NetSuite’s Vertical Leap

When NetSuite went into business in 1998 as NetLedger, it sold a software-as-a-service product that competed with Intuit’s QuickBooks, the ubiquitous small-business accounting tool. Over the years, the company added inventory management and CRM tools, attracting ever-larger customers in the proce...

By Kate O'Sullivan • Dec. 8, 2010

Your New Start-Up

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”So holds a Zen proverb. And as much as your expertise has certainly helped your company weather this exhausting financial crisis, with the new year almost upon us it may be time to try to regain the beginner...

By Scott Leibs • Dec. 1, 2010

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

Shape Shifters

Nine months ago, CFO asked a number of leading economists to put themselves on the line — or the V, or U, or W, as they saw fit. That is, we asked them to predict the shape, literally, of the recovery (if any), and their collective response yielded one of the most popular articles we published al...

By Russ Banham • Dec. 1, 2010

Shape Shifters

Nine months ago, CFO asked a number of leading economists to put themselves on the line — or the V, or U, or W, as they saw fit. That is, we asked them to predict the shape, literally, of the recovery (if any), and their collective response yielded one of the most popular articles we published al...

By Russ Banham • Dec. 1, 2010

A New Method at Method

Method Products, a San Francisco-based maker of environmentally friendly home and personal cleaning products, has enjoyed years of healthy growth, becoming a $100 million, 100-person company since its founding in 2000. But in the rush to success, some basic planning was overlooked.“We have depart...

By Kate O'Sullivan • Nov. 17, 2010

A New Method at Method

Method Products, a San Francisco-based maker of environmentally friendly home and personal cleaning products, has enjoyed years of healthy growth, becoming a $100 million, 100-person company since its founding in 2000. But in the rush to success, some basic planning was overlooked.“We have depart...

By Kate O'Sullivan • Nov. 17, 2010

Abraham Getzler, Turnaround Pioneer, Dies

Abraham Getzler, a former feather merchant who helped lay the groundwork for the corporate restructuring services business, died on October 29. He was 84.Founder and longtime chairman of Getzler Henrich & Associates, Getzler consulted on turnarounds for middle-market companies, serving as int...

By David Katz • Nov. 10, 2010

Abraham Getzler, Turnaround Pioneer, Dies

Abraham Getzler, a former feather merchant who helped lay the groundwork for the corporate restructuring services business, died on October 29. He was 84.Founder and longtime chairman of Getzler Henrich & Associates, Getzler consulted on turnarounds for middle-market companies, serving as int...

By David Katz • Nov. 10, 2010

Big Retailers Put Testing to the Test

When Wawa, the $6 billion convenience-store chain, came up with a new flatbread breakfast product in 2008, the company’s marketing department was flat-out excited. The product had performed exceptionally well in spot testing and seemed more than ready for a systemwide rollout.At that very time, t...

By David McCann • Nov. 8, 2010

Lite Makes Right

Call it the era of “asset-smart.” Wary of long-term capital investments, many companies have reacted to today’s economic uncertainty with a spin on the “asset-lite” strategy popularized during the 1990s, when companies rushed to lighten their balance sheets by slashing plant-and-equipment outlays...

By David Katz • Nov. 1, 2010

Is a Trade War at Hand?

A flurry of congressional activity regarding foreign trade has more than a few CFOs on edge, and for good reason. On the one hand, they understand why Washington would seek to improve current economic conditions by getting tough on major trading partners, including China, whose protectionist poli...

By Janet Kersnar • Nov. 1, 2010

Lite Makes Right

Call it the era of “asset-smart.” Wary of long-term capital investments, many companies have reacted to today’s economic uncertainty with a spin on the “asset-lite” strategy popularized during the 1990s, when companies rushed to lighten their balance sheets by slashing plant-and-equipment outlays...

By David Katz • Nov. 1, 2010

Is a Trade War at Hand?

