5 Sneaky Tripwires in Your SaaS Contract

In “10 Things You Just Gotta Have in Your Cloud Contract,” I covered a range of things (10, as a matter of fact) that CFOs should think about when they sign a cloud contract. But the subject is hardly exhausted, especially when it comes to software-as-a-service (SaaS), the most popular flavor of ...

By Rob Livingstone • Sept. 18, 2012

Insurance Rate Outlook: From Flat to Soaring

Companies that have grown accustomed over the past several years to coasting through their insurance renewals in a flat market are now bracing for higher premiums on some types of coverage. In reporting details to their CFOs, risk managers are preparing earlier, providing more background on losse...

By Caroline McDonald • Sept. 18, 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

How a Broken Energy Policy Hurts Business

As John B. Hess, the chairman and chief executive officer of Hess Corp., said in a Harvard Business Review blog early this year, the United States needs a “strategic vision for a secure energy future that underpins economic growth and protects the environment.” But according to some experts — and...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 13, 2012

The Audacity of Hops

Craft beer is often defined by what it’s not. It’s not mass-produced. It’s rarely a low-alcohol light lager, like Budweiser or Coors. A craft brewer makes less than 6 million barrels a year (a barrel contains 31 gallons; Anheuser Busch, by contrast, shipped 97.9 million barrels of beer in the Uni...

By David Rosenbaum • Sept. 11, 2012

First to a Mobile Payment Application Wins!

Why is Wal-Mart trying to develop a mobile-payment app that can be used at Target? Why is Target working with Wal-Mart to develop an app that can be used to pay for diapers at CVS? Wal-Mart, Target, and CVS all sell diapers. Why should they work together? And why would they be trying to embed loy...

By Taylor Provost • Sept. 7, 2012

What the Elections Will Mean for Health Care

This first installment of a two-part series examines the likely fate of health-care reform given different election scenarios. Coming on Monday: CFOs sound off on the election, the reform law, and their future plans for employee health benefits.The extreme polarization of American politics dictat...

By David McCann • Sept. 7, 2012

Private Company Profit Margins Triple Since Recession

If there’s one thing America’s privately owned companies have learned over the past five years, it’s how to make the most of their sales in a shaky economy, according to new data from Sageworks, a financial-information company.Private companies in 2012 continue to strengthen their net profit marg...

By Mary Ellen Biery • Sept. 4, 2012

Six Questions about the Cloud

At an increasing number of companies, cloud computing tops the technology agenda. That’s not surprising. It can be a lot cheaper and more efficient to buy and access computer services over the Internet (in the cloud) — whether it’s applications, software and product development tools, or servers ...

By David Rosenbaum • Sept. 1, 2012

As Corn Stalks Shrivel, So May Earnings

The worst drought to hit the U.S. Farm Belt in almost 60 years 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 f...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 1, 2012

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

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

Warming Signs?

Small businesses may occupy a warm place in the hearts of politicians, especially in an election season, but they have been feeling a big chill from lenders and investors since the onset of the Great Recession. Banks, especially the larger ones, have been accused of shutting down lending to this ...

By Alix Stuart • 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