Jack Daniel’s Maker Lowers Guidance

Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel’s and other spirits, reported net income for the quarter ended July 31 of $200 million, or 41 cents a share, up from $178 million, or 37 cents per share, a year ago. But it lowered its fiscal 2019 guidance to a range of $1.65 to $1.75, down from its previous...

By William Sprouse • Aug. 29, 2018

FASB Tackles Thorny Disclosure Effectiveness Issues

The Financial Accounting Standards Board announced some changes on Tuesday designed to potentially put to rest some issues of long-running debate.One set of changes involved tweaks and additions to its conceptual framework, which identifies the goals and purposes of financial reporting.The first ...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 29, 2018

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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

How to Reap the Benefits of Telemedicine

It feels as if telemedicine has been the “next big thing” in health care for a long time now. According to Mercer’s most recent national health-care survey, 71% of employers with at least 500 employees report that their employees now have access to telemedicine services, either through their heal...

By Mercer and Beth Umland • Aug. 29, 2018

Best Buy Shares Fall On Lowered Earnings Guidance

There were a lot of things to like in the earnings release of electronics retailer Best Buy. However, Wall Street found something it clearly didn’t like — reduced earnings guidance.The Richfield, Minn.-based company reported second-quarter net income of $244 million on revenue of $9.38 billion, b...

By William Sprouse • Aug. 28, 2018

Tesla Shares Fall Amid Doubts About Elon Musk

Tesla shares fell as much as 5% on Monday as CEO Elon Musk’s flirtation with taking the company private fueled doubts about his leadership.Musk announced late Friday that the automaker would remain a public company, saying in a blog post that shareholder sentiment was against the proposal and the...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 27, 2018

Lessons from Early Lease Accounting Adopters

A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey found that only 1% of companies had completed adoption of the new lease accounting standard, ASC 842. The deadline is looming for public companies, which are required to apply the standard for annual reporting periods beginning after Dec. 15 of this year. (T...

By Sheri Wyatt, Edward Tarka, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Dustin Osgood, and David Shebay • Aug. 27, 2018

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Aug. 24

Gerry Laderman has been promoted to the top finance spot at United Airlines. He has been acting CFO since Andrew Levy’s departure in May.David Denton has been selected to lead the finance function at Lowe’s. He currently holds the top finance spot at CVS Health and will join Lowe’s once that comp...

By Joan Urdang • Aug. 24, 2018

Existing Home Sales Continue Skid

Sales of U.S. existing homes fell 0.7% in July to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.34 million units, the fourth straight month of declines, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast an increase of 0.6%.Sales fell in the Northeast, South and...

By William Sprouse • Aug. 23, 2018

Antidote for CFOs in a Hurry: Meditation

I’m no different from other CFOs, in that we’ve all experienced that incessant, nagging internal discourse that distracts us and adds stress to the job.I shouldn’t have said that at the board meeting.Where does the audit stand?How great is the chance we won’t hit plan this quarter?I wonder if a r...

By Jason Godley, CFO, and Fastaff Travel Nursing and U.S. Nursing • Aug. 23, 2018

Uber Hires Banking Exec Nelson Chai as CFO

Uber has filled its long-vacant CFO position, hiring banking executive Nelson Chai to help clean up its financials as it prepares for an initial public offering next year.The ride-share company’s search for a new CFO ended on Tuesday as it announced Chai will take the position last occupied by Br...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 22, 2018

Linde, Praxair Push Forward After Regulators Ask For Divestments

Gas producers Linde AG and Praxair are still working to complete a proposed $83 billion merger, the companies said, after regulators asked them to divest more assets than previously anticipated.“Linde and Praxair remain in constructive dialogue with each other and the regulators on how to satisfy...

By William Sprouse • Aug. 22, 2018

How to Cut the Fat Without Cutting Staff

When CFOs are charged with leading cost-cutting initiatives, by necessity they find themselves navigating between the certainty of change and the human tendency defer short-term pain at the risk of much more drastic consequences in the future.There is nothing that can be done to completely avoid ...

