Meeting the Demand for Sustainability Disclosures and Investments

Globally, climate change is forcing people to think differently and, as a result, priorities are changing for private citizens and corporate ones. Stakeholders increasingly demand more from organizations than a commitment to short-term profitability. This drumbeat of demand includes a call for in...

By Steve McNally • May 3, 2022

Beware of Zombie Businesses in Your Portfolio

In the months to come, the penalty for holding disappointing businesses in corporate portfolios will grow. As interest rates rise, the expected future cash flows may be worth less than the capital invested in those businesses or projects.  Kal VadaszNow is the time to weed out such “zombie” busin...

By Kal Vadasz • April 28, 2022

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

3 CFO Priorities for An Unstable Time

In the best, most stable of times, the job of forecasting and responding to demand is difficult at best. These are not the most stable of times.In a 30-year career, I've never seen a more uncertain, unstable economic situation than what we're facing now, particularly for chief financial officers ...

By Richard Jenkins • April 26, 2022

Metric of the Week: CFOs Prefer Strategy Over Management

Chief financial officers as company leaders have been an ongoing theme over the past few years, for obvious reasons. CFO’s reporting has illuminated, and studies and surveys have shown, the finance chief not only is needed as a strategic leader within the organization but increasingly yearns to p...

By Andy Burt • April 18, 2022

The Fed Gets Ready to Taper: Weekly Stat

At the current rate of consumer price index inflation, the cost of living in the United States would double every nine years. So wrote Robert Phipps, a director at Per Stirling Capital Management, in a note released Friday.Wary of such a potentially devastating impact on households, the Federal O...

By Vincent Ryan • April 11, 2022

Whipping Inflation May Require Chancing a Recession

In the ideal outcome for the U.S. economy, the Federal Reserve will fine-tune monetary policy just enough to bring down inflation but not too much that consumers stop buying and GDP growth stalls. That’s why raising interest rates without tipping the country into recession is called the “Goldiloc...

By Ted Jackson • April 6, 2022

Inflation Weighs on Consumers’ Minds: Weekly Stat

What do consumers think about the macroeconomy and their own economic prospects? The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index, one of four data points we said CFOs should be tracking this year, shows widespread pessimism sinking in.The index fell to 59.4 for March, it was revealed last w...

By Vincent Ryan • March 28, 2022

Weekly Stat: High Volatility Index Readings Curb IPOs

No smart investment banker would counsel a CFO to price an initial public offering (IPO) when stock markets turn volatile. That’s why “upcoming IPOs” calendars are bare, and the one company that did list in March (as of Friday) saw its shares dive 65% on the open market.The go-to for measuring eq...

By Vincent Ryan • March 18, 2022

SEC Tries to Patch Money Market Rules

 Will the newest round of money market fund reforms from the Securities and Exchange Commission cause corporate treasurers to ditch the vehicles as a parking place for excess cash?Last December, the SEC proposed its third set of money market reforms in a decade-and-a-half. Like previous changes, ...

By Vincent Ryan • March 8, 2022

Metric of the Month: Return On Invested Capital

As countries begin to lift their pandemic restrictions and business leaders look toward post-COVID-19 business models, it’s important to ask whether the investments you made in 2020 (or earlier) still make sense. Reevaluating these investments can free up cash and enable investment in areas that ...

By Perry D. Wiggins • March 2, 2022

Planning for Inflation’s Impact

Inflation has been ticking upward for months, and with the U.S. Federal Reserve indicating a March rate increase, there are concerns heightened inflation could persist. Business leaders, and specifically CFOs, will be weighing the impact on their businesses — and how others interpret the moves th...

By Steve Gallucci and Ira Kalish • March 1, 2022

Stats of the Week: Diagnosing the Consumer

Are consumers in a funk? Consumer spending contracted nearly 1% in December 2021, and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to a gloomy 62.8 in February.PayPal seemed to think so during its early February earnings call. "The impact of omicron and the effect of inflationary...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 28, 2022

Private Equity’s 2022 Game Plan

A strong economic environment, record dry powder in the form of $500 billion across the top 25 firms, and cheap capital have fueled a surge in U.S. private equity. Fundraising, deal, and exit activity are at a scale and pace not seen since the early 2000s. Indeed, 2021 was a record for PE exits, ...

