How Two Parties Can Each Own 80% of a Company

Could structuring a subsidiary in a way required to obtain U.S. security clearance threaten a company’s ability to garner a tax-free spin-off? That’s a question a defense contractor, an airline, or even a media company might well have pondered before selling off a subsidiary. Pondered, that is, u...

By Robert Willens • March 14, 2011

How Two Parties Can Each Own 80% of a Company

Could structuring a subsidiary in a way required to obtain U.S. security clearance threaten a company’s ability to garner a tax-free spin-off? That’s a question a defense contractor, an airline, or even a media company might well have pondered before selling off a subsidiary. Pondered, that is, u...

By Robert Willens • March 14, 2011

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

Tweedie Pushes for IFRS Decision This Year

If they put off a commitment to international financial reporting standards beyond 2011, U.S. accounting rulemakers and standard-setters would impose “unnecessary costs and risks on U.S. companies,” Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, said Wednesday at a U...

By David Katz • March 11, 2011

Tweedie Pushes for IFRS Decision This Year

If they put off a commitment to international financial reporting standards beyond 2011, U.S. accounting rulemakers and standard-setters would impose “unnecessary costs and risks on U.S. companies,” Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, said Wednesday at a U...

By David Katz • March 11, 2011

Spreadsheets: Color My World, with Macros

Editor’s Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com’s Spreadsheet Tips Page.Reader Jean Marie B. wins a copy of Office VBA Macros You Can Use Today from CFO and MrExcel.com fo...

By Bill Jelen • March 9, 2011

IFRS Outlook: Hurry Up and Wait

While the prospect of moving to a single set of global financial reporting standards is very much at the top of CFOs’ minds, most of them work for companies that haven’t begun to grapple with the challenges of accounting convergence, the latest Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook...

By David Katz • March 9, 2011

The IRS Upgrades Its View of Banks

Up until late last month, the Internal Revenue Service’s view of a bank’s primary business activity might have been characterized as clipping coupons from its bonds. Since banks’ main source of income is interest (and interest was inherently a “passive” way of earning income), the IRS wrote off b...

By Robert Willens • March 7, 2011

The IRS Upgrades Its View of Banks

Up until late last month, the Internal Revenue Service’s view of a bank’s primary business activity might have been characterized as clipping coupons from its bonds. Since banks’ main source of income is interest (and interest was inherently a “passive” way of earning income), the IRS wrote off b...

By Robert Willens • March 7, 2011

Are You Reinvesting Enough?

Faced with substantial new desirable investment opportunities, a CFO of a client company of ours recently chose not to cut her substantial share-repurchase program to fund the investments. Instead, she chose to finance the new outlay by slashing investments in two other businesses, both of which ...

By Gregory V. Milano • March 4, 2011

Are You Reinvesting Enough?

Faced with substantial new desirable investment opportunities, a CFO of a client company of ours recently chose not to cut her substantial share-repurchase program to fund the investments. Instead, she chose to finance the new outlay by slashing investments in two other businesses, both of which ...

By Gregory V. Milano • March 4, 2011

Commodity Prices: High and Volatile

For Catherine D’Amico, CFO of Monro Muffler, relief from the uncertainty of commodity prices came in the form of tires — some $8 million worth.The automotive-service company upped its total inventory by 11% between March and December of 2010, to $95.6 million. Two-thirds of that increase went tow...

By Sarah Johnson • March 1, 2011

To the “Three R’s” Add One More: Writhing

It may rank as the most curious dichotomy wrought by the recession: at a time when millions of people remain unemployed, many companies are having a hard time filling key open positions. What gives?Call it the technical-skills gap. With businesses increasingly turning to more-sophisticated automa...

By David McCann • March 1, 2011

Making the Most of Bad Debt

When one company acquires a target company with lots of red ink on its balance sheet, the acquirer is limited in the use of that bad debt to offset its taxable income after the merger. That, at least, has been a long-held assumption.In a private letter ruling (LTR 201105031) released on February ...

By Robert Willens • Feb. 28, 2011

Making the Most of Bad Debt

When one company acquires a target company with lots of red ink on its balance sheet, the acquirer is limited in the use of that bad debt to offset its taxable income after the merger. That, at least, has been a long-held assumption.In a private letter ruling (LTR 201105031) released on February ...

By Robert Willens • Feb. 28, 2011

Fast Cash for Small Firms

As small businesses hunt for working capital, services that let CFOs quickly turn receivables into cash are growing in popularity. Transaction volume on The Receivables Exchange, an online auction platform for invoices, is five times what it was a year ago, and president Nicolas Perkin expects si...

By Alix Stuart • Feb. 25, 2011

Fast Cash for Small Firms

As small businesses hunt for working capital, services that let CFOs quickly turn receivables into cash are growing in popularity. Transaction volume on The Receivables Exchange, an online auction platform for invoices, is five times what it was a year ago, and president Nicolas Perkin expects si...

By Alix Stuart • Feb. 25, 2011

What KPMG’s Latest Purchase Means

KPMG’s purchase of EquaTerra, an outsourcing advisory firm, will shrink a cottage industry created over the past decade and expand its ability to help corporate customers close outsourcing deals, according to an analyst who covers the sector.The Big Four accounting firm announced its intention to...

By Sarah Johnson • Feb. 25, 2011

Private-Company GAAP: Can We Get a Do-Over?

In the United States, generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) are increasingly burdensome for private companies to apply. At the same time, private-company stakeholders find U.S. GAAP to be decreasingly relevant to their information needs.A blue-ribbon panel recently proposed a solution t...

By Bruce Pounder • Feb. 24, 2011

Spreadsheets: Color By Numbers

Editor’s Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com’s Spreadsheet Tips Page.Edward K. wins an autographed copy of Learn Excel 97-2007 From MrExcel for his question: “I am tryi...

By Bill Jelen • Feb. 24, 2011

Private-Company GAAP: Can We Get a Do-Over?

In the United States, generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) are increasingly burdensome for private companies to apply. At the same time, private-company stakeholders find U.S. GAAP to be decreasingly relevant to their information needs.A blue-ribbon panel recently proposed a solution t...

By Bruce Pounder • Feb. 24, 2011

Courts Take Liberties with “Physical Presence” Test

In January, courts in Washington state chipped away at the barrier that once shielded companies from paying taxes where they had no physical presence. The case focused on Lamtec Corp., a Pennsylvania-based industrial-materials manufacturer that also produces products at its New Jersey facility. T...

By Robert Willens • Feb. 22, 2011

Courts Take Liberties with “Physical Presence” Test

In January, courts in Washington state chipped away at the barrier that once shielded companies from paying taxes where they had no physical presence. The case focused on Lamtec Corp., a Pennsylvania-based industrial-materials manufacturer that also produces products at its New Jersey facility. T...

By Robert Willens • Feb. 22, 2011

Import External Data in 10 Clicks With Excel

Editor’s Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com’s Spreadsheet Tips Page.Brad K. wins an autographed copy of Guerilla Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel from CFO and MrExc...

By Bill Jelen • Feb. 16, 2011

A Bonus for Companies Using Bonus Depreciation

Businesses got more breathing room to capture a bonus depreciation deduction when President Obama signed the new tax and jobs bill into law last year. In general, the revamped and substantially liberalized provisions contained in The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Crea...

By Robert Willens • Feb. 14, 2011

A Bonus for Companies Using Bonus Depreciation

Businesses got more breathing room to capture a bonus depreciation deduction when President Obama signed the new tax and jobs bill into law last year. In general, the revamped and substantially liberalized provisions contained in The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Crea...

By Robert Willens • Feb. 14, 2011