The Weight of Water

The United States suffered from hugely destructive hurricanes before August 2017. As recently as 2012, Superstorm Sandy placed large swaths of New York City under water, and the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 still haunt New Orleans. In 1992 the massive wreckage caused by Hurric...

By David Katz • Nov. 6, 2017

Under Armour Discloses Hiccups in SAP Implementation

Athletic apparel firm Under Armour is one of SAP’s most-touted customers. At a New York event in October, the software giant trotted out an Under Armour enterprise transformation executive to describe the company’s journey toward adopting S/4HANA, SAP’s in-memory enterprise management business su...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 1, 2017

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

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Oct. 27

Westinghouse Electric has appointed Dan Sumner to head finance. Sumner, who joined Westinghouse in 2010, has been acting CFO since May; before that, he was chief compliance officer and director of corporate audit, and was named vice president of finance in October 2016.Carol Lowe Carol Lowe has b...

By Joan Urdang • Oct. 27, 2017

Europe Data Regulation Poses Big Opportunity

Editor’s note: The author is the CFO of SAP France.With GDPR compliance less than a year away, some CFOs I speak with have yet to look past the risk of a big fine. If you’re one of them, then this article is for you.Emmanuelle Brun Neckebrock Yes, GDPR — the General Data Protection Regulation, a ...

By Emmanuelle Brun Neckebrock • Oct. 26, 2017

Accounting Estimates Changing at Record Pace

The number of changes in accounting estimates by SEC-registered entities in 2016 was the greatest since 2000, the first year for which Audit Analytics has analyzed all annual and quarterly SEC filings.There was a total of 820 such changes last year, up from 628 in 2015, the auditing research firm...

By David McCann • Oct. 24, 2017

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Oct. 20

Natural products firm ChromaDex has chosen Kevin Farr to lead the finance function. He takes over from Thomas Varvaro, who will become senior vice president of finance. Farr comes to the company from Mattel, where he had headed finance since 2000.Jed Kapsos has been named finance chief of enterta...

By Joan Urdang • Oct. 20, 2017

How Risky Are New Revenue Recognition Rules?

Kyla Curley The effective date of the new revenue recognition guidance is, at long last, right around the corner. At some point after that, we’ll begin to see whether the new standard’s principles-based methodology is working as intended.As companies work through the challenges of implementing th...

By Mark Giese and Kyla Curley • Oct. 18, 2017

Four Countries Where Political Risk Is Rising

Political risk is on the rise in some countries, with insurer Aon cutting the political risk ratings of four of them in its quarterly report. The third quarter marked the first time “in some time” that the number of countries experiencing an increase in political risk outnumbered those experienci...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 17, 2017

PE Firm to Give Weinstein Co. Cash Infusion

Private-equity firm Colony Capital may be coming to the rescue of The Weinstein Company as the film studio fights for survival in the wake of the demise of co-founder Harvey Weinstein.TWC said Monday it had entered into a preliminary agreement with Colony to provide it with an immediate capital i...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 17, 2017

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Oct. 13

Jamie Miller has been promoted to the top finance spot at General Electric, effective Nov. 1. She takes over for Jeffrey Bornstein, vice chair and head of finance, who will retire at year-end. Miller joined GE in 2008 as chief accounting officer and controller, and most recently served as CEO of ...

By Joan Urdang • Oct. 13, 2017

Attorneys Charged in $6M Microcap Fraud

Two securities lawyers have been charged with playing a “crucial role” in a microcap fraud scheme that involved passing off shell companies manufactured for sale by reverse merger as startups with legitimate business plans.James M. Schneider of Hillsboro Beach, Fla., and Andrew H. Wilson of Nevad...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 12, 2017

Honeywell to Spin off $7.5B in Businesses

Honeywell said Tuesday it would spin off its turbo charger unit and home heating and security businesses to focus on “high-growth businesses” in six key markets.The spin-offs are the result of a comprehensive review of Honeywell’s portfolio by CEO Darius Adamczyk, but do not include its aerospace...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 10, 2017

