CFO Savors Wild World of Consumer e-Lending

A few short years after imprudent consumer lending helped trigger the Great Recession, some financial companies have emerged that actually take just seconds to decide whether to approve a loan application. And the entire process is automated.Suk Shah One such firm is AvantCredit, which wrote its ...

By David McCann • Dec. 9, 2014

Key to Growth: A License to Kill

For better or worse, in today’s working world we’re often in do-more-with-less mode. It’s easy to see the “worse” side of the equation: ceaseless demands for growth butting up against cost-control pressures, leading to a burned-out, disengaged work force. But is there really a “better” story to b...

By David McCann • Dec. 3, 2014

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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

Small Company, Big CFO Job

As great as the demands are on a CFO at a publicly held Fortune 500 company, it’s perhaps just as demanding to run finance at a small, growth-stage private one.David Blanke Done well, it may require spending large blocks of time on evaluating technology tools to perform tasks that the small staff...

By David McCann • Nov. 11, 2014

Hurting from Recall, GM Reveals Margin-Boosting Plan

General Motors CEO Mary Barra told an audience packed with investors and analysts that she is committed to increasing her company’s profit margins while scaling back costs and expanding operations in China, The New York Times reported.Mary Barra It’s Barra’s strategy to salvage a storied American...

By Iris Dorbian • Oct. 1, 2014

Will Windows 10 Score With Enterprises?

As Microsoft unveils a preview of what was supposed to be Windows 9, but is now being called Windows 10, it hopes to banish the memory of Windows 8 to the darkest recesses of history.In an article on Tuesday, PC World speculates that Windows 10 might be a case in which Microsoft will rectify the ...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 30, 2014

Intel to Invest $1.5B in Chinese Chip Makers

Silicon Valley chip-maker Intel will pay $1.5 billion for a minority stake in China-based Tsinghua Unigroup, a Chinese-government affiliated private equity firm that owns two mobile chip makers: Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics. The investment is part of Intel’s strategy to gain...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 26, 2014

SAP to Buy Concur for $7.3B

To fortify its position in cloud computing, German software maker SAP has agreed to buy Bellevue, Wash.-based Concur, a provider of software for expense and travel management, for $7.3 billion in cash.Reuters reports that the acquisition was an inevitability given the momentum in the cloud comput...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 19, 2014

3rd-Quarter Economic Outlook: U.S. Stronger, Latin America Weaker

Results from the Duke University/CFO Global Business Outlook survey for the third quarter of 2014 showed continued strengthening in the confidence that U.S. finance executives have both in the economy and in their own companies. At the same time, the gloomier outlook in Latin America has started ...

By David W. Owens • Sept. 9, 2014

Jobs Growth Cooled in August

Despite six consecutive months of relatively strong employment figures, hiring lost momentum in August, with only 142,000 jobs added to payrolls, the U.S. Labor Department said on Friday.The New York Times reports that the figure was a considerable decrease from the 200,000 jobs increase estimate...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 5, 2014

Are China’s Antitrust Probes Unfairly Targeting U.S. Firms?

Due process concerns about antitrust regulation in China are being raised in a paper issued Wednesday by the U.S-China Business Council. The council suggests that China is unfairly targeting American companies in an attempt to tamp down overseas competition while boosting homegrown businesses.The...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 3, 2014

China No Longer An Investment Valhalla

American investor fatigue is setting in with China, according to a new study by the American Chamber of Commerce in China. High labor costs and flat revenue growth are the two main reasons behind the wariness of U.S. firms’ to invest more in a country considered the second largest economy on the ...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 2, 2014

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Aug. 29

Robert Olson Dish test shoot in Englewood, Colorado on Monday, Aug. 27, 2012. (Chris Schneider)Finance chief Robert Olson is retiring from Dish Network, effective Oct. 15. He will be succeeded by senior vice president of programming Steve Swain.Steve Swain Steve SwainCME Group has promoted John ...

By Joan Urdang • Aug. 29, 2014

How Outsourcing Fails

With companies continuing to slash expenses to meet their desired bottom lines, it’s become increasingly popular for many to use outsourced talent for a project. That’s especially so within the IT market.But that doesn’t mean things won’t get lost in translation and errors won’t get made between ...

