Equipment Investment to Grow 6% in 2015

Corporate investment in equipment and software will grow 6% next year, driven by a steadily improving economy that should gradually loosen credit constraints and increase credit demand, according to a new survey.The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation’s outlook for 2015 sees a slowdown fro...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 16, 2014

Corporate Transparency: The Openness Revolution

Howard Schultz, the head of Starbucks, said last year that “the currency of leadership is transparency.” If so, bosses should be feeling ever more qualified to command their troops. Business is being forced to open up in a host of reporting areas, from tax and government contracts to anti-corrupt...

By Economist Staff • Dec. 15, 2014

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

Is Human Bias Governing Your Cash Deployment?

More than half of U.S. executives plan to deploy cash in the next 12 months, with the money being used principally to improve performance, according to a survey by Deloitte.In a poll of more than 1,500 professionals, Deloitte’s transactions and business analytics unit found that performance impro...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 12, 2014

From Pepsi to Sun Products: A CFO’s Odyssey

Five years can seem like an eternity in the career of a finance chief. In March 2009, Al Drewes was featured in CFO and depicted in a photo as appropriately quaffing a bottle of Diet Pepsi. At the time, he was head of finance at the $18 billion Pepsi Bottling Group, which had been spun off from P...

By David Katz • Dec. 8, 2014

House Votes to Extend Tax Breaks for Only One Year

With lawmakers having abandoned efforts to reach a broader deal on reviving tax breaks that would have exceeded $400 billion over a decade, the House has voted in favor of a “bare minimum” package that provides $42 billion in temporary relief to individuals and corporations.The measure, passed on...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 5, 2014

Another Look at Auditor Nightmares

Following intense controversy about its plan to expand the auditor’s report on corporate financial statements, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board hopes to issue a revamped proposal by March 30, 2015, according to Martin Baumann, the chief auditor of the PCAOB.Speaking at Baruch College...

By David Katz • Dec. 5, 2014

House Passes Bill to Reform Bank Bankruptcies

A bankruptcy reform bill supported by big banks and their regulators has been approved by the House of Representatives but the Wall Street Journal questioned whether it would prevent taxpayer bailouts of financial institutions.The Financial Institution Bankruptcy Act of 2014 creates a new section...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 4, 2014

Study Urges Faster Disclosure of Audit Fees

The fees that publicly-traded companies agree to pay auditors should be disclosed at the time they are negotiated, a new research paper recommends, saying investors and markets could benefit substantially from accelerated disclosure.Audit fee negotiations conclude with the signing of an engagemen...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 2, 2014

Smart Machines: The New ‘Human’ Capital?

Stephen Hawking and colleagues warn that “success in creating artificial intelligence would be the biggest event in human history.… Unfortunately it might also be the last.”John Boudreau From self-driving cars, to intelligent assistants on smart phones, to IBM’s Watson beating humans at Jeopardy,...

By John Boudreau • Dec. 1, 2014

Lame-Duck Congress Mulls Laws to Ease State Tax Headaches

State and local taxes often present exposure traps for businesses. Each state—and many local governments—can create and assess its own taxes. The lack of uniformity among the taxing jurisdictions means that meeting these obligations is difficult and costly. Yet if a state finds a non-compliant ta...

By Matthew C. Boch and Arthur R. Rosen • Dec. 1, 2014

Real Estate: Let’s Get Strategic

For many strategic business planners, corporate real estate (CRE) is little more than an afterthought. But that may be beginning to change, judging from a recent survey of senior finance executives conducted by CFO Research in collaboration with SellYourHome.com.The survey results underscore the ...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Nov. 26, 2014

The Rise of Political Risk

“Can you recall a time when there was so much trouble in so many different places around the world?” asked CBS newsman Bob Schieffer earlier this year on the TV program Face the Nation. “There are an awful lot of things going on that need understanding and explanation,” responded his guest, forme...

By Edward Teach • Nov. 26, 2014

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Nov. 28

Gregory Hayes United Technologies has promoted Gregory Hayes, who has headed finance for the past six years, to the posts of president and CEO. As chief executive he replaces Louis Chenevert, who has resigned.CFO and vice president of finance Ronald Foster plans to retire next year from MicronTec...

