SEC Sued Over Failure to Enact Political Disclosure Rule

The newly formed Campaign for Accountability watchdog group is suing the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to  require corporations to disclose their political contributions.The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of plaintiff Steve Silber...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 14, 2015

‘Venom’ Bug Found in Virtual Machine Software

Cybersecurity experts have discovered a data center software bug that could be used by hackers to take control of cloud networks, though no exploits have so far been reported.The flaw, dubbed “Venom” by the digital security vendor CrowdStrike, takes advantage of legacy code in hardware-emulating ...

By Matthew Heller • May 14, 2015

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

High Performance

Enterprise performance management systems — not to be confused with enterprise resource planning systems, but closely wedded to the latter in more and more companies — are becoming more useful than ever, thanks to advances in technology and a wider choice of products. EPM software is increasingly...

By Keith Button • May 14, 2015

Facebook Pushes Vendors to Hike Pay, Benefits

In a move to address economic disparities in Silicon Valley, Facebook is requiring its contractors to pay their workers at least $15 an hour and provide improved benefits.The new rules cover food-service, security, and janitorial workers, among others, at Facebook’s U.S. facilities, a spokeswoman...

By Matthew Heller • May 13, 2015

Special Report: The Payments Revolution

Payments behavior changes slowly, at least relative to other activities driven by technology. How many businesses are still drowning in paper-related payments? Half of consumers still don’t use their mobile phone to pay bills. And few people can completely free themselves of occasionally having t...

By Vincent Ryan • May 13, 2015

Will Virtual Cards Finally Find a Big Market in AP?

If there were a unique credit-card number for every transaction paid for with a card, much of the effort and cost companies must bear to secure sensitive customer data would simply vanish.That obviously can’t be accomplished with plastic cards, but for electronic transactions, virtual card techno...

By David McCann • May 13, 2015

U.S. Firms Eyeing Benefits of Onshoring

U.S. companies are increasingly considering onshoring finance, IT, and other business services operations at home, with many mid-size U.S. cities now offering attractive alternatives to India and other offshore locations, according to a new survey.Consulting firm The Hackett Group said the dimini...

By Matthew Heller • May 13, 2015

For-Profit Educator’s CFO, CEO Charged With Fraud

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged ITT Educational Services, its CEO, and its CFO with failing to disclose the “abysmal” performance of student-loan programs that the for-profit educator financially guaranteed.CEO Kevin Modany, 48, and CFO Daniel Fitzpatrick, 55, fraud...

By Matthew Heller • May 12, 2015

Metric of the Month: Total Cost of the Finance Function

Ask any CFO if his or her role has changed in the last decade, and you’ll likely hear the same answer: Yes, in a big way.Not so long ago, the finance chief was charged primarily with keeping the company legal, allocating financial resources, and measuring how well shareholder capital is used to g...

By Mary C. Driscoll • May 11, 2015

SEC’s Chief Accountant Signals End to Convergence Efforts

Sounding a death knell for the more-than-decade long effort to fully “converge” International Financial Reporting Standards with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, James Schnurr, the chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said that he probably won’t recommend that...

By David Katz • May 8, 2015

Corporate Cash Hoard Hits a Record $1.73 Trillion

U.S. nonfinancial corporations held a record $1.73 million in cash at the end of 2014, but corporate cash growth slowed to 4%, according to a Moody’s Investor Service report.The survey confirmed that corporate America is kicking some of its cash-hoarding habit in favor of spending on capital inve...

By Matthew Heller • May 7, 2015

Ex-Wilmington Trust CFO Accused of Disclosure Fraud

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged former Wilmington Trust Co. CFO David Gibson, ex-president Robert Harra,, and two other former top executives of the bank with failing to accurately disclose past-due loans during the financial crisis.The civil complaint filed Wednesday is t...

By Matthew Heller • May 7, 2015

How to Hate Your Financial System Less

Jeremy Van Ek, CFO, Trisect As indispensable as financials systems are to companies, many of the people who work with them simply hate them. New software implementations are frequent, and the systems industry is littered with horror stories of implementations gone bad.This is particularly frustra...

