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

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Will GE Cut Back on Middle-Market Lending?

General Electric is focusing more on its industrial business, with plans to curtail or even shed its lending arm, GE Capital.A Wall Street Journal story on Wednesday said that “shareholders continue to penalize the company for what they perceive as a risky finance business,” causing GE’s stock to...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 12, 2015

Is TCO Still Relevant in the Cloud?

There are some who would say that total cost of ownership (TCO) is no longer relevant.  After all, information technology is now firmly grounded in a service management mode, and cloud billing is based on “pay-as-you-go” by level of resource consumed.TCO was the norm in the days when capex spendi...

By Penny Collen • March 12, 2015

Cut U.S. Rates, Launch Territorial Tax System, Reports Contend

Lowering the top corporate tax rate and replacing the current U.S. global tax system with a territorial tax system should be among the top priorities of federal tax reform, two pro-business studies released this week suggest.For instance, dropping the current maximum U.S. corporate income tax rat...

By David Katz • March 11, 2015

Top 10 Tax and Accounting Mistakes Cost Companies Billions

With tax season officially underway, many corporate tax and accounting departments are busily preparing for the looming March deadline. Each year, however, tax and accounting mistakes end up costing U.S. businesses billions. In 2013 alone, U.S. businesses accumulated nearly $7 billion in IRS civi...

By Dean Sonderegger • March 11, 2015

Tesla Has Bumpy Ride in China

The lack of adequate charging infrastructure in China for electric cars has slowed sales of Tesla Motors’ cars, prompting the Palo Alto, Calif,  manufacturer to cut 180 jobs, roughly 30% of its workforce in the country.Tesla, which reported a fourth-quarter loss of $108 million on lower car deliv...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 10, 2015

Most Tech CFOs in the Dark About Revenue Rule

With the Financial Accounting Standards Board considering a delay in implementation of the new standard on recognizing revenue from contracts with customers, a new survey has found that more than half of technology company CFOs have not yet even familiarized themselves with the changes.FASB staff...

By Matthew Heller • March 9, 2015

FASB Moving Ahead With Nonprofit Update

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has taken a further step toward making the financial statements of nonprofits more useful amid some concerns that the proposed changes will make the standards system more complex.FASB voted 5–2 at a meeting earlier this week to issue a proposal to update t...

By Matthew Heller • March 6, 2015

Brazil’s Credit Market Closed for Business

A slowing economy, a weakened currency, and the fallout from Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s kickback scandal all have put Brazil’s overseas bond market into a deep freeze.No Brazilian company has issued debt internationally in the last four months, as overseas borrowing costs have risen after police in...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 6, 2015