Biden’s SEC Pick Warns of Crypto Fraud Risks

Gary Gensler Gary Gensler, President Biden’s pick to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, suggested Tuesday he would continue the agency’s crackdown on cryptocurrency to protect consumers from fraud and manipulation.The SEC has intensified its scrutiny of digital assets since finding...

By Matthew Heller • March 3, 2021

Elizabeth Warren’s Wealth Tax: What You Should Know

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is spearheading a Democratic wealth tax proposal this week that could potentially generate $3 trillion in tax revenue from the wealthiest Americans over a decade.The Numbers: Warren has proposed a 2% wealth tax on Americans who have at least $50 million in wealth. Under...

By Lauren Muskett • March 3, 2021

CFOs: The Architects of Enterprise Transformation

The CFO’s role is critical to transformation acceleration and success, and yet the CFO has not been a central character in that effort to date. Sure, some CFO’s may have been charged with owning the digitally-enabled overhaul of the finance department (on top of their already ambitious day jobs)....

By Nick Leopard and Junaid Samnani • March 2, 2021

Square Commences Operations as an Industrial Bank

Fintech company Square has officially commenced banking operations, nearly a year after receiving conditional approval to operate a bank.What Happened: Square, historically known for its card reader and point-of-sale solutions, said Monday that its industrial bank has commenced operations after c...

By Lauren Muskett • March 2, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending February 26

Matthew Field Joby Aviation hired Matthew Field as finance chief of the electric air taxi company. Field is currently CFO of North America at Ford Motor Company. Field has spent more than two decades working at Ford, in roles including general auditor, where he led the modernization of internal a...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 26, 2021

Strategies for Mid-Market Success Post COVID-19

The middle market, traditionally defined as covering those companies with revenues of $10 million to $1 billion, is large and diverse in the United States, comprising about 200,000 companies across a host of industries. For these companies, along with the rest of the global economy, 2020 provided...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 26, 2021

A Data Scientist Becomes a CFO

John Collins, CFO, LivePerson John Collins likes data. As a special investigator with the New York Stock Exchange, he built an automated surveillance system to detect suspicious trading activity. He pioneered approaches for transforming third-party “data exhaust” into investment signals as co-fou...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 25, 2021

10 Vital Roles for CFOs

If CFOs have learned anything in the past year, it’s that they must be agile and innovative leaders skilled at predicting and planning for a future that is anything but predictable. The essential skills for CFO success go far beyond mastery of the financial basics, the ability to adopt popular ma...

By Sandra Beckwith • Feb. 24, 2021

They Don’t Teach Pandemics in Business School

When COVID-19 hit, no business or working household was spared. All of us had to quickly adjust to the new reality of working from home and keeping ourselves safe. It was a monumental challenge, and many struggled, even contending with personal loss, financial hardship, and depression. As a firm ...

By Jim Peko • Feb. 24, 2021

Will Cryptocurrencies Play By The Rules?

Nearly seven years ago, CFO asked finance chiefs an accounts receivable question: Would you allow a customer to pay in bitcoin? Now, the issue is one of cash management: Would you allow your treasury team to invest excess corporate cash in Bitcoin?Tesla and MicroStrategy have. In early February, ...

By Ramona Dzinkowski • Feb. 24, 2021

What Elite CFOs Are Doing

The CFO’s role has been evolving for years, becoming more and more central to the strategic direction of the enterprise. Aneel Delawalla According to new research, this transformation is being accelerated by the global pandemic. CFOs have increasingly moved beyond their traditional role as econom...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 23, 2021

SPACs vs. Traditional IPOs

The rise of SPACs was one of the big stories for investors in 2020. Based on the record number of SPACs filed and money raised in early 2021, the trend looks primed to continue.Bank of America analyst Michael Carrier shares the positives and negatives of the SPAC market for both investors and pri...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 22, 2021

Tech Groups Sue Maryland Over Online Ad Tax

A coalition of tech industry organizations have sued the state of Maryland to block a first-of-its-kind tax that they called a “punitive assault” on digital advertising.The tax imposes a charge on the annual gross revenue from digital advertising services provided in Maryland. The state’s House o...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 19, 2021

A New Platform for Strategic CFOs

“Iron Man suit” for the modern CFO. A “strategic finance” platform. A rebuild of the CFO software stack. Mosaic, a new software platform from the company of the same name, has earned some impressive labels.What’s clear is that it is one of the more interesting pieces of software to come along for...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 18, 2021

CFOs Want FP&A to Marshal Value Creation

Can financial planning and analysis (FP&A) groups keep up with the rapid, profound changes in many companies?Consider, for instance, what’s shaking up the media industry. Consumption patterns have changed as traditional television viewing’s share shrinks, digital streaming rises, and content ...

By Michael Heric, Steve Beam, and Anup Juneja • Feb. 18, 2021

Think of Digital Transformation as Modular and Nimble

Today’s CFOs have navigated significant technology changes throughout their careers, but even some of the most seasoned finance executives dread the prospect of digital transformation. This is understandable, given the painful history of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system implementations, ...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 16, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending February 12

Anat Ashkenazi Eli Lilly appointed Anat Ashkenazi as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Ashkenazi has worked at the pharmaceutical company since 2001, most recently as senior vice president, controller, and chief financial officer of Lilly Research Laboratories. She also led the c...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 12, 2021

SEC Sends a Message to Social Media Stock Promoters

The Securities and Exchange Commission may be looking to head off future social media-driven stock trading frenzies. On Thursday morning, the commission suspended trading in a “pink sheets” stock that has been the subject of hype on Twitter and other social media platforms.Since January, accordin...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 11, 2021

Reg A+ Offerings Are Having a Moment

2020 ended up being a big year for capital raising outside of the traditional IPO process. But while SPACs got most of the headlines, it was also a breakout year for another IPO alternative: Reg A+.It’s now been six years since Reg A+ went into effect. The process was meant to make it easier for ...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 11, 2021

SEC Urges Heightened Disclosure During Volatility

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has recommended that companies include additional information and risk factors in their disclosures when they sell shares in particularly volatile market conditions.The move comes 10 days after the SEC said it would work to protect investors by reviewin...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 9, 2021

Clover Health Shares Rally After Short-Seller’s Report

Shares of Clover Health Investments closed higher on Friday after the insurer said it acted appropriately in not disclosing it was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.According to Hindenburg Research, which published a critical report on Clover on Thursday, the company knew abou...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 8, 2021

Surprising Earnings Growth Seen for Fourth Quarter

The corporate profitability picture brightened in the fourth quarter, with earnings growth projected for S&P 500 companies for the first time since the end of 2019.According to data from Refinitiv, S&P 500 earnings are expected to have increased 0.9% in the fourth quarter from a year ago,...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 4, 2021

Audit Chairs Give 2020 Audits Mixed Reviews

Big Four firms have been touting improvements in audit quality for a couple of years, mostly to stem the tide of criticism about their evident failures to spot fraud and foresee the imminent financial collapse of some large companies.But have audits really improved? The Public Accounting Oversigh...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 2, 2021

6 Fintech Executives Give Their Predictions for 2021

There’s an ancient Chinese proverb that says, “When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.“The winds of change blew in 2020, politically, socially, and economically. It brought about the greatest period of turmoil since the global financial crisis — the even...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 1, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending January 29

Thad Trent will take over as CFO at ON Semiconductor on February 16. Trent has held several leadership roles throughout his nearly 30-year finance career, most recently as finance chief at Cypress Semiconductor. Under his leadership, revenue at Cypress increased from $723 million to $2.5 billion,...

By Lauren Muskett • Jan. 29, 2021