SmartRent Going Public in SPAC Deal

A category-leading smart home technology company is going public in a SPAC deal announced Thursday morning.The SPAC Deal: SmartRent announced a SPAC merger with Fifth Wall Acquisition valuing the company at $2.2 billion.There are no SPAC warrants involved in the deal, which means less dilution to...

By Lauren Muskett • April 22, 2021

GE’s Long Turnaround Attempt: Timeline

Former GE CEO Jeff Immelt’s book, “Hot Seat,” recounts the many missteps that occurred during his time as head of the conglomerate. But even after Immelt retired, the company struggled as new management failed to act quickly to chart a new course. Here’s how a famous American company known as a p...

By Lauren Muskett • April 21, 2021

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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

Remotely Successful?: The Quiz

Not too many months after the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset, executives called the shift to working from home a boost to productivity.Whether or not it is advantageous to workers in the long term is an unsettled question. While remote working allows employees to do more “deep work,” it can also lead ...

By CFO Editorial Staff • April 21, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending April 16

Leanne Cunningham Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-Forman promoted Leanne Cunningham to finance chief, effective July 2. Cunningham has worked at the spirits and wine company for more than 25 years, most recently as senior vice president, shareholder relations officer, global commercial finance...

By Lauren Muskett • April 16, 2021

The Global Chip Shortage: Worst-Hit Industries

The global chip supply shortage has snowballed into a major problem for companies, cutting across sectors and necessitating concerted efforts from governments and industry.The Miscalculations, Politics Behind Chip Shortage: The COVID-19 pandemic deceived foundry partners and packaging manufacture...

By Vincent Ryan • April 15, 2021

CFOs Still Clinging to Corporate Cash

With vaccinations on the rise and the pandemic’s end possibly in sight, economists are raising their U.S. GDP forecasts for 2021. In March, for example, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) more than doubled its GDP growth projection for the domestic economy for 2021 ...

By Vincent Ryan • April 14, 2021

Coinbase Shares Hit $100B Valuation on Debut

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global, which debuted on the Nasdaq through a direct listing, made history of sorts in its first session.What Happened: Coinbase shares were given a reference price of $250 a piece by the Nasdaq after the exchange chose to take the direct listing route instead of ...

By Lauren Muskett • April 14, 2021

SEC Could Reclassify SPAC Warrants And Hold Up New Filings: Report

The Securities and Exchanges Commission has been vocal about making changes to the SPAC industry. The latest change from the SEC could center around how SPAC warrants are classified.What Happened: Warrants, which are typically issued for SPACs when units begin trading, could be reclassified by th...

By Vincent Ryan • April 13, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending April 9

Bill Wafford Bill Wafford was appointed CFO at Thrasio, a startup that helps consolidate and scale companies that sell products mostly on Amazon’s marketplace. Wafford joins Thrasio from JCPenney, where he was CFO and led turnaround and transition efforts for the retailer. Wafford was formerly ch...

By Lauren Muskett • April 9, 2021

CFO Job-Hopping: How Much Is Too Much?

While executive recruiter David Arnold and the CEO of a high-profile Silicon Valley company were discussing the company’s CFO search, the CEO told Arnold, “If you send me someone who has had a lot of short stops, I’ll be skeptical.” That was a red flag and her “number one pet peeve,” says Arnold,...

By Sandra Beckwith • April 8, 2021

Credit Suisse Rearranges C-Suite

Credit Suisse Group has announced a shake-up of its upper executive level following the consecutive disasters it absorbed from the collapse of the Archegos Capital Management hedge fund and the freezing of $10 billion in investment funds connected to Greensill Capital, a failed British-based supp...

By Lauren Muskett • April 6, 2021

CPA Charged With Violating Auditing Rules

A Texas accountant has been charged with performing an audit for a public company even though his firm was not registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.The U.S. Securities and Exchange said Christopher Knauth’s fiscal 2018 audit of tech firm Zenergy Brands — the first he had ...

