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

What About Earnings Stripping?

Yesterday the White House made its first move to crack down on corporate tax inversions. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the new rules would prevent smaller foreign companies from taking over larger U.S. firms. They would also target so-called “hopscotch” loans, in which companies sidestep taxe...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 24, 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

SEC Fines Barclays $15M for Compliance Omissions

Barclays Capital has agreed to pay $15 million in penalties to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it failed to implement adequate compliance systems after it acquired Lehman Brothers’ advisory business in 2006.When Barclays attempted to integrate the advisory business...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 24, 2014

WTO Downgrades Trade Growth Forecast to 3.1%

The World Trade Organization has slashed its forecast for world trade growth in 2014 to 3.1%, citing weaker-than-expected gross domestic product growth and muted import demand in the first half of the year.In April, the WTO forecast growth of 4.7%. But in a news release issued Tuesday, it said gl...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 24, 2014

Budget Head Slams Climate Denial As ‘Fiscally Foolish’

New White House budget chief Shaun Donovan has added his voice to the chorus demanding action on climate change, calling “climate denial” a threat to fiscal health that could cost the U.S. billions of dollars.President Obama on Tuesday attended the opening session in New York of the United Nation...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 24, 2014

Not for Finance Eyes Only

[The CFO] “Before we begin our monthly call, I have a question for you all. Who the heck is ‘iPhone5’ and how did he download our pro forma financials last Tuesday?”Finance departments typically partner with IT to set up a secure financial information storage and sharing system — giving access ac...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Sept. 24, 2014

Five Truths About Cyber Security

The average total cost of a data breach is now $3.5 million globally, a 15% rise from last year, according to a 2014 study by the Ponemon Institute. The likelihood of a company having a data breach “involving 10,000 records or more stands at 22%,” finds the same study.Consequently, CFOs have beco...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 23, 2014

Accounting Mistakes Force Tesco to Bring in CFO Immediately

Was there ever a finance chief that felt more wanted by his new company?New Tesco CFO Alan Stewart. Following the revelation that it had overstated first-half profits by 250 million British pounds ($410 million), Britain’s leading grocery retailer Tesco said its new finance director would start h...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 23, 2014

How to Rev Up Your Finance Team’s Skills

If you’d like to improve the technical skills of your finance team, here are a couple of ideas. First, directly challenge them to get better. Second, give them bonuses if they do.Granite CFO Richard Wurman, left, and finance vice president Doug Allen. That simple yet somewhat out-of-the-box formu...

By David McCann • Sept. 23, 2014

Treasury Acts to Rein in Corporate Tax Inversions

Lacking legislative support in the run-up to Congressional elections, the U.S. Treasury Department yesterday took administrative actions available to it under the U.S. Tax Code to stem the current wave of corporate inversions. The moves would eliminate “hopscotch loans,” subsidiary restructurings...

By David Katz • Sept. 23, 2014

A Question of Trust

“The chief business of the American people is business,” said Calvin Coolidge. Most people are familiar with the aphorism, but the famously taciturn president had more to say on the subject: “They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I a...

By David W. Owens • Sept. 22, 2014

Sizing Up Banks

In July, small business and middle market lender CIT Group joined an elite club. In acquiring California’s OneWest Bank, the phoenix that arose from the ashes of mortgage lender IndyMac, it voluntarily crossed the threshold to being a “systemically important” financial institution. With $67 billi...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 22, 2014

Senate Vote on Cybersecurity Unlikely

Despite the recent security breaches at major retailers and banks, sources tell digital media firm Morning Consult that there’s little hope that the Senate will pass a cybersecurity bill before the end of the year. The key reason for the delay is the upcoming midterm elections, which could signif...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 22, 2014

Siemens to Spend $7.6B for Dresser-Rand

To build its oil and gas portfolio in the U.S., Germany-based engineering firm Siemens has agreed to acquire oil services firm Dresser-Rand for $7.6 billion.A hydraulic fracturing operation. According to terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the summer of 2015, Siemens will pay $83 a s...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 22, 2014

Investors Prefer Spin-Offs to Sales and Carve-outs

Is it time to divest of that asset that could achieve a higher value for a different owner? Maybe.Compared with two years ago, when more than half were “ambivalent,” a majority of investors (almost 80%) are now more amenable to companies pursuing divestitures aggressively.The Boston Consulting Gr...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 22, 2014

New Brokerage Aims to Help Employees Cash Out

The growing market for secondary offerings has added a new player that specializes in helping venture capital-backed companies sell insider stock.The brokerage firm Battery East announced Wednesday it had officially opened for business after advising or managing more than $300 million in transact...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 19, 2014

Wanted: Risk Data to Support Insurance Buying

In early 2014, we conducted research with a select group of 50 key executives and risk managers at companies within the Russell 2500™ Index to learn more about their risk management practices and perspectives. A large majority, 84% of them, said it was somewhat important or very important to meas...

By Rich Michel • Sept. 19, 2014

What Will Yahoo Do Now?

As Alibaba’s record-setting IPO enters the history books, there is speculation among several media outlets about how the Chinese e-commerce powerhouse going public will affect its early backer Yahoo.Marissa Mayer After taxes, Yahoo figures to make about $6 billion from selling shares in the IPO. ...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 19, 2014

Breaking the Codes: How to Cut Workers’ Comp Premiums

Workers’ compensation insurance premiums are not an inconsequential expense.   In fact, it may be one of the higher-cost line items for a company.  Depending on the size of the company, insurance premiums for workers’ comp may range from $30,000 a year to well over $1 million.To insulate themselv...

By Greg Walker • Sept. 19, 2014

These Industries Pay Their Suppliers the Fastest

Want to get paid faster by clients? Then perhaps you should consider working with businesses in the child day care and medical sectors.According to a new study by financial information company Sageworks, and written about in CPA Insider, these two industries come out on top when it comes to payin...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 18, 2014

Want to Stop Customers from Posting Negative Reviews on Yelp? Don’t

No matter how good your product or service is, someone will always have complaints. And thanks to Yelp, TripAdvisor and other web sites, those complaints are available for all the world to see.Invoking hidden “anti-disparagement clauses” in customer contracts, some companies — until recently — go...

By Iris Dorbian • Sept. 18, 2014

IBM Service Aims to Make Spreadsheets Obsolete

IBM has begun testing a service aimed at business managers who now do most of their analysis on spreadsheets or use traditional business intelligence tools, the IDG News Service reports.IBM’s Watson computer. Watson Analytics is an interactive Q&A service that functions in a similar manner to...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 18, 2014

House Passes Latest ‘Audit the Fed’ Bill

The latest legislative effort to audit the Federal Reserve system has passed the House but is likely to meet the same fate as its predecessor by dying in the Senate, Reuters reports.Federal Reserve headquarters. Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia took up the cause originally championed by former Rep. Ron...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 18, 2014

How to Vanquish Management Report Mania

The finance department of one Fortune 200 global manufacturing company regularly generates more than 10,000 internal management reports — roughly one for every 25 employees.William Heitman, managing director,  The Lab Consulting That company is hardly unique. I know of a global financial services...

By William Heitman • Sept. 18, 2014

Water Crises Boost Company Values at Risk

Clean, consistent water supply — it’s essential for businesses to operate. But few consider the value at risk (VaR) if they can’t access the water they need. Water scarcity could drive up the prices of water and water-dependent materials. Impaired water quality could create new treatment costs. E...

By Lauren Kelley Koopman • Sept. 18, 2014