The CFO’s Response to Coronavirus Uncertainty

The coronavirus could ...The coronavirus can …The coronavirus may …Could. Can. May.Projections about the spread of the virus (now at the edge of pandemic proportions), about its long-term implications on the global economy and on U.S. markets, are, in a word, uncertain. And if there’s one thing t...

By Vincent Ryan • March 6, 2020

Emergency Coronavirus Bill Passes Final Hurdle

President Donald Trump is expected on Friday to sign into law an $8.3 billion emergency bill to help fight the coronavirus outbreak after it sailed through the U.S. Senate in a rare display of bipartisanship.The 96-1 vote in the Senate to approve the package on Thursday followed a 415-2 vote for ...

By Matthew Heller • March 6, 2020

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

U.K. Airline Flybe Closes Two Months After Rescue Deal

The U.K. airline Flybe abruptly ceased operations Thursday as the industry grapples with the impacts of the coronavirus.“All Flybe flights are cancelled. Please do not go to the airport as your Flybe flight will not be operating,” the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.The company ...

By Lauren Muskett • March 5, 2020

Three Key Coronavirus-Related Strategic Risks to Consider

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 19 asked publicly traded companies with operations in China to disclose any coronavirus (COVID-19) threats or risks in their upcoming financial reporting.David A. Brown SEC chairman Jay Clayton acknowledged that the material effects of the coronaviru...

By David McCann • March 4, 2020

Metric of the Month: Detect and Prevent Duplicate or Erroneous Payments

No one likes to be charged twice or overpay for a product or service, and the same is true for organizations. The sinking feeling a consumer might feel when they realize they’ve been charged twice is magnified exponentially for CFOs when they realize that because of an error somewhere in accounts...

By Perry D. Wiggins • March 3, 2020

Coronavirus: Five Things to Think About Before Closing the Books

The international fear created by the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) is palpable. The virus has infected more than 83,000 people in at least 53 countries, leading to worldwide pessimism in global financial markets. Thursday’s 4.4% dip in the S&P 500 was the worst day for American shares s...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 28, 2020

SmileDirect Shares Plunge on ‘Sour’ Q4 Report

SmileDirectClub shares fell for a second straight day after the teledentistry company posted a larger-than-expected loss and pledged to control its growth to achieve profitability.The stock set a new post-IPO low of $7.92 on Wednesday after plunging 20% in extended trading Tuesday.“The sour Q4 re...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 26, 2020

Trade Tensions Still Vex Tax Execs

January brought a truce of sorts in the U.S.-China trade war, with the signing of a preliminary agreement between the countries. Nonetheless, international trade tensions and tariffs are expected to have a greater impact on midsize companies’ tax liability this year than any other issue.That’s ac...

By David McCann • Feb. 26, 2020

Banks’ Expenses Growing, But Not Their Incomes

Commercial banks and savings institutions were under some earnings pressure in the fourth quarter of 2019: interest income fell but personnel costs and other operating expenses rose.The FDIC’s quarterly profile of the performance of 5,177 banks showed that aggregate net income declined almost 7% ...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 26, 2020

Trump Administration Asks Congress for $2.5B to Fight Coronavirus

President Donald Trump’s administration has requested Congress release $2.5 billion in funding to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus in the United States, the Associated Press reported Monday.The White House said late Monday that the funding would be used for research efforts to develop a...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 25, 2020

Expedia Follows Exec Shakeup With Job Cuts

Expedia is planning to lay off 12% of its global workforce, citing its disappointing 2019 business performance and an “unhealthy and undisciplined” growth strategy.The announcement of the layoffs on Monday came less than three months after a management shakeup at the online travel giant in which ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 25, 2020

CFOs See Tech Grabbing Larger Share of a Shrinking Budget

Is this the year the straw breaks the camel’s back?Each year, it seems as if finance is asked to do more with less. This year will be no different, according to the 2020 Finance Key Issues research from The Hackett Group. Most finance executives expect to see a 3.4% decline, on average, in financ...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 24, 2020

Zillow Beats Estimates on Strong Homes Growth

Zillow reported better-than-expected quarterly results, crediting in part the rapid growth of its new home-selling business.The company’s “Homes” segment, which includes the Zillow Offers program it launched in 2018, generated $603.2 million in revenue, up 57% from the third quarter, as it sold 1...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 21, 2020

