Obama Fires Salvo in Looming Budget Fight

President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2016 budget will reverse the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration and propose a 7% increase in spending above those limits, according to White House officials.The budget plan, which the White House intends to unveil on Monday, would fund a host of programs ...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 29, 2015

China Expects Tech Companies to Disclose Source Code

U.S. business groups have called for “urgent discussions” with China over a new cyber-security standard requiring U.S. companies selling technology to Chinese banks to disclose secret source code and submit to intrusive audits.The new cyber-security rules for tech vendors were recently proposed f...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 29, 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

U.S. Among Most Vulnerable to Climate-Change Risks

Supply chains in Europe and Japan are far ahead of those in the rest of the world (including the United States) in their preparations for climate change risks and natural disasters, according to research released Tuesday by CDP (formerly called Carbon Disclosure Project) and Accenture.The researc...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 29, 2015

S Corp. Flap Could Strap Tax Reform Efforts

Late last year, Rep. Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who in January 2015 took over as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, paid tribute to Rep. Dave Camp, Ryan’s immediate predecessor. “Among the big marks that he made, tax reform is arguably the biggest,” Ryan told The Washington ...

By David Katz • Jan. 29, 2015

FTC Highlights Privacy Risks of ‘Internet of Things’

While Internet-connected devices provide many benefits, they raise numerous privacy and security concerns that companies who develop them need to address, the Federal Trade Commission warns in a new report.According to the FTC, there are now more than 25 billion connected devices in use worldwide...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 28, 2015

Global Mobility Fails to Deliver Desired ROI

Most companies don’t think they’re getting a sufficient return on investment from sending employees abroad, new PricewaterhouseCoopers research reveals. But apparently they also think there’s opportunity ahead, as a vast majority of companies plan to do more of it in the near future.Only 42% of t...

By David McCann • Jan. 28, 2015

Will Alibaba Eventually Buy Yahoo Spinoff?

Bloomberg View columnist Matt Levine Tuesday very tongue in cheek described why Yahoo is creating a spin-off company holding its $40 billion worth of Alibaba shares: Yahoo could possibly later sell the spin-off to Alibaba and also perhaps so Yahoo could avoid the temptation to sell the shares now...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 28, 2015

Strong Dollar Deflates Earnings

Multinational companies with significant foreign revenue streams are posting reduced earnings as the U.S. dollar surges, according to a Bloomberg story Tuesday.Procter & Gamble said that net income fell 31%, to $2.37 billion, or 82 cents a share, for its fiscal second quarter ending Dec. 31. ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 27, 2015

Durable Goods Down; Home Sales, Confidence Up

Which way is the U.S. economy headed? Data released Tuesday conveyed a mixed message about the direction and strength of economic growth.Non-defense capital goods orders, excluding aircraft, fell 0.6% in December, the Commerce Department said, after economists had expected a 0.5% gain, according ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 27, 2015

UPS Profit Hit By Costs of ‘High Quality’ Holiday Service

UPS’ improved performance over the holiday season has turned out to be a double-edged sword. Although it delivered about 98% of express packages on time on Dec. 24, avoiding a repeat of the delivery problems of a year earlier, the improvement came at a cost to its bottom line.The company announce...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 26, 2015

SEC Official Sees ‘Positive Change’ in Private Equity Firms

Private equity firms have remedied some of their “more objectionable” deficiencies but more enforcement actions may be brought against them, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission official.The SEC, which started monitoring the $3.8 trillion private equity market, said in May it ha...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 23, 2015

Home Construction to Boost U.S. Economy in 2015?

The U.S. economy will get a boost in 2015 from residential construction, with mortgage rates near record lows, an improving job market and gradually easing credit standards fueling the industry’s best year since 2007, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists.One economist predicted home cons...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 22, 2015

Where to Look for Global Growth

For the last 50 years, the world economy has benefited from a demographic boom that has contributed 1.8% to average annual global GDP increases, helping to generate an unprecedented level of growth. This demographic headwind is coming to an end. With populations aging and fertility rates dropping...

