Uncertainty Grows

Uncertainty about the economy rose in the second quarter among leading private companies, according to the latest Private Company Trendsetter Barometer report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Chief executive officers at 38% of 343 companies surveyed expressed uncertainty, compared with 32% in the fir...

By David Rosenbaum • Sept. 1, 2012

Pathways to Growth

“There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all” is one of Peter Drucker’s better-known maxims. Or, as Will Mitchell paraphrases it to CFO, “You can royally mess yourself up if you try to do the wrong thing really well.”Either way, that nugg...

By Edward Teach • Sept. 1, 2012

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

Banks Behaving Badly

Beset by scandals and debacles, from the peddling of subprime securities to money laundering, rogue trading, robo-signing, LIBOR fixing, and more, the banking industry has squandered much of its reputational capital in recent years. Indeed, banks’ very survival may depend on regaining their custo...

By Caroline McDonald • Sept. 1, 2012

Catching Up with Health Reform

CFOs, health-care attorneys, and benefits consultants expressed surprise, and in some cases shock, at the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this summer to uphold the individual-mandate provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).The decision, which left virtually the entire la...

By David McCann • Sept. 1, 2012

Trendy Growth

Name: Bob Ross Position: CFO of Ideeli, a flash shopping site that offers limited-time sales of clothing, accessories, and other products at 30%–80% discounts Previous Positions: Executive director of finance and worldwide corporate controller at Urban Outfitters; controller, head of risk managem...

By Marielle Segarra • Sept. 1, 2012

Looking for Growth in All the Same Places

If you described the current condition of the global economy as a traffic report, it would go something like this: businesses are bumper-to-bumper heading in the direction of the world’s emerging economies — and there’s surely gridlock ahead.That’s because CFOs around the world are planning to in...

By Josh Hyatt • Sept. 1, 2012

Business Is Sweet

If anyone knows brand loyalty, it’s Dave Marberger. He witnessed it firsthand as the former finance chief of Tasty Baking, the Philadelphia-based maker of Tastykakes, a line of packaged baked goods beloved in that city. And he sees it now as CFO of Godiva Chocolatier, the famous purveyor of premi...

By Marielle Segarra • Sept. 1, 2012

Should CFOs Be Interested in Pinterest?

CFOs may not know it, but their company has probably been pinned.Someone, somewhere, has likely taken a liking (or disliking) to your product or service (as long as there’s an image for it on your web site), and has shared that image with his friends on the social-networking site Pinterest. After...

By Taylor Provost • Aug. 30, 2012

How Truck Overhauls Are Saving Staples, UPS Carbon and Cash

Without trucks, the supply chain would screech to a halt. Yet, the rising cost of fueling these workhorses, not to mention the toll truck emissions take on the environment and public health, are forcing shippers and carriers alike to retool their fleets.How high are the costs? Many trucking and l...

By Mary Catherine O'Connor • Aug. 29, 2012

What You Need to Know About Patent Trolls

While Apple and Samsung duke it out in federal court for billions in damages and control over the global smartphone and tablet market, 01 Communique, a Mississauga, Ontario-based software firm with 15 full-time employees and annual revenues of less than $1 million, is waiting to hear from the U.S...

By David Rosenbaum • Aug. 24, 2012

Despite Sales Drop, Dell CFO Is Bullish on Laptops

Dell’s CFO Brian Gladden told analysts Tuesday he was confident Dell could compete with the increasingly popular tablets and smart phones that he said have taken a bite out of PC sales. He said the company was working hard to stay abreast of the current tablet and mobile-device trend by altering ...

By Taylor Provost • Aug. 22, 2012

Learning the Language of IT

As a member of a public company’s board, I was fascinated to see the results of a 2011 survey conducted by the National Association of Corporate Directors.  Among other matters, the survey asked: “What is the importance of IT to the future of the company?”  With more than 200 public-company direc...

By Timothy Chou • Aug. 20, 2012

Where to Go For Your Next M&A Spree

If you’re looking at your corporate map and trying to figure out which geographical territory ought to be your next target for acquisitions, you could do a lot worse than have a look at the latest study from the M&A Research Centre (MARC) at London’s Cass Business School. Researchers there ha...