By David Johnson • Aug. 21, 2018

Hertz Names New CFO

Hertz Global Holdings announced that its chief financial officer, Thomas Kennedy, has resigned, effective immediately. The company named Robin Kramer, senior vice president and chief accounting officer, to be the interim CFO before Jamere Jackson takes over on a permanent basis on September 10.“W...

By William Sprouse • Aug. 21, 2018

Late-Stage Funding Rounds Draw Heaps of Capital

Why go public when venture capitalists and other private investors are willing to dedicate large amounts of money in later-stage funding rounds at very high valuations?In the past seven days, several relatively mature startups have raised hundreds of millions of dollars.Early Tuesday, Getaround, ...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 21, 2018

Is It Time to Rethink Pension Contributions?

It’s well known that corporate pension plan sponsors have until mid-September to make tax-deductible contributions under the more favorable 35% corporate tax rate, rather than the 21% rate established by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.Justin Teman This is an attractive proposition that many corporatio...

By Justin Teman and Cambridge Associates • Aug. 20, 2018

Hershey CFO to Retire Next Year

The chief financial officer of The Hershey Co., Patricia Little, will be leaving the company to retire in the spring of 2019, Hershey announced Thursday. Little joined as finance chief in March 2015.“Patricia has been instrumental in helping create a more profitable and sustainable international ...

By William Sprouse • Aug. 20, 2018

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Aug. 17

Timothy Millage has been promoted to CFO and treasurer at publisher Lee Enterprises. He succeeds Ron Mayo, who resigned in June. Millage joined the firm in 2010 as assistant corporate controller and was appointed corporate controller in 2012.Steven Swain Brookdale Senior Living has named Steven S...

By Joan Urdang • Aug. 17, 2018

Macy’s Tops Expectations But Stock Drops

Macy’s reported net income for the second quarter of $166 million, or 53 cents a share, beating analyst expectations and marking an increase from $111 million for the same period last year. The company reported quarterly net sales of $5.57 billion, which also beat analysts’ estimates.But Macy’s s...

By William Sprouse • Aug. 15, 2018

There’s No Retailer Like Home Depot

Home Depot’s second-quarter earnings results proved once again that it has few peers in brick-and-mortar retailing.The home improvement retailer reported second-quarter net income of $3.51 billion, beating the forecast of $3.28 billion from analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. S...

By William Sprouse • Aug. 14, 2018

U.S. Household Debt Reaches New Heights

If consumers are holding record amounts of debt, is that good or bad for the U.S. economy? Surely, intelligent economists could occupy both sides of the debate.Regardless, U.S. household debt continues to climb, reaching a new post-financial-crisis high last quarter. The granting of credit is cer...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 14, 2018

Netflix CFO David Wells to Depart

The chief financial officer of Netflix, David Wells, is stepping down from his role at the company, Netflix said in a statement. He will remain with the company until a successor is found.“David has been a valuable partner to Netflix and to me,” Reed Hastings, chief executive officer at Netflix, ...

By William Sprouse • Aug. 13, 2018

Low Probability of Recession in the Next 12 Months: S&P

Although the U.S. economic expansion is in its late stages, Standard & Poor’s global economics unit pegs the chances of recession at only 10% to 15% over the next 12 months. It is also taking a sanguine view of the risks to U.S. growth in that period, like trade protectionism, which it says n...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 13, 2018

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Aug. 10

The Travelers Cos. said that finance chief Jay Benet will leave his post on Sept. 1, but will remain with the firm as vice chairman. He will be replaced by Daniel Frey, who currently heads finance for the company’s personal insurance division.Iain Mackay will join GlaxoSmithKline as CFO-designate...

By Joan Urdang • Aug. 10, 2018

What Gig Economy Jobs Are Really Like

Experts often claim that the “gig economy” — a labor market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs — can be a positive for companies and for workers. It is often described as an evolved state of working in which a work-from-home empl...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 9, 2018

Shifting Landscapes in the World of Recurring Revenue

It doesn’t require much examination to reach the conclusion that we’ve entered a golden age of recurring revenue.Subscription king Netflix has been trading at record highs. Recent IPOs from Spotify and Dropbox underscore the value investors place in subscription-based business models. And the gro...

By Brendan O'Brien • Aug. 7, 2018