Curtailing Auditors’ Tax Services For Appearances Brings Higher Rates

Heightened by notorious accounting scandals two decades ago involving Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen accountancy, and others, suspicions have persistently dogged firms whose auditors perform consulting services for them in addition to core accounting functions. And perhaps no extra services hav...

By Vincent Ryan • June 30, 2020

Microsoft Pauses Advertisements on Facebook, Instagram Globally

Microsoft paused all advertisements on Facebook and subsidiary Instagram’s social media platforms in the United States in May, Axios reported Monday.The veteran technology company recently further paused all advertisements on Facebook and Instagram across the globe, according to Axios.In an inter...

By Lauren Muskett • June 30, 2020

U.S. Mortgage Delinquency Rate Jumps to 7.76%

The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate rose in May to its highest level in more than eight years though homeowners have been making a higher share of payments this month.As Americans continue to struggle to pay bills amid the COVID-19 pandemic, another 723,000 homeowners became past due on their mort...

By Matthew Heller • June 25, 2020

Olive Garden Owner Reports Better-Than-Expected Q4

Olive Garden parent company Darden Restaurants reported Thursday with better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.The company also provided a business update and first-quarter outlook.Darden’s results. Darden reported a loss of $1.24 per share for the quarter ended May 31 on revenue of $1.27 bill...

By Vincent Ryan • June 25, 2020

GNC Files For Chapter 11

GNC Holdings, the vitamin and dietary supplement retailer, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. The company is planning to sell itself and reduce its number of stores after attempts to restructure its debt load failed.  In a recent presentation for investors, according to C...

By Vincent Ryan • June 24, 2020

Scorecard: Safeguarding Working Capital

In trying times, the old adage “cash is king” is never truer. For CFOs, ensuring their organizations’ working capital management strategies and processes are best-in-class is again a high priority. After all, tighter working capital performance means well-timed inflows and outflows of cash, essen...

By Ramona Dzinkowski • June 24, 2020

Congress Looks to Support Charities With Tax Breaks

Last year, Americans gave an impressive $450 billion to charity, but the numbers of donors are dwindling as COVID-19 hints at a global resurgence.A bipartisan effort is underway to expand tax breaks for Americans in an effort to spur donations to nonprofit organizations.Tackling A Common Issue. I...

By Vincent Ryan • June 22, 2020

Ohio Looks To Reclaim GM Tax Break

The State of Ohio is considering clawing back tax credits that it granted to General Motors in exchange for a commitment by the company to keep open its Lordstown auto plant.  According to a report originally published by ProPublica and The Business Journal, based in Youngstown, Ohio, the state D...

By Vincent Ryan • June 19, 2020

AmTrust, Ex-CFO Fined for Improper Disclosure

AmTrust Financial Services and its former CFO have agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle charges of accounting malpractice related to the insurance company’s estimates of loss reserves.According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, former finance chief Ronald Pipoly failed to properly ...

By Matthew Heller • June 19, 2020

Carnival Loses $4B Amid Ship Lockdowns

Carnival Corp. preliminarily reported a massive quarterly loss as the coronavirus pandemic continues to keep its ships mothballed.The world’s largest cruise operator said Thursday that it lost $4.4 billion in the second quarter, its largest loss in at least 25 years. Excluding a $2 billion impair...

By Matthew Heller • June 18, 2020

Oracle Shares Slip as Q4 Sales Drop 6%

Oracle posted lower-than-expected quarterly revenue as customers in such industries as hospitality and retail deferred purchases due to the coronavirus pandemic.For the fourth quarter, Oracle’s total revenue fell 6% to $10.44 billion, missing its guidance in March for between $10.92 billion and $...

By Matthew Heller • June 17, 2020

Skillsoft Files Chapter to Ease $2B Debt Burden

Online learning company Skillsoft has filed for Chapter 11 bankrupty to implement a restructuring plan aimed at reducing its $2.1 billion debt load by more than 70%.The plan, which has the support of most of Skillsoft’s first and second lien lenders, will “result in a comprehensive de-levering of...

By Matthew Heller • June 15, 2020

24 Hour Fitness Files for Bankruptcy

24 Hour Fitness has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware citing fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic that forced it to close its gyms across the United States in the middle of March.The company permanently closed 100 gyms in the U.S. and has about 300 remaining. It expects a major...