IMF Sees Global Economic Upswing

The International Monetary Fund declared on Tuesday that the “global upswing” in economic activity was strengthening, as it projected global growth would be slightly higher this year than previously forecast.In its latest World Economic Outlook, the international organization projected that the g...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 10, 2017

Basel Committee Relaxes Bank Funding Rule

The net stable funding ratio was supposed to make very large banks safer to deal with in the wake of the liquidity problems encountered during the financial crisis. The more stable a bank’s funding sources, presumably, the more resistant it might be to financial crash, making it a safer counterpa...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 9, 2017

Capitalizing on the Platformization of the Economy

Just as every waiter in Hollywood has a script he’s looking to shop, it seems every MBA from Silicon Valley to Wall Street has a platform pitch in his or her back pocket. It’s not enough these days to have a great idea for a new tool or clever app. To break out in the marketplace, businesses need...

By Brian Peccarelli • Oct. 5, 2017

Human Capital: Risk vs. Uncertainty

In a world characterized by rapid technological change, perpetual product innovation, economic globalization, and generational and cultural shifts, the life cycle of products and business designs is shortening. Companies are constantly obliged to adapt.Haig Nalbantian It is often human capital, m...

By Haig Nalbantian • Oct. 5, 2017

Training Aims to Unify Far-flung Finance Staff

It’s been a wild ride for Mondelez International over the last few years: operational transformations, the sale of the company’s coffee business, steep cost cutting, determined pricing discipline, an almost-deal to acquire Hershey, talk of being acquired by Kraft Heinz, and, this year, a series o...

By David McCann • Oct. 4, 2017

Stormy Weather

Even before the autumnal equinox, 2017 hurricane season was shaping up to be one of the most ruinous of the past two decades. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria each reached the intensity of a Category 5 storm at some point. How much do you know about tropical storm systems and their human and fi...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Oct. 4, 2017

Leaving Pension Management, and Pension Risk, Behind

For several decades, corporate America had been looking for ways to shed the increasing costs and performance risk of sponsoring traditional, defined-benefit (DB) pension plans. Freezing plans by halting the accrual of future benefits had become a popular strategy. But plan sponsors that did that...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Oct. 3, 2017

Brother, Can You Spare a Manager?

The U.S. labor market continued to tighten, causing companies to pass up valuable investment projects, according to the results of the third-quarter Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey. Most tellingly, the survey of 850 CFOs found that 89% of companies do not intend to pur...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Oct. 3, 2017

International Paper Transfers Pension Risk

International Paper said Monday it will transfer $1.3 billion, or about 9%, of its pension liability to Prudential Insurance in another move to de-risk its pension plan.The packaging, pulp and paper producer will acquire a group annuity contract from Prudential in return for the insurer taking ov...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 2, 2017

VW Adds $2.95B to ‘Dieselgate’ Scandal Costs

Volkswagen’s diesel emissions cheating scandal continues to get more expensive as the automaker disclosed Friday it would take a $2.95 billion charge in the third quarter due to higher-than-expected vehicle buyback and retrofit costs.The charge will bring the total “Dieselgate” bill past $30 bill...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 29, 2017

A Majority of Companies Now Like the ACA

During the first few years after the Affordable Care Act’s 2010 passage, most companies were none too happy about new costs for taxes mandated by the law and for complying with its many requirements.Now, a group that’s inherently interested in managing health-care costs — the people companies pay...

By David McCann • Sept. 29, 2017

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Sept. 29

Bhaskar Rao has been promoted to finance chief at Tempur Sealy International, effective Oct. 13, succeeding the departing Barry Hytinen. Rao joined the firm in 2004 and most recently served as chief accounting officer. Hytinen will become CFO of HanesBrands, effective Oct. 16, replacing the retir...

By Joan Urdang • Sept. 29, 2017

Data Held Hostage

Think cyber scammers that perpetrate ransomware attacks are easily defeated? Note this: When the WannaCry ransomware epidemic struck in May 2017, scammers doubled down by targeting people who were already attacked and who were scrambling to retrieve their encrypted data. They sent them emails off...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 28, 2017