Hospital CFOs Struggle to Keep Up With the Times

Anyone who has spent more time than they care to waiting in an emergency room or doctor’s office — and who hasn’t — probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that hospitals and medical groups don’t operate very efficiently.The shortcoming extends to these organizations’ finance operations, new resea...

By David McCann • Jan. 4, 2018

No Finance Experience? No Problem

Can someone land a job as CFO of a Fortune 500 company without much finance experience? Sure.Deanna Strable Last February, Principal Financial Group — which ranked 227th on the iconic list in 2017— elevated to the top finance role Deanna Strable, an employee of the firm since 1990. Her previous p...

By David McCann • Jan. 2, 2018

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From CPA licensure changes to undergoing a digital transformation, these are the most popular stories CFOs are reading. 

By CFO.com staff

Goldman to Take $5B Charge From New Tax Law

Goldman Sachs has become the first major U.S. bank to announce it will take an earnings hit from a provision of the new U.S. tax law designed to encourage companies to repatriate funds from overseas.In a regulatory filing, the bank said Friday that based on currently available information, the ne...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 29, 2017

Grant Thornton’s Pay Gap Tops Big Four

Grant Thornton has reported a gender pay gap that is larger than those of the Big Four accounting firms, attributing it to the imbalanced structure of its workforce.Grant Thornton’s workforce is split almost equally by gender — 51% men to 49% women across its combined entities — but it has a mean...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 28, 2017

CFO Data Alert: New EU Law Has Teeth for U.S. Cos.

For CFOs, the European Union’s sweeping new data protection law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), represents both a huge threat and an enormous opportunity.The threat, of course, is the measure’s punitive teeth. After May 25, 2018, companies found in violation of GDPR are subject to...

By Brian Cohen • Dec. 28, 2017

Tax Bill Forces Barclays to Take $1.2B Charge

Barclays has joined the list of companies that are taking major writedowns because the U.S. tax cut bill has decreased the value of their deferred tax assets.The British bank announced Wednesday it expects the value of its DTAs to decline by $1 billion pounds ($1.34 billion) as a result of the re...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 27, 2017

Tax Cuts Come With Writedowns for Insurers

Before the Republican tax cuts boost insurers’ after-tax earnings, they may take an earnings hit due to writedowns of deferred tax asset (DTA), according to S&P Global Ratings.DTA accumulates on corporate balance sheets when companies overpay taxes or take tax losses. S&P estimates that i...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 27, 2017

Consumer Favorite Destroys Businesses, Jobs

Say “Amazon,” and almost everyone today thinks immediately of the online retailer. And they love it. Amazon has been ranked number one in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index for the last nine years. Why? Because the company obsessively puts the customer at the center...

By Heidi Pozzo • Dec. 22, 2017

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Dec. 22

Walter Investment Management has appointed Jerry Lombardo to head finance, effective next February. Lombardo, who takes over for Gary Tillett, previously was a managing director and treasurer of the consumer and community bank at JPMorgan Chase.Barnabas Kui Barnabas Kui has been named to the top ...

By Joan Urdang • Dec. 22, 2017

Ex-Bankrate CFO Charged With Criminal Fraud

The former CFO of Bankrate has been charged with criminal fraud for allegedly manipulating the financial services firm’s books to artificially inflate its stock price and enrich himself and others.The indictment unsealed Wednesday is the latest chapter in the legal troubles of Edward DiMaria aris...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 22, 2017

Square-Off: Is Amazon Good for Business?

Amazon is cool, right? Who wants to spend hours holiday shopping in a mall? For that matter, who wants to sift through a bunch of different websites when you can get everything you want from just one? Either way, who wants to pay more for the privilege of not buying through Amazon?Rhetorical ques...

By David McCann • Dec. 21, 2017

There’s Nothing Not to Love About Amazon

Amazon is good for business, good for brands, and good for customers of goods and services.Larry Light Amazon is all about making people’s lives easier. There are three dimensions of ease: ease of choice, ease of use, and ease of mind. Amazon’s creativity and understanding of people’s needs, prob...