By Jeremy Van Ek • May 7, 2015

New IRS Unit Targets Refund Cyber Thieves

The tax man cometh for identity thieves who steal data to collect taxpayer refunds. Amid a surge in identity-theft cases, the IRS has set up a new cyber-crime investigation team of about a dozen agents, The Wall Street Journal reports.Identity-theft cases now account for about one quarter of all ...

By Matthew Heller • May 7, 2015

Wendy’s Selling 640 Stores

Fast-food chain The Wendy’s Co. reported better-than-expected profit for the first quarter, updated investors on the sale of stores to franchises, and announced the sale of its Ohio bun-making bakery unit.Net income fell 40.6%, to $27.5 million, mainly from year-over-year reductions in gains on t...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 6, 2015

Global CO2 Levels Reach Ominous Landmark

Carbon dioxide levels in the global atmosphere passed an ominous milestone for climate change in March, exceeding an average concentration of 400 parts per million for the first time ever, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday.CO2 concentrations are the primary i...

By Matthew Heller • May 6, 2015

Senate Targets Obamacare With Budget Resolution

The Senate on Tuesday passed the first joint budget resolution in more than five years, a nonbinding budget blueprint meant to enable a summer debate over the repeal of Obamacare without a Democrat filibuster, according to an Associated Press article on Yahoo! Finance.While President Barack Obama...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 6, 2015

Exceptions for Private Companies Are Damaging the GAAP Brand

When you open a box of Cheerios you know what to expect. For those Cheerios that come in different flavors, it’s clear on the box which flavor you’re getting. This consistency is part of what makes the Cheerios brand valuable.Edward W. Trott Financial statements that comply with generally accepte...

By Edward W. Trott • May 4, 2015

McDonald’s Cooks Up a Turnaround Recipe

McDonald’s on Monday announced plans to restructure its business and refranchise more stores to offset sluggish sales volumes, as well as return more money to shareholders.Beginning July 1, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company will operate under a new organizational structure with the following mark...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 4, 2015

SEC’s Pot Calling the Kettle Black?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission needs to put its own accounting house in order, according to a government watchdog report that faults the financial regulator for “continuing and new deficiencies” in its financial controls.In auditing the SEC’s fiscal 2014 financial statements, the U.S...

By Matthew Heller • May 1, 2015

Threat Assessment

In a February editorial about the buildup of cyber attacks between the United States and Iran, The New York Times quoted President Obama’s observation that, compared with conventional weaponry, cyberweapons provide “no clear line between offense and defense.” For example, getting into the enemy’s...

By David Katz • May 1, 2015

The New Morality in Tax Strategies

In recent years, corporate tax strategies have become the focus of some high-profile public debates. Last year, for example, tax inversion deals received scorching criticism from regulators and lawmakers. One prominent critic — President Barack Obama — likely helped spur the Treasury Department t...

By Josh Hyatt • May 1, 2015

Moneyball

When the Major League Baseball season starts on April 5, the seasons of four professional sports leagues — in baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer — will be in progress. (The National Women’s Soccer League season begins on April 10.) Test your financial knowledge of these leagues by taking ou...

By CFO Editorial Staff • April 30, 2015

GM Places $5.4 Billion Bet on U.S. Expansion

China and Mexico may be the most popular places for global vehicle production these days. But General Motors is making a big bet on the United States, announcing Thursday it will invest $5.4 billion in U.S factories over the next three years.The investment includes $783.5 million for Michigan fac...

By Matthew Heller • April 30, 2015

EC Could Force Apple to Pay Scads of Back Taxes to Ireland

Apple may have to pay back a “material” amount of back taxes to Ireland if the European Commission rules against that country’s 1991 tax deal with the Cupertino, Calif. company, Apple disclosed Tuesday in its quarterly earnings filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.The issue surround...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 30, 2015