Regulators Leaping into the Cyber Breach

With the number of data breaches continuing to mount, regulators were very active in policing cyber risks in 2014. Given the current cyber risk landscape and the fact that regulatory intervention in cyber security and privacy issues is one of the few areas of possible cooperation across the polit...

By Tom Reagan • March 30, 2015

Special Operations

As CFOs around the globe continue to shift the focus of their finance functions from tactical to strategic, many are trying to find ways for their finance operations function to take part in that transformation. This goal is clearly reflected in a recent global CFO Research survey of senior finan...

By CFO Editorial Staff • March 27, 2015

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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

Is Unclaimed Property a Skeleton in Your Corporate Closet?

In this day and age, CFOs grapple with a variety of financial and operational risks that could significantly impact their organizations. One that often escapes attention? Unclaimed property reporting. To prevent this risk from falling off the radar, which could result in costly audits, it is crit...

By Joe Carr • March 26, 2015

EU Seeks to Lighten Burdens of Smaller Lenders

European Commissioner Jonathan Hill Thursday outlined the new direction the EU commission plans to take, including diverging from global banking regulations when necessary to avoid overburdening smaller lenders.“Nothing is bigger than the priority of jobs and growth,” Hill said Thursday in prepar...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 26, 2015

Judge Finds Zynga Investors Have Viable Fraud Claims

A San Francisco federal judge has allowed Zynga Inc. shareholders to proceed with their class-action lawsuit alleging the online gaming company failed to disclose slumping revenue growth before its market value declined by several billion dollars in 2012.As Reuters reports, U.S. District Judge Je...

By Matthew Heller • March 26, 2015

Consumer Bureau Eyes End to ‘Payday Debt Traps’

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday said that it was considering whether to propose rules that would “end payday debt traps,” by requiring payday lenders to make sure their borrowers could actually repay their loans.The proposed rules would also restrict lenders from attempting t...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 26, 2015

Professional Services: Attack of the Bean-Counters

Consulting has its Big Three; accounting the Big Four; and executive search a Big Five. But there is no corresponding clutch of dominant law firms. None has amassed as much as 0.5% of an industry with global revenues of around $650 billion a year.Even the biggest law firms may be anachronisticall...

By Economist Staff • March 25, 2015

Durable Goods Disappoint

Durable good orders unexpectedly dropped in February, the Commerce Dept. said Wednesday.New orders for manufactured durable goods last month fell 1.4%, to $231.3 billion, after rising 2% in January. Orders for transportation equipment led the decrease, falling 3.5%, to $69.5 billion.Orders for no...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 25, 2015

Top Democrat Wants SEC to Crack Down on ‘Bad Actors’

Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, on Tuesday unveiled draft legislation that if passed would make it harder for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to grant waivers of “bad actor” disqualifications, saying the review process needs to be more rigorous and transparent.The waivers all...

By Matthew Heller • March 24, 2015

Morgan Stanley’s Ruth Porat Named CFO of Google

Morgan Stanley’s Ruth Porat will become Google’s next chief financial officer, the Mountain View, Calif. company said Tuesday.Porat will join Google on May 26, Google said. She has been Morgan’s finance chief since 2010, after serving as vice chairman of investment banking, global head of the fin...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 24, 2015

Territorial Tax Reform Won’t Curb Inversions: Study

Changing to a “territorial” tax system in the United States won’t ultimately stem the exodus of U.S.-based multinationals to lower-tax countries and could come at a significant cost in terms of good corporate governance, a new study contends.Eric Talley Under the “territorial” approach to taxing ...

By David Katz • March 24, 2015

Calculating the Colossal Cost of a Data Breach

In the past two years, there have been dozens of highly publicized data breaches, including recent ones at Community Health Systems, Anthem, and now Premera Blue Cross. Just from those three, hackers stole medical information and other data of 136 million Americans, some records dating back a dec...