By Larry Light • Dec. 21, 2017

Feds Should Break Up Amazon

Amazon may be good for consumers, but it isn’t good for businesses. It’s clear that Amazon is steadily marching toward becoming a monopoly, and monopolies are bad for competition, bad for business, and against American capitalism.Saagar Govil Amazon is a driving force in retail and manufacturing ...

By Saagar Govil • Dec. 21, 2017

McKesson CFO Jumps to Software Provider

After four years heading up finance at pharmaceuticals distributor and health-care giant McKesson, James Beer is moving on. The veteran CFO, who has also had stints at Symantec and AMR (American Airlines), will start at software provider Atlassian on February 20, 2018.Beer replaces current Atlass...

By Vincent Ryan • Dec. 18, 2017

Metric of the Month: How Long Should Cash-to-Cash Cycle Take?

Whether your organization manufactures a product or sells a service, it takes time for an investment you make in raw materials or employee brainpower to flow back into your company as cash. The most commonly used metric for gauging that time is the cash-to-cash cycle, also known as the cash-conve...

By Marisa Brown • Dec. 15, 2017

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Dec. 15

Ally Financial has appointed Jenn LaClair CFO designate. She will take over the top finance spot upon the retirement of current finance chief Chris Halmy in March. Previously, LaClair was head of the business bank at PNC Financial Services Group.Jenn LaClair Staffing firm EmployBridge said co-fou...

By Joan Urdang • Dec. 15, 2017

Sears Takes Further ‘Financial Flexibility’ Steps

Sears Holdings is getting more time to pay off a $400 million loan as it continues to reorganize its finances amid a double-digit downturn in sales.The struggling retailer said in a regulatory filing Tuesday it had extended the maturity of the loan from June 30, 2018 to Jan. 20, 2019, with the op...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 13, 2017

Pending Tax Cut Sends CFO Optimism Soaring

Business optimism among CFOs in the United States and some other countries has reached record levels, according to the more than 800 CFOs responding to the latest Duke University/CFO Global Business Outlook survey.The quarterly survey’s CFO optimism index in the United States increased to 68.6 on...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Dec. 13, 2017

PNC’s Jenn LaClair Named Ally Financial CFO

Ally Financial on Tuesday named PNC Financial Services Group executive Jennifer LaClair to replace Chris Halmy as chief financial officer.LeClair, 46, will join Ally as CFO designate next week and officially succeed Halmy when he retires effective March 1, 2018. Halmy was appointed CFO in Novembe...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 12, 2017

Big Data Doesn’t Require Big Dollars

By now every CFO understands the value of big data. Big data allows organizations to obtain valuable insights to close sales, reduce operating expenses, avert cyber attacks, and assess business tactics.The goal is to process massive amounts of information to make more informed, rapid decisions.Hi...

By Alan Cyron • Dec. 12, 2017

Using Tax Savings to Pare Supply Costs?

The economic impact that will follow President Trump’s presumed approval of the tax bill that congressional Republicans are working to finalize will surely generate a diverse collection of winners and losers. Some of them might not be immediately obvious, however.For example, one company hoping t...

By David McCann • Dec. 11, 2017

Food Review App Shuts Down ICO

A California-based company selling digital tokens to investors to raise capital for its blockchain-based food review service halted its initial coin offering (ICO) and returned the proceeds to investors after the SEC determined the sale constituted an unregistered securities offering.Munchee was ...

By Vincent Ryan • Dec. 11, 2017

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Dec. 8

David Bergman has been promoted to head finance at Under Armour, an innovator and distributor of athletic apparel and accessories. He joined the firm in 2004 and had been corporate controller and senior vice president of corporate finance before being named acting CFO last February.Steven Olsen C...

By Joan Urdang • Dec. 8, 2017

FASB Leasing Tweak Offers ‘Big Relief’

The recently proposed tweaks to the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s new leasing rules represent a big breather for the many public companies racing to comply with the standard by its January 1, 2019, deadline, a lease accounting expert says.James Barker The FASB decision about the new leas...

By David Katz • Dec. 6, 2017

How to Prevent ‘Visual Hacking’

When it comes to data security, social-engineering — psychologically manipulating people into divulging confidential information — targets what may be a company’s most exploitable assets: its employees.John Brenberg In “The Human Factor Report 2016,” security and compliance company Proofpoint rep...

By John Brenberg • Dec. 5, 2017