By Andrew Sawers • Aug. 17, 2012

Punishing Groupon: Social Media Backlash?

While Groupon’s second-quarter earnings report Monday showed a 2% increase in revenue over last quarter, it fell 1% short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations. The stock hit an all-time low Tuesday.Groupon CFO Jason Child reported that the Internet coupon pioneer’s net income was $28.4 million f...

By Taylor Provost • Aug. 14, 2012

Private Company Pessimism Grows

According to Tuesday’s PricewaterhouseCoopers’s Private Company Trendsetter Barometer report, more than a third of companies (38%) surveyed expressed uncertainty about the U.S. economy. Optimism, the report said, declined between the first and second quarters, and pessimism rose.The report said t...

By David Rosenbaum • Aug. 14, 2012

Try Mobile Payment, CFOs Advised

It’s lunch hour in Boston’s financial district and the line at Boloco, a fast-food burrito chain, is long. A few people stand with credit or debit cards in hand, but most are holding their smartphones as they advance toward the register.A cashier glances at a customer with his phone at the ready....

By Taylor Provost • Aug. 13, 2012

Earnings May Shrivel Along With the Corn Stalks

The worst drought to hit the U.S. farm belt since 1956 has companies of many stripes forecasting the potential ripple effects in Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Companies linked to agriculture are preparing for lower revenues, tighter margins, and even higher leverage ratios for the r...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 10, 2012

How to Shore Up the “People” Part of Supply-Chain Performance

Recently, two American Airlines flights came close to colliding over Reagan Washington International Airport. The distance between them was a mere 800 vertical feet (200 less than the regulated allowable distance). Although the cause is under investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration say...

By Shawn Casemore • Aug. 8, 2012

Managing Risks Must Include Taking Them

Baseball great Yogi Berra once said: “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” For the practitioners in the art and science of risk management, the fork in the road is at hand. One directional sign says ERM, while the other says GRC. ERM is the acronym for enterprise risk management and GRC i...

By John Bugalla and Kristina Narvaez • Aug. 7, 2012

The Best Is Yet to Come

Do you ever throw down your newspaper or iPad in disgust after reading the latest news about jobs or budget deficits and fret about the inevitable decline of the United States? Stop worrying, advises Daniel Gross, the economics editor of Yahoo Finance. In his new book, Better, Stronger, Faster: T...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Aug. 1, 2012

Private Equity’s Picky Appetite

Private-equity firms have been choosy investors this year, expressing a preference for service and health-care companies for potential takeovers and greater portfolio exposure. According to financial sponsors, both industries will provide superior value in the current economic climate.The second-...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 1, 2012

Fewer Deals and Exits, But PE’s Mountain of Capital Grows

For two years, conventional wisdom was that private-equity firms would be compelled to resume the burst of deal-making activity they undertook before the financial crisis. PE firms would have to put their growing reserve capital to use or lose it, the theory went. But in the second quarter, their...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 1, 2012

Hands-On Growth

When Wayne Lipschitz was controller of Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, the firm grew from 12 units to more than 20. As controller of The Cheesecake Factory, he helped the chain grow from 19 restaurants to over 40. And during his time there as CFO, the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf chain grew from fewer tha...

By Marielle Segarra • Aug. 1, 2012

Muddling Through

Even as the global economy continues to send signals ranging from mixed to downright alarming, U.S. finance chiefs say they still plan to hire at a relatively strong pace, according to the latest Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey, released in June. U.S. CFOs say they wil...

By Kate O'Sullivan • Aug. 1, 2012

Hawaiian’s Big Apple Venture

In June, Hawaiian Airlines launched its first daily nonstop flight between New York and Honolulu. That may not seem like much, yet it contributed to Hawaiian growing its overall capacity by nearly 25%. Starting a new air route “is always a risk,” says CFO Scott Topping, especially in uncertain ec...

By David Rosenbaum • Aug. 1, 2012