A flurry of congressional activity regarding foreign trade has more than a few CFOs on edge, and for good reason. On the one hand, they understand why Washington would seek to improve current economic conditions by getting tough on major trading partners, including China, whose protectionist poli...

By Janet Kersnar • Nov. 1, 2010

Lessons of the Fall

It may be hard to believe, but there was at least one positive outcome to the financial hardship that befell companies in the wake of the economic crisis that struck in September 2008: a heightened sense among finance chiefs of how to assess and manage unexpected risks.That message could be culle...

By David Katz • Oct. 27, 2010

Small-Business Jobs Act: Not Big Enough?

While CFOs see lots to like in the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act signed into law last month, many complain that its benefits don’t offset the injurious effects of other White House tax and health-care-related policies.“The new act certainly makes a difference by increasing access to lending,...

By Roy Harris • Oct. 18, 2010

Small-Business Jobs Act: Not Big Enough?

While CFOs see lots to like in the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act signed into law last month, many complain that its benefits don’t offset the injurious effects of other White House tax and health-care-related policies.“The new act certainly makes a difference by increasing access to lending,...

By Roy Harris • Oct. 18, 2010

FASB Looks to Change Goodwill Impairment Testing

Earlier this month, the Financial Accounting Standards Board proposed two critical changes to the way companies test for impairment of goodwill. Specifically, the board adopted the so-called equity premise to standardize the determination of the carrying amount of a reporting unit. In addition, F...

By Robert Willens • Oct. 18, 2010

More Trouble Ahead?

Roughly 18 months since the collapse of the mortgage market ushered in the worst recession in nearly a century, the economy appears trapped in a vicious cycle. Companies can’t get credit, so they hoard cash and minimize hiring, which in turn slows consumption, which in turn prolongs the downturn....

By Julia Homer • Oct. 1, 2010

Skewering SKUs

It isn’t easy for giant companies to make a 180-degree turn in their merchandising strategies. But Wal-Mart US is in the process of doing just that, said Bill Simon, the retail chain’s new president and chief executive officer, at a Goldman Sachs conference two weeks ago.Throughout 2009, said Sim...

By David Katz • Sept. 29, 2010

That Sinking Feeling, Again

Optimism about the U.S. economy has fallen back to recession levels among U.S. chief financial officers, despite the fact that they expect earnings to grow by 12% in the next 12 months and capital spending to increase by 7%.According to the latest quarterly Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Bus...

By Julia Homer • Sept. 22, 2010

Game Changer

CFOs are all too familiar with the experience: someone at the company has a Big Idea for an innovative new product or service, or has identified the next great growth opportunity. Money is earmarked and a project is launched with great fanfare. But two years later, what looked dazzling in a Power...

By Russ Banham • Sept. 1, 2010

Beyond the Data Debates

To highlight the virtues of his unit’s new sales and operations planning (S&OP) process, Richard Shields, CFO of Oakley, a maker and distributor of eyeglasses, shoes, and athletic apparel, likes to paint what he calls “a before-and-after picture.”Before the process was installed at Oakley (a ...

By David Katz • Aug. 18, 2010

CFOs See 12% Capex Rise, Deloitte Survey Finds

Buoyed by optimism about revenue and earnings growth, CFOs say their companies will boost capital spending by an average of 12% during the next 12 months, according to the results of a survey of 136 finance chiefs released Wednesday by Deloitte. But a closer look at the numbers reveals that part ...

By David Katz • July 15, 2010

Brazil Is Booming (and Maddening)

As the world’s 10th largest economy and one of the fastest to emerge from the global recession, Brazil is the hot market of the moment, and not just because of its famous beaches. With a stable currency; a growing, consumption-oriented middle class; and a gross domestic product expected to rise a...

By Kate O'Sullivan • July 15, 2010

Stuck on Hold

Finance chiefs remain uncertain about the economy, and their lingering doubts bode poorly for the unemployment rate, according to the findings of the latest Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey. The survey, which polled 1,102 senior finance executives worldwide in late May ...

By Kate O'Sullivan • July 15, 2010