California to Require Women On Boards

A bill passed by the California legislature last month was signed into law on Sunday by Governor Jerry Brown requiring publicly traded firms to have at least one woman on their boards of directors by the end of 2019.The bill was part of a set of legislation that looks to “protect and support wome...

By William Sprouse • Oct. 1, 2018

Not the First Choice

Not all CFOs are brimming with enthusiasm about RPA or think it heralds a vast improvement in productivity.At Zebra Technologies, a manufacturer of barcode scanners, data-tracking systems, and information management tools, finance chief Olivier Leonetti isn’t expecting an automation revolution un...

By David McCann • Oct. 1, 2018

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

RPA: Seeing is Believing

Shortly after Deanna Strable was promoted to CFO at Principal Financial in February 2017, she attended a conference for finance executives. While networking, she found that about half of the group was talking about robotic process automation.“To be honest, I didn’t even know what RPA was at that ...

By David McCann • Sept. 28, 2018

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Sept. 28

Commercial fleet manager Ryder System said that Art Garcia, who heads finance, plans to retire next April. The company has begun a search to replace Garcia, who joined the company in 1997 and has led the finance function since 2010. Once his successor has been chosen, Garcia will become a special...

By Joan Urdang • Sept. 28, 2018

Time to Shine: CFOs to Watch 2018

Ascending to the top of finance at a consumer giant, trying to revive the shares of a popular social media app, guiding a company through a backdoor listing, allocating capital to development of a leading-edge product, assuming the mantle after an internal controls debacle — our CFOs to Watch wil...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Sept. 27, 2018

Petrobras Fined $1.8B for Duping U.S. Investors

Brazilian energy giant Petrobras has agreed to pay nearly $1.8 billion to settle U.S. allegations that it manipulated its financial statements to conceal a massive corruption scheme from investors.The settlement resolves U.S. investigations arising out of the corruption scandal at Petrobras that ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 27, 2018

CenturyLink CFO Takes T-Mobile Integration Job

CenturyLink CFO Sunil Patel is taking his integration expertise to T-Mobile U.S. as it prepares to merge with Sprint.The veteran telecom executive had become finance chief at CenturyLink last year after it acquired Level 3, where he worked as CFO for more than 14 years. He will join T-Mobile as i...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 26, 2018

Ex-Bankrate CFO Gets 10 Years for $25M Fraud

The former CFO of Bankrate has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for orchestrating an accounting fraud at the financial services firm that resulted in more than $25 million in shareholder losses.Edward J. DiMaria, 53, was also ordered to pay restitution of $21.2 million at his sentencing Tuesd...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 26, 2018

Sears CEO Proposes $1.1B Debt Restructuring

Sears CEO Eddie Lampert has proposed further steps to avoid bankruptcy, warning that the embattled retailer must act “without delay” to restructure debt and sell assets.The proposed restructuring would give Sears “sufficient runway to continue its transformation,” Lampert’s ESL Investments hedge ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 24, 2018

Where Home Sales Go From Here Is Anyone’s Guess

Sales of existing homes in the United States were unchanged in August at a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.34 million units, the National Association of Realtors said this week. The group reported 1.92 million existing homes for sale at the end of August, up from 1.87 million a year ago.The slowdow...

By William Sprouse • Sept. 22, 2018

SEC Commissioner Wants to Rein In Exchanges

A Securities and Exchange Commission member said for-profit stock exchanges have grown too powerful and should be reined in by regulators.Commissioner Robert Jackson Jr. said the exchanges have consolidated and developed practices that are not like the competitive marketplaces investors deserve.“...

By William Sprouse • Sept. 21, 2018

Prudential Appoints New CFO; Falzon Moves to Vice Chair Slot

Prudential Financial named Ken Tanji executive vice president and chief financial officer, replacing Robert Falzon who was named vice chairman last week. Falzon had been CFO of Prudential since March 2013.Tanji has worked as senior vice president and treasurer since 2013. A 30-year Prudential vet...