By Iris Dorbian • Aug. 28, 2014

Let the Innovation Games Begin

You may have a crack research-and-development team, but that doesn’t mean it should be the company’s only source of innovation. Indeed, the pipeline of ideas likely will gush more bountifully if you find ways to stimulate everyone’s creativity.The big prize that awaits the champion team. One busi...

By David McCann • Aug. 21, 2014

Small Businesses Left Out of Lending Spree

Small business lending is still below its pre-recession levels, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Although banks held $585 billion in small business loans on their books at the end of the first quarter, up 1% versus last September, small business loans were still off 18% from their...

By Iris Dorbian • Aug. 19, 2014

SEC to Clamp Down on Credit-Ratings Agencies

To prevent a reprise of the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is set to “finalize” new rules for credit-ratings agencies, says the Wall Street Journal. The effort is in response to criticism leveled against the firms for not being vigilant when assessing “flawed m...

By Iris Dorbian • Aug. 18, 2014

Eurozone Economy Flatlines in 2Q

While the eurozone prepares to feel the effects of the sanctions imposed on Russia, apprehension is growing in the region as the gross domestic product of Germany shrank and France’s stagnated in the second quarter, says Reuters.The less-than-stellar report is making the other 16 member states pa...

By Iris Dorbian • Aug. 14, 2014

More Enterprises Deploying Mobile Apps

Corporate America is becoming increasingly reliant on mobile devices for business operations, confirms a study released Tuesday. Mobile enterprise app activations jumped 20% in the second quarter of this year versus the first quarter, according to Good Technology, a Sunnyvale, Calif-based mobile ...

By Iris Dorbian • Aug. 12, 2014

‘Social Norming’ Boosts Employee Adherence to Company Policies

As the CFO, you are the chief policy enforcer for your company, the protector of the process, the crusader for compliance. It drives you nuts when people flaunt company policies.Jeremy Van Ek Let’s say your policy is that business expenses must be submitted for reimbursement within 30 days. Your ...

By Jeremy Van Ek • Aug. 4, 2014

Companies Seek Bigger Payoff from Sustainability Efforts

While companies tend to trumpet their sustainability efforts, they don’t always reap strong benefits from those efforts, a new McKinsey study suggests.In McKinsey’s past surveys, when asked about their companies’ top reasons for pursuing sustainability, respondents most often cited cost cutting o...

By Iris Dorbian • Aug. 2, 2014

Telecommuting Opens Doors for Hackers

Working from home offers a plethora of advantages: no commuting, freedom from office politics and the ability to check e-mails in one’s pajamas. Unfortunately, it won’t protect the employee from hackers and, for the employer, opens another network weak spot that cybercriminals can exploit, says a...

By Iris Dorbian • July 31, 2014

Five Tips for Preventing Cyber-Security Breaches

Discount retailer Target recently admitted it spent $88 million to improve its cyber-security systems following last year’s data breach, says finance resource site Proformative. And the meter is still running, with the firm most assuredly on the hook for legal costs for defending itself from laws...

By Iris Dorbian • July 28, 2014

Industrial Sectors Will Buoy the Global Economy: Moody’s

The outlook on global nonfinancial industry sectors is the best it’s been since the end of the financial crisis, according to a new report issued Thursday by Moody’s Investors Service. But don’t start the party just yet.Moody’s says the overall trend for corporates is positive, “with broad shifts...

By Iris Dorbian • July 24, 2014

Know Your Customers, But Don’t Trust Them

According to the old adage, “the customer is always right.” That is a sales precept since time immemorial, one that has become the standard rule for dealing with customers.But according to Entrepreneur, based on research and data, the adage is also very flawed for three reasons: One, the customer...

By Iris Dorbian • July 24, 2014

Obamacare Subsidies Ruling Buoys Plans to Drop Health Benefits

A federal appeals court ruling yesterday could lead to the collapse of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), some reports are saying. Less dramatically, the decision may be encouraging news for companies that were considering whether to stop offering employee health-care coverage, now that the public in...

By David McCann • July 23, 2014