By Lauren Muskett • June 15, 2020

BP Faces $17.5B Q2 Hit

BP is writing down $17.5 billion in assets in the second quarter and forecasting lower oil prices.The oil company said Monday that it has revised its long-term price predictions and is lowering them and extending the period covered to 2050.“These actions will lead to non-cash impairment charges a...

By Lauren Muskett • June 15, 2020

Lululemon Shares Fall on Steep Sales Drop

Lululemon shares dipped on Friday after the athletic wear retailer reported that quarterly sales fell 17% despite a surge in online business.According to Barron’s, investors’ hopes were high going into the first-quarter earnings report, with “plenty of analysts … touting the company’s ability to ...

By Matthew Heller • June 12, 2020

Chewy Gets Boost From Stay-At-Home Orders

Chewy posted strong quarterly results as the online pet food company rode a wave of increased demand from pet owners sheltering in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.For the first quarter, Chewy reported that sales jumped 46% to $1.62 billion from a year ago, reflecting the addition of a recor...

By Matthew Heller • June 10, 2020

Argo Group Fined Over Perks to ‘Bon Vivant’ CEO

Insurance company Argo Group International Holdings has agreed to pay $900,000 to settle charges that it failed to disclose more than $5.3 million in perks to its former CEO, including personal use of  corporate aircraft.Mark Watson stepped down as CEO in November 2019, shortly after Argo said it...

By Matthew Heller • June 9, 2020

Slack Shares Slump on Disappointing Guidance

Chat service Slack beat quarterly earnings estimates but its shares had their worst single-day decline on record, reflecting investor disappointment over its full-year guidance.Like other software-as-a-service companies, Slack got a boost in the first quarter from business demand for tools that a...

By Matthew Heller • June 5, 2020

May Jobs Report Much Stronger Than Expected

“Whoa.” That seems to be the consensus about the monthly jobs report.The U.S. unemployment rate contracted 1.4 percentage points in May to 13.3% — far exceeding economist forecasts of 19.8% and outperforming the 1933 peak that many expected to be comparable.“These improvements in the labor market...

By Lauren Muskett • June 5, 2020

Gap’s Pandemic Pain Worse Than Expected

Gap shares tumbled in after-hours trading Thursday as the troubled retailer reported a coronavirus-related loss that was worse than expected.For the first quarter, Gap swung to a net loss of $932 million, or $2.51 per share, from with a profit of $227 million, or 60 cents a share, a year ago. Net...

By Matthew Heller • June 5, 2020

Five Accounting and Reporting Considerations Before Reopening

Businesses around the country are preparing to reopen as local stay-at-home orders are lifted. But the world looks a lot different than it did a mere three months ago, and many companies must now adjust to a yet-evolving new normal. While companies now understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has aff...

By Vincent Ryan • June 4, 2020

Zoom Crushes Estimates With ‘Incredible’ Quarter

Zoom crushed quarterly earnings estimates and doubled its revenue guidance, indicating the videoconferencing company believes it can sustain growth even after people are no longer staying home due to coronavirus restrictions.One analyst, Needham’s Richard Valera, called Zoom’s first-quarter resul...

By Matthew Heller • June 3, 2020

AMC Reports Losses, Raises Doubt on Staying in Business

AMC Theaters, the world’s largest theater chain, expects it has lost between $2.1 billion and $2.4 billion in the first quarter and has “substantial doubts” it can remain in business, the company said.The company closed theaters earlier this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.“During this ...

By Lauren Muskett • June 3, 2020

Dick’s Sporting Goods Takes 29% Sales Hit

Dick’s Sporting Goods took a major hit from the coronavirus crisis but its shares rose amid signs of a rebound with the lifting of pandemic restrictions.For the first quarter, the company swung to a net loss of $143.4 million, or $1.71 per share, from a profit of $57.5 million, or 61 cents per sh...

By Matthew Heller • June 2, 2020

Short-Term Cash-Flow Forecasting: Metric of the Month

Over the last two months, the need to prepare an accurate short-term cash flow forecast for my board of directors and CEO has never been greater. The ability to prepare or adjust these forecasts quickly has allowed us to make better and more informed decisions about our cash needs, investments, a...

By Perry D. Wiggins • June 2, 2020