Cycle Time for Short-Term Cash Forecasting: Metric of the Month

In moments of disruption — whether from a global pandemic, geopolitical conflict, a recession, or something else — the need to prepare an accurate short-term cash flow forecast becomes critical. The ability to create and adjust these forecasts quickly allows management to make better and more inf...

By Perry D. Wiggins • Jan. 3, 2023

Only 27% of Businesses Can Forecast at Scale With Data Analysis Tools

Dependency on data, and the accuracy of that data, is pivotal for any organization. But in a recent research report from insightsoftware, less than a third (27%) of organizations said a majority of their users can forecast at scale using current data analysis tools. As dependency on data increase...

By Adam Zaki • Dec. 14, 2022

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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

58% of CFOs Said Cost Optimization Is Their Top Concern: Weekly Stat

More than half (58%) of finance executives said cost optimization is their biggest concern over the next six months, according to recent data compiled from 246 CFOs by Grant Thornton. With workforce rationalization and liquidity also being major concerns for those surveyed (40% and 37%, respectiv...

By Adam Zaki • Dec. 7, 2022

Q4 Checklist for CFOs: 6 Things to Clean Up

For a CFO, the fourth quarter brings a lot of stress not normally felt throughout the year. First, there’s the budget for next year, and then, the year-end close, and completing any tax-driven transactions. But there’s one item, which is often given short shrift, that a chief financial officer sh...

By Eric Segal • Nov. 28, 2022

Recession Resilience: The Power of Recurring Revenue

If the pandemic taught the CFO anything, it's that businesses need to be prepared for anything. That is why finance leaders need to strategize a long-term approach to protecting revenue, jobs, and customer satisfaction and ultimately build resilience into their business models.  Despite recent in...

By Todd McElhatton • Nov. 17, 2022

ESG Investors Value Disclosure Outside of Securities Filings

When speaking of ESG, investor groups often sound like they are taking a hard line on the sustainability disclosures they want to see from CFOs and their companies. But ESG investors on a panel at the FEI’s Corporate Financial Reporting Insights Conference last week sounded more pragmatic and fle...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 15, 2022

Audit Regulators Vow a Tougher Regime

Two years ago, the Public Company Accounting Standards Board (PCAOB) was on the ropes. Its investor advisory group accused it of abandoning its core mission, media were reporting an unhealthy internal climate, and U.S. senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were calling for a complete perso...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 12, 2022

Audit Fees Rise Only 2.5%, But Audits Require Greater Effort

Fees for external audits rose only slightly last year, by 2.5%. Indeed, the real increase in costs was probably the effort required to complete external audits, both for the issuer and the audit firm.Average fees for existing large accelerated and accelerated filers rose modestly by 1.8% and 2.3%...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 9, 2022

How CFOs Should Gauge the Value of Attending In-Person Events

Cities are being flocked with representatives from companies across corporate finance and beyond, as the weeks between Labor Day and Thanksgiving tend to host industry events that can draw thousands. As salespersons, marketers, public relations teams, and journalists share cocktails and ideas in ...

By Adam Zaki • Oct. 21, 2022

The Audit Wars Are About to Begin

Employee turnover is almost always costly for organizations, but it’s rare that hiring new staff can hurt clients and raise their costs. The exception? The Internal Revenue Service. The agency, which lost thousands of employees to retirement and budget cuts over the years, will soon be filling it...

By Bruce Willey • Oct. 17, 2022

Finding the Right Auditor for Government Contractors

Having the government as a customer offers several advantages such as facing lower demand uncertainty and having fewer covenants in loan contracts. However, doing business with the government has its challenges as well.Unlike other firms, government contractors must comply with additional rules a...

By Ahmet Kurt • Oct. 6, 2022

Capital Budgets Fall to 13% of IT Spending

 In the next 12 months, half of the North American IT decision-makers surveyed by Spiceworks Ziff Davis said their companies would be increasing tech spending, and only 6% said they intended to cut back. But the kind of spending organizations will undertake is changing. This year, capital budgets...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 17, 2022

How Will ESG Impact be Measured?

