‘Opinion-Shopping’ Compromises Auditor Independence

It’s hardly surprising for corporate executives, particularly those with companies caught in a financial squeeze, to seek an auditor likely to be amenable to their influence.Yet there has been relatively little research — and the evidence has been mixed — on whether “opinion-shopping” is generall...

By David McCann • May 8, 2019

SEC Charges Bring Long Fraud Saga to a Close

On May 3, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) and its former CEO, Thomas Gutierrez, with multiple violations of the Securities Act. The company had gone bankrupt in 2014, surprising many observers, although there had in fact been prior predictive s...

By David McCann • May 8, 2019

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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

Lyft Posts $1.1B Net Loss, 95% Revenue Increase

In its first quarterly earnings report since going public, Lyft reported an adjusted net loss of $211.5 million but predicted steady progress toward profitability after this year.The ride-hailing company’s net loss for the first quarter was $1.1 billion, reflecting in large part a $894 million ch...

By Matthew Heller • May 8, 2019

Investor Group Petitions for Better Exec Comp Disclosure

As CFO has reported, the Securities and Exchange Commission has grown vigilant in recent years about enforcing rules governing companies’ public use of non-GAAP financial metrics such as “adjusted earnings.”The SEC’s concern is that deviating from the official GAAP definition of earnings — such a...

By David McCann • May 7, 2019

Apple Supplier Accused of Lying About Contract

GT Advanced Technologies and its former CEO have settled allegations that they misled investors about its performance of a contract to supply Apple with sapphire glass for iPhones.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said GT knew by late April 2014 that it had failed to meet quantity, qual...

By Matthew Heller • May 6, 2019

Key to Paring Health Costs: Clinical Testing

CFOs and benefits managers across the nation are listening keenly to Washington lawmakers’ discussions of solutions to high drug prices. Steps that could curb medication costs would certainly help the bottom lines of companies’ health care plans.However, drug costs are not the greatest expense wh...

By David McCann • May 3, 2019

Kellogg CFO to Step Down After Two Years

On the day Kellogg reported a first-quarter earnings drop of 37%, it also announced that CFO Fareed Kahn was stepping down as chief financial officer. The Battle Creek, Michigan-based foods company said only that Kahn was “leaving” the company and would stay on until July 1 to transition the new ...

By Vincent Ryan • May 2, 2019

Apple Posts Record $11.5B in Services Revenue

Apple shares jumped in after-hours trading on Tuesday after its latest earnings report fueled optimism that the company is making progress in finding a way to prosper without blockbuster iPhone sales.Apple reported that revenue for the second quarter fell 5% to $58 billion from a year earlier, wi...

By Matthew Heller • May 1, 2019

GM Posts Earnings Beat, Market Share Slips

General Motors posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday due in part to strong sales of high-priced pickups and the automaker’s cost-cutting efforts.For the first quarter, GM’s net income after tax increased 93% to $2.1 billion, or $1.48 per share. On an adjusted basis, it earned ...

By Matthew Heller • April 30, 2019

Report Suggests a Shift in Cost-Reduction Mentality

Companies are no less eager than ever to take out costs. However, the strategic mindset behind cost-reduction efforts has shifted over the past two years, a new report asserts.In Deloitte’s first biennial global cost survey, in 2017, respondents were in “save-to-grow” mode, with companies around ...

By David McCann • April 29, 2019

S&P Questions Tesla’s Profitability Outlook

S&P isn’t buying Tesla’s profitability outlook for the rest of the year, predicting only limited improvement after the automaker sank back into the red in the first quarter.Tesla’s $702 million loss was the fourth-worst since it went public in 2010. In the previous two quarters, it had posted...

By Matthew Heller • April 29, 2019

Amazon Profit Doubles to Record $3.6B in Q1

Amazon reported its lowest growth rate in quarterly revenue since 2015 but profit more than doubled to an all-time record for a quarter, fueled in part by its high-margin cloud computing and advertising businesses.For the first quarter, Amazon’s revenue rose 16.9% to $59.7 billion, enough to matc...

