18, 2019

CFOs Revise Recession Projections

CFOs are pushing out the timing of their recession predictions, according to the latest quarterly Duke University/CFO Global Business Outlook survey. About two-thirds of U.S. CFOs (67%) now believe the United States economy will be in recession by the third quarter of 2020, and 84% think it will ...

By Lauren Muskett • April 17, 2019

Capturing Post-Merger Value, Part Two: Revenue Synergies

The first part of this three-part series looked at Capturing Post-Merger Value from Commercial Integration.An acquisition, especially a major acquisition, provides an ability to not only combine existing capabilities but to reset and adjust the key commercial elements that drive the business’s ec...

By Vincent Ryan • April 15, 2019

Best Buy CFO to Become New CEO

Best Buy named Corie Barry, the company’s chief financial and strategic transformation officer, to the position of chief executive officer, effective June 11, 2019. Barry will also join the board of directors, which will expand to 13.Corie Barry Hubert Joly, Best Buy’s current chairman and CEO, w...

By Lauren Muskett • April 15, 2019

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending April 12

John Haudrich Owens-Illinois promoted John Haudrich to head finance. He replaces Jan Bertsch, who is retiring after holding the top finance spot since 2015. Previously, Haudrich was chief strategy and integration officer.Tom Kelly has been promoted to global CFO at Sony/ATV Music Publishing. He h...

By Joan Urdang • April 12, 2019

Uber Revs Up for Long-Awaited, $10 Billion IPO

Uber set the stage for the largest initial public offering in years, releasing a prospectus that showed revenue growth in its core ride-sharing business is slowing.The offering could value Uber at around $11 billion, more than four times that of United Airlines’ parent and double that of FedEx. I...

By Matthew Heller • April 12, 2019