By Joan Urdang • Nov. 26, 2014

Is Private Company GAAP a Threat?

Greg Jonas, director of the office of research and analysis at the Public Company Accounting Standards Board, seemed alarmed. Speaking at a Standard & Poor’s accounting conference a few months ago, he worried aloud about the possibility that U.S. generally accepted accounting principles might...

By David Katz • Nov. 25, 2014

Clouds Gathering Over Global Economy, Survey Warns

Global business confidence plunged in October to a five-year low, according to a British research firm which said the decline in optimism and expansion plans in the United States was the major concern for the global economy.Markit reported in its latest Global Business Outlook Survey of 6,100 com...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 24, 2014

Joe’s Jeans in Talks With Lenders After Default

Joe’s Jeans, which has been struggling with dwindling demand for designer denim, has disclosed that it is in talks with lenders after defaulting on its nearly $94 million in debt.The default was triggered by the apparel maker’s failure to comply with the EBITDA covenant on its term loan as of Sep...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 24, 2014

Ex-Longtop CFO Blamed for ‘Foundation of Lies’

The 2010 and 2011 financial results of Longtop Financial Technologies were a “foundation of lies,” an attorney for union pensioners and investors told jurors in the trial of a securities class action against the Chinese company’s former CFO.Kimberly Justice said in her opening statement, Reuters ...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 21, 2014

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Nov. 21

Retailer The Children’s Place has selected Anurup Pruthi to lead the finance function, effective Dec. 1. Most recently, he headed finance for Reliance Industries.Brad Richmond Darden Restaurants has announced that CFO Brad Richmond will retire in March, or sooner if his replacement has been named...

By Joan Urdang • Nov. 21, 2014

Banks Blasted for ‘Risky’ Commodity Dealings

A two-year U.S. Senate investigation has concluded that the three largest Wall Street banks have recently engaged in “many billions of dollars of risky physical commodity activities,” causing a dangerous erosion of the traditional line between banking and commerce and exposing themselves to “sign...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 20, 2014

The Companies That Pay the Slowest

Why would a business customer take 212 days to pay you? There may be a lot of reasons, but in the case of very large companies coveted as customers by all kinds of businesses, the answer may just be, “because they can.”Analyzing data provided by S&P Capital IQ, CFO found 45 publicly held U.S....

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 19, 2014

CEO Pay Exceeds Taxes Paid by Big Firms

Seven of the 30 largest U.S. corporations paid their CEOs more in compensation than they paid the IRS in federal income tax last year, reflecting “deep flaws” in the corporate tax system, a new report says.According to “Fleecing Uncle Sam,” a report published Tuesday by the Institute for Policy S...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 19, 2014

Past-Due Payments Signal Slower 4Q GDP Growth

Citing trends in the quantity and dollar value of past due payments to U.S. businesses, trade credit insurance provider Euler Hermes is predicting that GDP growth will slow to about 3% in this year’s fourth quarter.So far this year, Euler Hermes said in a new report, there has been no improvement...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 19, 2014

Corporate Tax Is Smallest Source of U.S. Tax Revenue, Study Finds

The smallest source of U.S. tax revenue in 2011 was the corporate income tax, from with federal, state and local governments collecting about 10% of total tax revenue, according to a study issued last week by the Tax Foundation.That’s slightly higher than the Organisation for Economic Co-operatio...

By David Katz • Nov. 17, 2014

Buffett Saves $1B in Taxes With Duracell Deal

Warren Buffett may be calling for higher personal taxes on wealthy individuals like himself, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to reduce the tax bill for Berkshire Hathaway.For the third time this year, the “Oracle of Omaha” has structured an acquisition so that he avoids capital gains taxe...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 14, 2014

Hertz Board Finds $87M in Accounting Errors

An accounting review by the board of Hertz has found that the troubled rental car company overstated GAAP net income by $87 million for the three years from 2011 to 2013, according to a regulatory filing.Hertz had disclosed in June that the board’s audit committee had uncovered discrepancies in t...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 14, 2014