By Matthew Heller • April 26, 2019

‘Disappointing’ Quarter Drives Big 3M Stock Drop

3M shares plunged to their worst day in 30 years on Thursday after the industrial conglomerate surprised investors with an earnings miss, lowered guidance, and a plan to lay off 2,000 workers.The stock, a Dow component, fell 13% to $190.72, shaving nearly $13 billion over 3M’ s market capitalizat...

By Matthew Heller • April 25, 2019

For Aflac, Slow Growth Means Extra Cash Flow

Start-up companies are well known for operating in the red during their early growth phases as they spend heavily on sales, marketing, and research & development to establish strong positions in their markets. Then, at some point in their success journey, they may decrease the percentage of r...

By David McCann • April 25, 2019

Tech Companies to Watch 2019: Behavox

In this third year of CFO’s Tech Companies to Watch, we found a notable shift in the applications being offered by vendors. In every functional area of the companies that made our annual list — process management, recruiting, travel expenses, receivables management, and compliance among them — th...

By Lauren Muskett • April 25, 2019

Facebook Sets Aside $3B for Possible FTC Fine

Facebook reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue but its profit took a hit from a $3 billion charge to cover a possible settlement of a Federal Trade Commission investigation of its privacy practices.The social media giant said on Wednesday that the FTC inquiry — which began in March 2018...

By Matthew Heller • April 25, 2019

Twitter Shares Jump 15% on Monthly User Surge

Twitter shares rose sharply on Tuesday after the microblogging site reported a surprise increase in monthly active users (MAU) for the last quarter that it will publicly disclose the metric.Monthly active users jumped 9 million, or 2.8%, to 330 million in the first quarter from the previous quart...

By Matthew Heller • April 23, 2019

FACT Coalition Calls for Corporate Tax Transparency

The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition is calling on the U.S. Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board to require multinationals to disclose corporate tax information on a country-by-country basis.Among the in...

By Vincent Ryan • April 23, 2019

Harley Profits Fall, But Beat Estimates

Harley-Davidson reported net income of $127.9 million on revenue of $1.38 billion for the first quarter, down from net income of $174.8 million and consolidated revenue of $1.54 billion a year ago, but the company beat expectations for profit by more than 30 cents per share and upheld its shipmen...

By Lauren Muskett • April 23, 2019

Private Companies: Beware of SEC Scrutiny

Earlier this month, the SEC and the former CEO of Jumio — a defunct, privately held mobile payments verification startup — agreed to settle fraud charges related to the overstatement of revenue. Executives of private companies should regard the case, and other recent ones like it, as warnings.Nic...

By David McCann • April 22, 2019

Blackstone to Convert from a Partnership to a Corporation

Private-equity firm Blackstone announced it is changing its corporate structure to a corporation from a publicly traded partnership, effective July 1.In an interview on CNBC’s Squawkbox on Thursday, CEO Steve Schwarzman said the change would allow Blackstone to “double the number of people” who a...

By Vincent Ryan • April 19, 2019

U.K. Watchdog Calls for Audit Market Makeover

The U.K.’s competition watchdog has found “deep-seated problems” in the country’s audit market but stopped short of recommending the full, structural makeover of the Big Four accounting firms advocated by lawmakers.PwC, KMPG, Deloitte, and EY sign off on the accounts of 97% of the U.K.’s 350 larg...

By Matthew Heller • April 18, 2019

Wisconsin Governor Calls for New Foxconn Deal

Tony Evers Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers called for the state to renegotiate its contract with Foxconn Technology Group for $4 billion in investment incentives, saying the company was not likely to create the jobs it promised.“Clearly the deal that was struck is no longer in play and so we will b...

By Lauren Muskett • April 18, 2019

PepsiCo Shares Hit Record on Earnings Beat

PepsiCo shares jumped to a record high on Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected earnings, driven by the performance of its Frito-Lay snacks division.Frito-Lay sales rose 5.5% in the first quarter while Pepsi’s North American beverage sales grew 2%, reflecting in part a 4% pric...

By Matthew Heller • April 17, 2019

IBM Shares Down After Earnings Miss

Shares of IBM were down sharply in midday trading after the company reported mixed earnings results Tuesday.The company’s revenue was down almost 5% year-over-year, with every business segment down or flat, but the company said that cloud revenue growth accelerated in the quarter and was up 10% o...

By Lauren Muskett • April 17, 2019