By Jonathan Woetzel, Richard Dobbs, and Jaana Remes • Jan. 22, 2015

Leasing Firm Parlays Big Data Into Sales

Brian Holland, the CFO and president of Fleet Advantage, a truck leasing and big data firm, was trying to put his finger on what it means to be a finance chief at the kind of fast-growing, sales-driven companies that have employed him over his more than 20-year career. And then he thought of some...

By David Katz • Jan. 21, 2015

Adoption of Clawbacks Tied to Earnings Manipulation

The benefits of the Dodd-Frank Act provision allowing “clawbacks” of incentive compensation paid to corporate executives may come with an unintended consequence that is adverse to investors, according to a new study.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to implement the clawback man...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 21, 2015

Lowe’s Case Highlights Worker Misclassification Lessons

Misclassification of workers continues to be a headache for employers, with a judge recently approving a $6.5 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by home improvement contractors against Lowe’s Home Centers.The plaintiffs in the case performed renovation services for Lowe’s custom...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 20, 2015

Currency Trader Faces Onerous Loan Terms

Currency trader FXCM is saved, but at what price?FXCM on Monday released details of its $300 million loan with Leucadia National Corp., owner of investment bank Jefferies Group LLC, that would enable the New York-based firm to regain its footing after the events of last week. The details of the l...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 20, 2015

Obama to Lay Out $320B Tax Plan

In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Barack Obama is expected to lay out his proposal for raising certain taxes on the wealthy to pay for tax relief for working and middle-class households.Republicans are countering that isolated tax measures that create winners and losers could b...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 20, 2015

First U.S.-U.K. Cyber ‘War Game’ to Target Banks

The first cyber war game to be staged as part of a new U.S.-U.K. offensive against online criminals will target the countries’ financial sectors.Giving a cyber-spin to the countries’ “Special Relationship,” British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the United States and United Kingdom w...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 19, 2015

Obama Unveils New Financing for Infrastructure Projects

As part of an effort to promote private investment in U.S. infrastructure projects, the Obama administration has proposed a new type of security that would extend the benefits of municipal bonds to public-private partnerships.The proposed Qualified Public Infrastructure Bond program will have no ...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 19, 2015

Amazon Likely to Skirt Penalties for Luxembourg Tax Deal

The European Commission on Friday released preliminary findings of an ongoing investigation on whether Luxembourg’s corporate income tax deal with Amazon complies with the European Union’s rules on state aid. The bottom line? Amazon will not likely have to pay penalties, only back taxes, a Forbes...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 19, 2015

Supply Chain Woes Help Doom Target in Canada

Minneapolis-based Target Corp. said Thursday it was shuttering its 133 stores in Canada, laying off 17,000 workers and placing its Canadian operation under bankruptcy protection.“While this is a difficult decision, we believe it is the right one for Target,” Brian Cornell, Target chairman and chi...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 16, 2015

Interstate Conflict Seen as Most Likely Threat to Stability

The risk of interstate conflict with regional consequences is most likely to pose the biggest threat to global stability in the next 10 years, while water crises could have the greatest potential impact, according to a new survey.The World Economic Forum said in its Global Risks 2015 report, comp...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 15, 2015

Democrat Proposes Financial Market Trading Fee

As part of an effort to address what he called the “chronic problem” of stagnant middle-class incomes, a top House Democrat has proposed imposing a fee on financial market transactions to fund tax relief for U.S. workers and their families.Rep. Chris Van Hollen Unveiling an “action plan” for the ...

By Matthew Heller • Jan. 13, 2015

What’s Ahead for Lending Club and OnDeck

Alternative lenders such as Lending Club and OnDeck should not be popping the bubbly too soon, as there could be major stumbling blocks along the way to their success if they don’t overcome challenges that stymied earlier startups, according to a guest analysis in the American Banker.While online...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Jan. 13, 2015