By William Sprouse • Sept. 20, 2018

Visa, Mastercard Settle Long-Running Fee Suit

Visa and Mastercard, along with a number of banks, have agreed to pay $6.2 billion to settle a lawsuit over merchant fees.The lawsuit, brought on behalf of about 12 million retailers, was 13-years-old and alleged that card issuers, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America, violate...

By William Sprouse • Sept. 19, 2018

SEC Move Could Lessen Proxy Advisers’ Influence

The Securities and Exchange Commission has rescinded two guidance letters from 2004, a move that may reduce the influence proxy advisers have on say-on-pay and other shareholder votes.The guidance letters informed investment management firms that outsourcing their proxy-voting decisions to proxy ...

By David McCann • Sept. 18, 2018

China Retaliates Against $200B in U.S. Tariffs

China hit back on Tuesday against new U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports, further inflaming fears of a full-bore trade war between the two countries.In a rapid response to the Trump administration’s latest tariff move, the Chinese government said it would impose tariffs of 5% t...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 18, 2018

U.S. Business Inventories On the Rise Again

U.S. business inventories increased 0.6% in July, according to the latest release from the Commerce Department. The increase was driven in part by a jump in the stock of motor vehicles that was larger than initially estimated.The Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales report estimated the ...

By William Sprouse • Sept. 17, 2018

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Sept. 14

Scott Anthony has been appointed to the top finance spot at Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated. He is expected to join the company on Nov. 30 as treasurer and will take over as finance chief when current CFO Dave Katz becomes president and chief operating officer on Dec. 31. Anthony has headed f...

By Joan Urdang • Sept. 14, 2018

A Recession Lesson for Working Capital Management

The Great Recession provided some harsh lessons about managing working capital, a key metric that is tightly connected to supply chain efficiency.A decade later, another recession is widely predicted. What can the 2008 crisis tell us about the likely impact of the next recession on working capita...

By Lima Zhao and Arnd Huchzermeier • Sept. 13, 2018

Tax Cuts Impacting Board Decisions: Survey

Last year’s U.S. corporate tax cuts are prompting corporate directors to reconsider launching new businesses and as they conduct more comprehensive reviews of their companies’ total tax liabilities, according to an annual survey from the BDO Center for Corporate Governance and Financial Reporting...

By William Sprouse • Sept. 12, 2018

CFOs: The New Guardians of the Enterprise

The role of the CFO is undergoing a major transformation. New research from Accenture finds that more than eight in 10 CFOs see identifying and targeting areas of new value across the business as one of their main responsibilities. And three quarters believe it is within their purview to drive bu...

By Steve Culp, Christian Campagna, and Accenture • Sept. 12, 2018

The Key to Business Success: Shared Clarity

After more than 45 years of working with CFOs and other senior managers across the full spectrum of industries, I know what the key driver of business success is.Put simply, business success depends on every person in the organization uniformly and clearly understanding exactly what success shoul...

By Rick Yeager • Sept. 10, 2018

GAO Report Finds Cybersecurity Failings

An audit report from the Government Accountability Office found federal agencies have not done enough to address cybersecurity risks and have often failed to comply with their own security policies.One third of the cybersecurity recommendations issued by the GAO since 2010 had not been implemente...

By William Sprouse • Sept. 10, 2018

Metric of the Month: Learning Days Per Employee

In the finance world, on-the-job learning never ends. Giving your team hands-on training and stretch assignments are excellent ways to help them grow in their careers, but they don’t take the place of formal learning programs that give them the tools they need to take the finance organization to ...

By Perry D. Wiggins • Sept. 10, 2018

Wages Finally React to Labor Market Tightening

U.S. employers added 201,000 jobs in August, according to the Labor Department, which reported wages increased 2.9% year-over-year, up from 2.7% in July. The large annual jump in wages, the best since 2009, could prompt the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee to raise the federal funds rate m...

By William Sprouse • Sept. 7, 2018

The Next Step in Risk Management’s Evolution

Insurance and banking business models have continued to grow in complexity over the past 50 years – from simple and local risk exposures — to the current environment of complex and global exposures. Risk management has evolved along with the business model changes, from making individual, transac...

By Chad Runchey, Prudential Financial, Ernst & Young, and Nick Silitch • Sept. 7, 2018