By Mary A. Chaput • March 24, 2015

Bank of America Gives Shareholders “Meaningful Access”

Bank of America is now letting some of its long-term investors nominate board directors, at the same time that the Securities and Exchange Commission is letting the financial services company’s shareholders vote to consider breaking up the company.The Charlotte, N.C. company said in an SEC filing...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 23, 2015

Watchdog Finds IRS Cyber Security Still Flawed

The Internal Revenue Service has made some progress in enhancing the security of its computer systems but financial and taxpayer data remain “unnecessarily vulnerable” to fraudsters and hackers, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.Among the continuing information s...

By Matthew Heller • March 23, 2015

A New Role for CFOs: Chief Technologist

As technology continues to change and become more sophisticated, CFOs will be required to have a much deeper understanding of how it is continuing to impact their businesses. Despite the rapid advancements we’ve seen over the past several years, the growth in tech innovation has not fully penetra...

By David Schnitt • March 20, 2015

Philips Plans to IPO Lighting Unit

At its upcoming annual shareholder meeting, Royal Philips plans to ask for approval to spin off its lighting business with an initial public offering next year. The Dutch company wants to focus on its growing health technology business lines.“By establishing a stand-alone lighting solutions compa...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 19, 2015

Blue Shield of California Loses Tax-Exempt Status

California tax authorities have stripped Blue Shield of California of its exemption from state income taxes amid criticism that it has not lived up to its responsibilities as a nonprofit company.The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday reported the California Franchise Tax Board’s move, saying the stat...

By Matthew Heller • March 19, 2015

Yahoo Shutting Down Only Office in China

Under pressure from investors to cut expenses, Yahoo is closing down its last remaining office in China, a move expected to eliminate 200 to 300 jobs.Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo The closure of the Beijing office, which housed a research and development center employing engineers, was announced to e...

By Matthew Heller • March 19, 2015

Why Is Financial Planning and Analysis Falling Flat?

It’s a tough time to be leading finance. Current levels of business uncertainty—whether driven by hard-to-predict customer demand, new government regulations, or weird weather patterns—is complicating the task of managing financial performance. Meanwhile, private equity firms looking to cash out ...

By Mary Driscoll • March 19, 2015

Second-Tier Audit Firms Outgain Big Four

Second-tier national accounting firms, particularly BDO, had a great 2014 — at the expense of most of the Big Four, according to Audit Analytics’ Auditor Changes Roundup: 2014 Annual Summary.BDO, a Global Six firm, won 54 new clients compared to 14 losses, for a net increase of 40 engagements in ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 18, 2015

Tax-collection Threat Looms for Internet Retailers

Ripples of anxiety are likely to be coursing through internet retailers this month. That’s because two events — the introduction of the Marketplace Fairness Act in the U.S. Senate and an opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy — made it more likely than it has been in 50 years th...

By David Katz • March 18, 2015

5 Keys to Managing Remote Workers

Employers can have a successful, engaged, and productive remote workforce if they meet five basic needs.So says Randy Rayess, co-founder of VenturePact, who on Tuesday penned a blog for Harvard Business Review about the increasing number of employers who not only utilize freelancers, but entire r...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 18, 2015

Gender Balance Benefits Workplace, But Gap Remains

Closing the gender gap in the workplace would boost job satisfaction and productivity but getting more women to enter the labor market and stay there remains a challenge, including in the United States, according to panelists at a United Nations conference.Asa Lofstrom, a professor at Sweden’s Um...

By Matthew Heller • March 17, 2015

House Unveils Budget Containing Steep Cuts

House Republicans on Tuesday proposed a 2016 budget that partly privatizes Medicare, turns Medicaid into block grants to the states, repeals the Affordable Care Act, and reaches balance in nine years.The budget would cut $5.5 trillion in government spending over the next decade, reported The Hill...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 17, 2015

How to Prevent Corruption from Marring a Merger

There are hundreds of issues CFOs need to consider when their companies are looking at acquisition targets. Will the merger create cost savings? Are the target company’s books in order? Will assets have to be sold?David W. Simon We’d argue that corruption issues should also be near the top of tha...

By Bryan S. Schultz and David W. Simon • March 13, 2015