A Need-to-Go Basis

When the CEOs of Detroit’s Big Three automakers flew to Washington, D.C., on private jets seeking a collective bailout, the resulting scornful guffaws echoed around the country. Suddenly corporate jets, the usual mode of transport for many big-company executives, seemed not only woefully out of s...

By Kate O'Sullivan • March 1, 2009

Lost and Foundering?

The news about the economy hasn’t been good for some time, but in early February it got worse. The Labor Department reported that the United States had shed 598,000 jobs in January, the worst monthly loss in 35 years, for a total of 3.6 million jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007...

By Edward Teach • March 1, 2009

Explore the Trendline➔

Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

The Right to Remain Silent?

Reading about the arrest in January of the CFO of Satyam Computer Services — the Indian family-owned outsourcer accused of a $1.4 billion fraud — I recalled a conversation I’d had a year earlier with a finance executive in Hong Kong.Over lunch, the CFO explained his predicament. He’d recently lef...

By Don Durfee • March 1, 2009

Managing in the Fog

“Not to beat around the bush, but the budgeting process at most companies has to be the most ineffective practice in management.” Thus Jack Welch, the former boss of GE, in his book “Winning,” which was published several years ago. Many firms that put their 2009 budgets together at the end of las...

By Economist Staff • Feb. 26, 2009

Obama Puts First Budget on Table

 President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled his first budget, vowing to enact broad cuts in spending while continuing to hold onto “investment” priorities he touted during the campaign.“No part of my budget will be free from scrutiny or untouched by reform,” Obama said during remarks at the Whit...

By Roll Call Staff • Feb. 26, 2009

The Lapse of Luxury

Could those who produce luxury goods escape the worst of the global economic slump? Not likely. Some had dared to hope so, suggesting that rich consumers may be insulated from the financial turmoil that has engulfed those less well off, or that shoppers’ discretionary spending may go to acquiring...

By Economist Staff • Feb. 24, 2009

The Collapse of Manufacturing

$0.00, not counting fuel and handling: that is the cheapest quote right now if you want to ship a container from southern China to Europe. Back in the summer of 2007 the shipper would have charged $1,400. Half-empty freighters are just one sign of a worldwide collapse in manufacturing. In Germany...

By Economist Staff • Feb. 20, 2009

More Firms Put Workers in the Crosshairs

As federal unemployment figures continued to surge — with 627,000 new jobless claims reported, and the number of Americans receiving unemployment checks jumping to a record 4.99 million — new corporate layoff announcements this week confirm that the pain will only worsen.Goodyear Tire & Rubbe...

By Roy Harris • Feb. 20, 2009

Exec-level CPA Hopes Dim for Early Rebound

Already-pessimistic executive-level CPAs appear to be sharply reducing their expectations for an early recovery from the current economic downturn, a new survey says. Now, 41 percent look for the turnaround in next year’s first half, with 20 percent not expecting it until the 2010 second half.The...

By Roy Harris • Feb. 19, 2009

Top Ten Concerns of CFOs

Where do you turn for information on the fast-changing financial crisis? Siebe van Elsloo hopes it is to a newspaper, a magazine or the journals at the local library. In fact, any publication will do. For the CFO of Royal Swets & Zeitlinger, a Dutch subscription-services company, the greater ...

By Jason Karaian • Feb. 2, 2009

Macy’s Plans to Cut 7,000 Jobs

Along with a hefty dividend cut and plans to redeem debt, Macy’s, Inc. announced today that it would eliminate about 7,000 positions, or about 4 percent of the company’s total current workforce. Nearly 40 percent of executive jobs are being eliminated. The retailer also reported that some of the ...

By Stephen Taub • Feb. 2, 2009

Buying American

In 1929 Willis Hawley and Reed Smoot, two protectionist Republicans in Congress, sponsored a bill to raise tariffs to the highest levels America had ever seen. And in the midst of economic distress, the protectionists won. The result was a round of reciprocal tariff hikes elsewhere, and a disastr...

By Economist Staff • Feb. 2, 2009

Sound Familiar?

