Small Business Optimism Declines to 89.0 in April

Small business owners said finding and retaining talent remains their top concern, according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). The NFIB’s Small Business Optimism index continued its downward trend in April, where the index came in at 89.0, a 1.1 point drop from last month...

By David Hoffman • May 10, 2023

How CFOs Can Avoid the Crushing Cost of Technical Debt

Recurring news stories of airlines grounded and social networks rendered offline by a few lines of bad code have made the curse of technical debt known far outside the world of IT. While this may be the first time the phrase has entered the popular lexicon, it’s a long-festering problem known to ...

By Jon Stephens • May 9, 2023

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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

April’s Job Market Strength: 3 Charts

When CFOs and small business owners say they still face "critical hiring needs" in 2023, they mean it. The U.S. government's data on payrolls, hourly earnings, and unemployment for April showed an unexpectedly robust jobs market little hampered by efforts to quell inflation or indicative of an im...

By Vincent Ryan • May 5, 2023

How Should CFOs Select Peer Firms for Benchmarking?

CFOs can improve their decision-making and forecasts by benchmarking their companies against peers. However, finding the “right” peers for benchmarking is not an easy task. A key question for finance chiefs is whether your company and selected peers present the same type of information on the fin...

By Rani Hoitash, Ahmet Kurt, Udi Hoitash, and Rodrigo Verdi • May 2, 2023

Fed Decision, Future of Commercial Real Estate, and Maintaining Your COA: Trial Balance

April showers bring… more rate hikes and bank troubles?  With beach days and summer fun just weeks away, the month of May brings with it some work before we can dig our feet into the sand. The Fed meets this week, and further rate hikes may push the U.S. economy toward triggering a...

By CFO Editorial Staff • May 1, 2023

Bank Failures Offer CFOs 6 Lessons in Risk Management

Monday morning saw the second-largest failure of a U.S. bank in history and the third major one this year, with First Republic Bank ($229 billion total assets) seized by regulators and subsequently sold to JP Morgan Chase. The post-mortem on First Republic will be written in the coming weeks.Late...

By Vincent Ryan • May 1, 2023

Venture Capital Deals Down 28% in First Quarter

As if fledgling, pre-profit companies didn’t have enough challenges in the current economy, in the first quarter venture capitalists (VCs) drastically pulled back financing activity in U.S.-based startups.Data from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association showed the dollar value of ...

By Vincent Ryan • April 26, 2023

Sustainable Business: 7 Practical Ideas for CFOs

Sustainability has gained critical mindshare among corporate leaders, employees, consumers, investors, regulators, and other stakeholders. The drumbeat is growing louder for increased corporate accountability, especially for streamlined, formalized corporate sustainability disclosures. This sp...

By Steve McNally • April 25, 2023

Money Market Funds: Safe Keeping for Excess Cash?

Recent bank failures prompted outflows of U.S. bank deposits into systemically important banks, but money market funds — less used by treasurers and CFOs the past few years — also benefited. About $30.3 billion was poured into U.S. money-market funds (MMFs) in the week of April 12, according to d...

By Vincent Ryan • April 17, 2023

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filings Climbed 79% in March

Higher interest rates, inflation, and other financial distress prompted more U.S. businesses to file for bankruptcy in March, the fourth straight month-to-month increase in commercial filings.March is usually one of the busiest months of any year for bankruptcies. March 2023 commercial bankruptcy...

By Vincent Ryan • April 12, 2023

The M&A Playbook Needs a Change. Are CFOs Ready?

Mergers and acquisitions reached record highs in recent years, with volumes crossing $5 trillion for the first time in 2021. Yet, macroeconomic headwinds, including high inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain volatility, derailed this pattern last year and instead shaped a much more subdued...

By J. Neely • April 11, 2023

Venture Debt: 5 Items CFOs Must Know

With the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the slowdown in venture capital funding, some early-stage companies and startups in the United States are more cash-strapped than usual. Those circumstances have sparked the idea that venture debt will be the financing vehicle to rescue some priv...

By Vincent Ryan • April 10, 2023

61% of CFOs: Currently at Operational Capacity, CapEx Not Needed

CFOs have not shied away from expressing confidence in their own abilities to do well during an economic downturn. This confidence includes how finance chiefs have elected to invest in their organizations. Nearly two thirds (61%) of CFOs told Duke University and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richm...