By Matthew Heller • April 6, 2021

Total Cost to Manage Taxes: Metric of the Month

It has been said that the only certainties in life are death and taxes. And unless your company is a large corporation with teams of lobbyists in Washington, D.C., it’s a certainty that your organization is going to pay a lot of taxes to a lot of entities — income taxes, payroll taxes, property t...

By Perry D. Wiggins • April 1, 2021

Spotting State-Sponsored Cyberattacks

Reports of attacks against U.S. government networks and thousands of private companies, allegedly by hackers working for China and Russia, have raised the profile of state-sponsored cyberattacks.The Center for Strategic & International Studies keeps a running list of such attacks, and they nu...

By Vincent Ryan • March 31, 2021

PCAOB Forms Stakeholder Advisory Group

On Monday, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) approved the formation of a new advisory group that will include stakeholders outside of the audit profession. The board unanimously approved creating an 18-person standards advisory group (SAG) that will include investors, audit co...

By Vincent Ryan • March 30, 2021

WeWork to Go Public Via SPAC Merger in $9B Deal

SoftBank-backed shared office provider WeWork has decided to go public via special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with BowX Acquisition, almost two years after its failed traditional initial public offering.What Happened: WeWork inks long-term leases with landlords. The company then su...

By Lauren Muskett • March 26, 2021

SEC Unveils Rule on Oversight of Chinese Issuers

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed the guidelines it will use to implement a Trump administration law that authorizes it to delist Chinese stocks.The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA) is not aimed exclusively at China but according to legal experts, its most ...

By Matthew Heller • March 24, 2021

The Balanced Scorecard Approach to Capital Investment

Loren Garruto, EY CFOs need to determine suitable capital investments to drive long-term value amid rapid pandemic-era market changes and as stakeholders focus on changing measures of progress. How can they track the right metrics to make these decisions? The answer lies in developing a balanced ...

By Vincent Ryan • March 22, 2021

U.K. Proposes Reforms to Upgrade Audit Sector

The British government on Thursday unveiled proposals to modernize the country’s audit sector after a series of high-profile audit failures.The proposed reforms would, among other things, dilute the dominance of auditing by the “Big Four” accounting firms, possibly cap their share of FTSE 350 aud...

By Matthew Heller • March 18, 2021

GE Commits to Cutting Debt By 35% Within 3 Years

General Electric on Wednesday told investors more debt reduction is on the way and offered clarity on the company’s plans to manage and reduce debt by 2023.What Happened: The U.S. industrial conglomerate last week reiterated its 2021 forecast and announced a deal to sell its jet-leasing business ...

By Lauren Muskett • March 18, 2021

Remote Workers Alter State Taxes

The pandemic expedited remote working as a necessity which has forced business owners to grapple with several questions, including employee efficiency, effectiveness, and the cultural impacts that remote working has on a company or firm. We can now add another concern to this growing list of ques...

By Vincent Ryan • March 17, 2021

From Amazon Towards Microsoft — A Shift in the Cloud Arms Race

Microsoft is poised to chip away further market share from Amazon cloud subsidiary Amazon Web Services, according to Wedbush Securities.The Microsoft Analyst: Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives maintained his “outperform” rating and $300 price target on the Satya Nadella-led tech giant.The Microsoft The...

By Lauren Muskett • March 16, 2021

Chamber Urges SEC Caution on Climate Disclosure

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to proceed cautiously on climate risk disclosure, saying enforcement efforts should not take precedence over rulemaking.In a letter to Acting SEC Chair Allison Herren Lee, the Chamber suggested the commission had acted ...

By Matthew Heller • March 16, 2021

SEC Cautions On Celebrity SPACs

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission held a meeting Thursday and among the topics covered were special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and how they should be viewed going forward.What Happened: The SEC hosted a panel with some experts in the SPAC field to discuss the positives and ne...

By Lauren Muskett • March 12, 2021

Lordstown Motors Responds to Short Seller

Electric truck startup Lordstown Motors has angrily challenged a report from short seller Hindenburg Research that accuses the company of fraudulently marketing itself.Hindenburg’s report “The Lordstown Motors ‘Mirage’: Fake Orders, Undisclosed Production Hurdles, And A Prototype Inferno,” detail...

By Vincent Ryan • March 12, 2021