U.K. Audit Regulator to Review How Companies Report Climate Change Risk

The U.K. Financial Reporting Council (RFC) said it is reviewing the way companies and auditors report on the effects of climate change.The review will result in more stringent disclosure rules for companies listed in the United Kingdom and tougher oversight for accounting firms.The FRC said it wo...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 21, 2020

Dropbox Shares Surge on Q4 Earnings Beat

Dropbox shares jumped in extended trading Thursday after the cloud storage company beat quarterly earnings estimates, fueled by continued subscriber growth.For the fourth quarter, Dropbox earned an adjusted $0.16 per share as revenue rose 19% to $446 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of 14 ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 21, 2020

Diageo Fined for ‘Overshipping’ to Meet Targets

Global liquor company Diageo has agreed to pay $5 million to settle allegations that it pressured distributors to buy excess inventory to meet sales targets in a declining market.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision alleged employees at Diageo North America (DNA), the company’s largest and ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 19, 2020

Ally Financial to Buy CardWorks

Auto lender Ally Financial has agreed to buy consumer finance lender CardWorks for $2.65 billion.The deal includes $1.35 billion in cash and $1.30 billion in Ally common stock. CardWorks has $4.7 billion in assets and $2.9 billion in deposits.In a statement, Ally said the deal would provide “inst...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 19, 2020

Walmart Earnings Miss as Online Growth Slows

Walmart reported lower-than-expected earnings on Tuesday, reflecting soft holiday-season sales and slowing e-commerce growth.Comparable sales at Walmart’s U.S. stores open at least a year rose just 1.9% in the last quarter, falling short of analysts’ estimates of 2.35% as well as the 4.1% increas...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 18, 2020

GM to Shutter Holden Division in Australia

General Motors will wind down sales, design, and engineering operations in Australia and New Zealand and retire its Holden brand by 2021. The Holden brand had been in operation for more than 160 years.The largest U.S. automaker will also withdraw the Chevrolet brand from Thailand and sell its Ray...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 17, 2020

FASB Turns Up the Heat on Goodwill Impairment Testing

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has recently elevated goodwill accounting to the top of its agenda, after political pressure stemming from high-profile company failures in the U.K., notably Carillion’s, pushed the International Accounting Standards Board to address the topic.In the Unite...

By David McCann • Feb. 12, 2020

Trump Proposes $4.8T Budget

The Trump administration is proposing a $4.8 trillion budget for the federal government for the 2021 fiscal year, an increase of $700 billion over 2018, though it includes cuts to Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and Medicare.The budget would cut funding for the Environmental Pr...

By Lauren Muskett • Feb. 10, 2020

Tilray, Aurora Cannabis Layoffs May Signal Industrywide Problem

The trend of layoffs in the cannabis industry, which started in 2019, has done nothing but accelerate in 2020 with:Medmen Enterprises cutting more than 40% of its workforce;Pasha Brands reducing its team by 24%;Zenabis Global terminating 40 people (about 10% of its staff);GenCanna giving the boot...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 7, 2020

More Companies Are Opting for Hedge Accounting

Early adopters of the new hedge accounting standard that took effect for public companies’ 2019 fiscal years drove an uptick in the use of hedge accounting in 2018, new research shows.Chatham Financial’s analysis of corporate hedging in 2018, the latest year for which hedging data can be compiled...

By David McCann • Feb. 6, 2020

Ford Touts ‘Strategic Progress’ But Stock Falls 9%

Ford CEO James Hackett (right) and a team member with the company’s first mass-market electric car the Mustang Mach-E. Ford Motor shares fell sharply in extended trading Tuesday as the automaker’s financial performance continued to disappoint investors eager to see returns from its $11 billion gl...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 5, 2020

Alphabet Discloses $15B in 2019 YouTube Ad Revenue

Alphabet delivered another mixed bag of quarterly results as Google’s parent broke out numbers for YouTube and its cloud services business for the first time in a move toward greater transparency.The new data showed, among other things, that YouTube is generating advertising revenue at a pace of ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 4, 2020