Grad Students Aim to Shake Up 10-Ks

If companies’ annual reports get easier to use, investors just might have a group of graduate students to thank.Four two-person teams at The George Washington University School of Business each spent the summer poring over hundreds of forms 10-K, looking for ways to make the documents more clear,...

By David McCann • Oct. 7, 2014

Buybacks, Dividends Consume 95% of Earnings

Stock buybacks and dividends are continuing at higher-than-normal levels, with S&P 500 companies expected to pay out $914 billion, or about 95% of earnings, to shareholders this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and S&P Dow Jones Indices.Excluding the recession years 2001 and ...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 6, 2014

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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

Germany Rebounds in Q3 But France and Italy Wobble

Despite the strong growth shown by Europe’s largest economy, Germany, in the third quarter, other countries in the euro zone lagged behind, reports Reuters.Mario Draghi, European Central Bank president. According to studies released on Friday, the continent’s second- and third-leading economies, ...

By Iris Dorbian • Oct. 6, 2014

Glass Supplier To Apple Files for Bankruptcy

Sapphire glass manufacturer GT Advanced Technologies Inc. announced Monday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a move that follows Apple Inc.’s decision not to use the company’s material in the screen of the iPhone 6.The Chapter 11 petition, which was filed in a U.S. bankruptcy c...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 6, 2014

Salix Calls Off Tax Inversion Deal

As it continues to battle threats from ISIS and the Ebola virus, the White House might have one reason to rejoice today. Salix Pharmaceuticals has pulled the plug on its plans to relocate its tax base to Italy via a merger with Cosmo Pharmaceuticals, reports Reuters.The Raleigh, N.C.-based compan...

By Iris Dorbian • Oct. 3, 2014

Goldman, JPMorgan Planned Private Rescue of AIG

Just days before the 2008 federal bailout of American International Group, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon supposedly told federal regulators that they were planning on a private rescue of the insurance giant, reports Bloomberg. Such is the latest revelation t...

By Iris Dorbian • Oct. 3, 2014

GoodData Secures $26M in Funding

Tech news site TechCrunch is reporting that San Francisco-based big-data analytics firm GoodData has snagged $25.7 million in Series E funding. Intel Capital, Intel’s investment arm, led the round with participation from previous backers Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Tenaya Capital, TOTV...

By Iris Dorbian • Oct. 2, 2014

Business Analytics Skills Essential for Finance Staff

In an increasingly data-driven corporate culture, many CFOs feel that having the knowledge to interpret business analytics is an essential trait for their finance and accounting staffs. According to a new study by staffing firm Robert Half Management Resources, in which 2,100 U.S. CFOs were polle...

By Iris Dorbian • Oct. 2, 2014

Global Tax Reporting Looms for 2015

U.S.-based multinationals might be required to provide foreign tax officials with a single report detailing all their operations on a country-by-country basis for years beginning as early as 2015, according to an expert in international taxation.That would be a big departure from the current syst...

By David Katz • Oct. 2, 2014

IT Security Spending Falls as Attacks Increase

Cyber-security attacks against companies increased 48% last year but spending on information security actually fell 4% during the same period, with small companies in particular cutting their budgets, according to PwC in its latest Global State of Information Security Survey.The drop in security ...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 1, 2014

Coke Trims Exec Comp Plan Amid Outcry

Coca-Cola announced Wednesday it was scaling back its executive compensation plan amid concerns from Warren Buffett and other shareholders that the equity awards were overly generous.Shareholders voted in favor of the plan at the company’s annual meeting in April. But Buffett spoke out publicly a...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 1, 2014

Workers Reporting More Fraud — and Paying the Price

A newly released study reveals an increase in fraud-related reports in the workplace as well as reports of potential retaliation against whistleblowers, according to Compliance Week.Conducted by compliance solutions provider The Network, the 2014 Corporate Governance and Compliance Hotline Report...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 30, 2014