By Adam Zaki • March 29, 2023

IPOs Raise Only $2.2B in 1Q

After a year Renaissance Capital characterized as the “U.S. IPO market’s slowest year in decades,” 2023 has started off with a whimper, not a bang.  The first quarter of 2022 was a six-year low for first-quarter IPO activity —  the current quarter beat it, but...

By Vincent Ryan • March 29, 2023

M&A Red Flags: The Crucial Role of Marketing Due Diligence

When J.P. Morgan spent $175 million to buy student financial aid firm Frank, it thought it was getting access to millions of young customers. It turns out that wasn’t the case, according to the bank’s subsequent lawsuit accusing Frank of fabricating more than four million student names in order t...

By Tal Shlosberg • March 28, 2023

Return of Office Happy Hours, MLB Swings Away, and Kautz Family Fintech: Trial Balance

The Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) saga may be winding down (short of the inevitable lawsuits), as First Citizens BancShares has agreed to acquire the collapsed bank's loans and deposits. But lest the lessons go unlearned, be sure to reflect on CFO's coverage, including senior reporter Vincent Ryan's ...

By CFO Editorial Staff • March 27, 2023

4 Ways CFOs Can Do More With Less

Organizational budgets, regardless of industry, are tightening. Accounting for the Fed proving itself to be resilient to hit 2% inflation, the troubles in the banking systems, and ChatGPT’s disruption, CFOs are operating in a highly volatile environment. Many of the world’s largest companies have...

By Adam Zaki • March 27, 2023

Bank Stresses Equivalent to an Interest Rate Hike: Powell

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted to raise the target range for the Fed funds rate by 25 basis points, to 4.75% to 5%, on Wednesday. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank's series of aggressive rate hikes could be nearing an end.Because the Federal Reser...

By Vincent Ryan • March 23, 2023

Sale-Leaseback Deals Rose 11% in 2022

Sale-leaseback transactions are back. Proprietary data from SLB Capital Advisors, a real estate advisory firm, found the transaction count for 2022 hit 874, up 11% from a record volume of 789 in 2021.Strong M&A activity in 2021, buyers’ strong appetite to deploy capital, and the transaction’s...

By Vincent Ryan • March 22, 2023

5 Keys for Managing Bank Risk

Why would a startup or any company make the unwise decision to park millions of dollars in one bank?To deepen an existing banking relationship by consolidating banking services; to give one bank the company's cash management, foreign exchange, and capital markets services in hopes of being charge...

By Vincent Ryan • March 22, 2023

Economic Profit Empowers CFOs to Drive Long-Term Value: Study

CFOs’ responsibilities dramatically expanded in recent years — on top of running their finance organizations, managing COVID-19-related shocks, and preparing for a potential recession. Many now lead company-wide transformations, advise on strategy, and act as the deputy CEO. But their...

By Jeffrey Greene, Gregory Milano, Alex Curatolo, and Michael Chew • March 21, 2023

Former FDIC Chair Speaks, Lamborghini Electrifies, and a Big Week for Banks: Trial Balance

Want to see sparks fly? Score a ticket to the American Bankers Association Washington summit this week, where former FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams is on a Monday morning panel. Virtual registration is still available.The big scheduled event this week is the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s ...

By CFO Editorial Staff • March 20, 2023

Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank CFOs Sued by Investors

The executive teams of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank are now facing lawsuits by investors, after both banks succumbed to bank runs and subsequent collapse last week. SVB was shuttered on March 10 and subsequently on March 13 was transferred via the FDIC to Silicon Valley Bridge Ban...

By Adam Zaki • March 16, 2023

CFOs Must Decide Whether to Stay With ‘Bridge’ Banks

The federal regulator rescue of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and insuring all deposits was a good outcome for business depositors. But for borrowers — many of whom are also SVB depositors — the outcome is in doubt. And contradictory messaging from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporatio...

By Vincent Ryan • March 15, 2023

Moody’s Flags 6 Additional Banks in Silicon Valley Bank Aftermath

Silicon Valley Bank's failure last week has precipitated an examination of the banking industry's overall health, and which other banks may be susceptible to similar risk. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which would be the largest bank failure since Washington Mutual in 2008, has been a clarion call f...

By Andy Burt • March 15, 2023