By Kevin Thornton and Chris Reeves • Feb. 25, 2022

Private Credit Market May Be Tested

Private credit markets for middle-market companies have rebounded strongly since the second half of 2021. Still, some credit analysts and market participants warn a turn in the cycle is coming.Financially weaker, highly leveraged midmarket companies may be in for a rough ride from inflation press...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 15, 2022

The Fed vs. Inflation: Playing Catch-Up

Last week’s consumer price index (CPI) report tolled the bell on the pandemic-induced, near-zero Federal Funds Rate. CPI inflation (including food and energy costs) has climbed since April 2021, while the Federal Reserve has kept the benchmark rate at its ultra-low April 29, 2020, setting. Now Fe...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 14, 2022

Prevent Customers from Going Delinquent

If cash is the lifeblood of a business, the revenue cycle is the circulatory system. The process of extending credit to customers, billing them for goods or services, and applying remittances to open receivables all pump blood through the body of a business. Delinquent customers and bad debt keep...

By Perry D. Wiggins • Feb. 2, 2022

5 Cybersecurity Spending Areas to Evaluate

As computing environments change and bad actors switch tactics, most organizations will need to increase or redirect their investment in cybersecurity.With inflation pushing up costs, the question most CFOs will seek to answer is where spending is producing the most value, said Raj Patel, cyberse...

By Bob Violino • Jan. 28, 2022

Coinbase Buys Crypto Futures Platform FairX

Coinbase has announced it will acquire futures exchange FairX in a move to offer crypto derivative products to U.S. investors.The acquisition of FairX, which lists futures contracts that track markets including stock indices and oil, comes four months after Coinbase applied for membership in the ...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 18, 2022

Citadel Gets $1.1B in First Outside Investment

Global trading giant Citadel Securities has secured its first outside investment in a deal that may set the stage for it to move into digital assets.Venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital and cryptocurrency investor Paradigm made the $1.15 billion investment, which values Citadel at around $22 bill...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 12, 2022

U.S. Inflation Surges at Highest Rate Since 1982

U.S. inflation rose in December at the fastest rate in nearly 40 years as price gains spread beyond a few pandemic-disrupted categories to such areas as shelter costs.The Labor Department reported Wednesday that the consumer price index (CPI) increased 7% last month on a year-to-year basis, match...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 12, 2022

World Bank Cuts 2022 Global Growth Forecast

The World Bank has cut its forecast for global economic growth in 2022, saying COVID-19 flare-ups, supply chain shortages, and waning government support have resulted in a “pronounced slowdown” of the recovery from the pandemic.In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, the bank was less bul...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 11, 2022

U.S. Adds Only 199,000 Jobs in December

A record year for U.S. job growth ended with a smaller-than-expected gain in December though economists are optimistic the labor market is in good shape going into 2022.The Department of Labor reported Friday that the economy added 199,000 jobs in December, down from 249,000 in November. The gain...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 7, 2022

Activist Calls for Zendesk to Scrap Momentive Deal

Activist investor Jana Partners has stepped up its campaign to derail customer-service platform Zendesk’s proposed acquisition of the parent of web-survey company SurveyMonkey.Jana, which owns a large stake in Zendesk, first objected in November to the acquisition of Momentive Global, saying it “...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 6, 2022

Fed Minutes Show Heightened Inflation Concerns

U.S. Federal Reserve officials may be leaning toward speeding up the timetable for hiking interest rates after concluding that inflationary pressures have exceeded their expectations.According to the minutes of their December meeting, members of the Federal Open Market Committee noted that “infla...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 6, 2022

Best Advice for CFOs 2021

CFO publishes columns from experts, consultants, and finance chiefs each year. We assembled some of the best from the wealth of advice our guest authors dispensed in 2021. These pieces struck a chord with readers and remain as relevant as the day they were published.5 Leadership Traps to Avoid Po...

By Vincent Ryan • Dec. 21, 2021