So much for Chinese exceptionalism. The financial crisis continues to ripple across the economy, leaving many CFOs here shaken, particularly those who until very recently thought the country would emerge unscathed. The slowdown has been dramatic, particularly in the final two months of last year....

By Wu Chen • Feb. 1, 2009

Farewell to Finance Jobs

Although the fallout from the Satyam scandal, in which the Indian outsourcing giant admitted to massive fraud, has yet to be fully understood, one study found that U.S. firms plan to embrace offshoring to a remarkable degree. A survey of 200 companies by The Hackett Group indicates that companies...

By Sarah Johnson and Alix Stuart • Feb. 1, 2009

You Oughta Plea in Pictures

In 2007, as a major U.S. publishing company contemplated going public, it realized it had a problem: no one had ever heard of it. Despite broad market penetration and an impressive breadth to its product line, the company feared that its anonymity would have a devastating effect on its offering p...

By Scott Leibs • Feb. 1, 2009

Finance Keeps Cranking Away

With recession starting to slice into sales of his firm’s flagship software suite, Adobe Systems CFO Mark Garrett looked for ways to cut costs. In the end, Adobe trimmed capital investment, combined departments, and reluctantly laid off about 600 employees, around 8 percent of its workforce. No d...

By Nelson Wang • Feb. 1, 2009

The CEO’s Take: Recovery to Be Long, Painful

CEOs are digging in for a long, painful recovery.Only 34 percent of chief executives surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers are very confident of growth over the next three years, down from 42 percent last year, when CEOs were just beginning to recognize the full impact of the credit crisis on the gl...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 28, 2009

Blue Monday: U.S. Layoffs Top 57,000 Today

Caterpillar Inc.’s decision to cut 20,000 jobs – announced as part of a fourth-quarter report showing earnings off 28 percent – led the damage of a day in which at least 57,000 layoffs were announced by five U.S. companies.Noting that global economic conditions and commodity prices have continued...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 26, 2009

NYSE: $15M Market Cap Enough for Listing

Some small public companies with eroding market capitalization will have one less thing to worry about for the next three months.On Friday the New York Stock Exchange announced a temporary relaxation of the market-cap threshold required in order to remain listed. Through April 22, companies whose...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 23, 2009

An Italian Lifeline

Fiat’s Sergio Marchionne may not exactly be putting his money where his mouth is, but he is staking his reputation as a consummate dealmaker. Last month he declared that the immediate prospects for the car industry were so dire that only big producers, with sales of more than 5.5m a year, would b...

By Economist Staff • Jan. 21, 2009

Super Bowl XLIII Spending Off XX Percent: PwC

Spending in the Tampa Bay area for Super Bowl XLIII is likely to be thrown for a loss by the lousy economy — with receipts expected to be off far by 20 percent — but it should still approximate $150 million, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.Fans of professional football’s rival ...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 21, 2009

How Optimistic Is Small Business? Why Even Ask?

A monthly survey of executives led to a sharp plunge in the “small business optimism index” — down 2.6 points, to a near-record low score of 85.2 — showing how economic worries are swelling in that huge segment of the economy.The 35-year-old survey by the National Federation of Independent Busine...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 13, 2009

Bank Shots: Small Firms Often Eager to Switch

Almost half of small and middle-market companies are actively seeking a new bank, or would consider switching banks if presented with a compelling offer, according to a survey from Greenwich Associates.At the end of 2008, nearly 50 percent of small businesses in the survey, and 40 percent of mid...

By Stephen Taub • Jan. 7, 2009

Diagnosing Depression

The word “depression” is popping up more often than at any time in the past 60 years, but what exactly does it mean? The popular rule of thumb for a recession is two consecutive quarters of falling GDP. America’s National Bureau of Economic Research has officially declared a recession based on a ...

By Economist Staff • Jan. 7, 2009

From Bad to Worst

For those seeking a glimmer of hope amid the current economic news, the latest CFO Magazine/Duke University Global Business Outlook Survey is not the place to look. With CFO optimism plummeting to its lowest level in the 12-year history of the survey, 81 percent of finance executives say they are...

By Kate O'Sullivan • Jan. 1, 2009