Fed Too Soft on Big Banks: Warren

Following the reports of two news outlets of audio tapes that supposedly reveal how the New York Federal Reserve interfered with one of its investigator’s efforts to monitor Goldman Sachs, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is urging Congress to investigate the matter.Democratic Senator Eliza...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 29, 2014

Both Short- and Long-Term Thinking Are Wrong

In a newly published article on the HBR Blog Network, Ken Favaro, senior partner at consulting firm Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company), blasts pundits who call for executive teams to be more long-term in their mindset as opposed to short-term.Quoting the late management consultant, educa...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 29, 2014

Options Signaling Fed Will Hike Rates Slowly

Federal Reserve officials have their projections on how fast the Fed will raise interest rates once monetary policy starts tightening. But Wall Street traders, specifically, those that trade options on short-term interest rate futures, have their own forecasts — and they differ from what the Fed ...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 29, 2014

EU to Detail Probe of Apple’s Irish Tax Break

The EU’s antitrust watchdog will provide details Tuesday of its investigation into whether Apple received a sweetheart tax deal from the Irish government that amounted to illegal state aid.The European Commission announced in June that it was investigating tax breaks granted to Apple in Ireland, ...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 29, 2014

Stock Exchanges on Track to Develop Audit Trail System

U.S. stock exchanges have withdrawn a request for an extension and are on track to meet Tuesday’s deadline for submitting a plan for a system that will track all equity and options transactions, Reuters reports.The Consolidated Audit Trail, which will be the world’s largest depository of securiti...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 29, 2014

The Perfect Storm for Supply Chain Costs

For many companies, 2015 is looking rosy. The overall economy is finally accelerating out of the worst recession since the 1930s, helped in no small part by construction as the Construction Backlog Indicator (published by Associated Builders and Contractors) reached an all-time high in June.J. Mi...

By J. Michael Kilgore • Sept. 29, 2014

Nearly One-Third of Board Nominees Are Women

There may still be a dearth of female CEOs (Marissa Meyer and Mary Barra notwithstanding) but there’s one area in business where women have been gaining in numbers— board nominees at large U.S. firms.According to a report by the Institutional Shareholder Services, the percentage of women tapped f...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 29, 2014

Economic Rebound in Q2 Higher Than Estimated

The federal government said on Friday that exports and business spending caused the U.S. economy to grow in the second quarter at a rate that hasn’t been seen in two-and-a-half years, says Reuters.The U.S. Commerce Department said gross domestic product grew at annual rate of 4.6% between April a...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 26, 2014

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending Sept. 26

Johnson Controls has promoted Brian Stief to head finance. He replaces R. Bruce McDonald, who has been promoted to vice chairman at the industrial company. Stief, who has been at the firm since 2010, had been corporate controller.Brian Stief, new CFO of Johnson Controls. Brian Stief has been appo...

By Joan Urdang • Sept. 26, 2014

Finance Departments Raise Their Game

Senior finance executives worldwide have grown much happier with the performance of their teams over the past three years. In fact, they’re more satisfied with every aspect of that performance (see chart at the bottom), according to research results scheduled to be released next Monday by Accentu...

By David McCann • Sept. 26, 2014

Vengeful Employees an Increasing Threat to Network Security

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says disgruntled or former employees now pose a “significant” threat to the U.S. business community “due to their authorized access to sensitive information and the networks’ business rely on,” VentureBeat reports.In a public service announcement released ...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 25, 2014

RMB Fever Spreads to One-Third of Banks

China’s renminbi currency is continuing its path toward internationalization, with more than one third of the world’s financial institutions now using it to conduct business with China and Hong Kong, according to the SWIFT financial messaging service.The latest numbers from SWIFT’s RMB Tracker al...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 25, 2014

One Way to Stay Focused on Growth: Outsource Accounting

Meet Scott Wenhold, CFO of Synergis Education, a $75 million company whose entire on-payroll finance team consists of himself and three financial analysts.Scott Wenhold, CFO, Synergis Education Scott Wenhold, CFO, Synergis EducationGAAP reporting, general-ledger accounting, accounts payable (AP),...

By David McCann • Sept. 25, 2014