Corporate reform — similarly to how Ernest Hemingway described bankruptcy in his novel "The Sun Also Rises," — happens two ways: gradually, and then suddenly. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG), a movement that seeks to hold corporations accountable for far more than just ordinary financ...

By Ted Jackson • July 21, 2022

Best Organizations Report Consolidated Financials in 4 Days: Metric of the Month

Consolidated financial statements enable organizations with a parent company and subordinate reporting units (e.g., subsidiaries, regional operations, or multiple locations) to report their finances as a single enterprise for creditors, investors, operational leaders, and other stakeholders. Prep...

By Perry D. Wiggins • July 6, 2022

The Big Four Continue to Dominate Auditing: Weekly Stat

As Jim Peterson noted in his book, "Count Down: The Past, Present and Uncertain Future of Big Four Accounting Firms," the market for public company audits resembles that of utilities such as cable providers and power grids."Market forces strictly limit the number of providers with the necessary s...

By Vincent Ryan • June 29, 2022

Drive Business Strategy and Growth

Learn how NetSuite Financial Management allows you to quickly and easily model what-if scenarios and generate reports.

By CFO Editorial Staff • May 5, 2022

Can the U.S. and China Resolve the Tussle Over Audit Inspections?

The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, signed into law in December 2020, mandated Chinese-based companies and auditors comply with the audit inspection process consistent with Sarbanes-Oxley.Subsequently, in November 2021, the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) approved rules propo...

By Drew Bernstein • March 3, 2022

4 Tips for Cutting Indirect Spend

The volatility, capacity shortages, transport disruptions, and the supply of commodities have been the origin points of high inflation. Wage increases weren’t far behind as businesses tried to lure workers back when the pandemic eased. But inflation has now spread to the goods, materials, and ser...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 25, 2022

Opinion: Zero-Based Budgeting emphasizes growth, cost-cutting

What if there was a way to manage costs that emphasized funding growth as much as cost-cutting discipline? Take another look at zero-based budgeting (ZBB). Many CFOs fear imposing austerity measures may hinder growth, hurt morale, and limit flexibility at a time when most organizations prize agil...

By Akshat Dubey • Feb. 1, 2022

ISSB Represents a Big Step in ESG Disclosures

Neither the United States, Europe, nor any other region has recognized uniform financial reporting standards on climate change or sustainability. Instead, more than 50 groups have formulated guidelines or scorecards.As a result, while most public companies have disclosed some of their sustainabil...

By Robert C. Pozen • Feb. 1, 2022

WeWork to Restate Due to Accounting Error

WeWork shares fell more than 5% in extended trading Wednesday after the office-sharing company disclosed it would restate financial results provided to investors when it public through a SPAC merger.The restatement came less than two months after WeWork’s $9 billion merger with special-purpose ac...

By Matthew Heller • Dec. 2, 2021

USPS Slashes Annual Loss to $4.9B in 2021

The U.S. Postal Service made improvements to its balance sheet in fiscal 2021, reducing its net loss by nearly half as operating revenue increased 5.3%.For the year ended Sept. 30, the USPS lost $4.9 billion compared with $9.2 million in 2020. Revenue rose from $73.1 billion to $77.0 billion, led...

By Matthew Heller • Nov. 11, 2021

Will a Minimum Corporate Tax Really Curb Inversions?

A global minimum tax looks to be upon us. In a landmark announcement earlier this month, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said 130 countries had struck an agreement for a 15% global minimum tax.Specifically built to eliminate corporate tax inversions — that is, co...

By Vincent Ryan • Nov. 2, 2021

Supply Disruptions Hit Apple Revenue

The pandemic caught up with Apple in its fourth quarter as shortages in chip supplies cost it $6 billion in potential revenue, with iPhone sales missing analysts’ estimates.As The Wall Street Journal reports, Chief Executive Tim Cook “had largely helped Apple navigate the turbulent waters of COVI...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 29, 2021

GM Loses $4.9B in Q4 But Beats Estimates

General Motors shares jumped more than 4% on Tuesday after the automaker announced better-than-expected quarterly results, driven in part by record sales of crossovers and pickup trucks in the U.S..GM reported a net loss of $4.9 billion, or $3.46 per share, in the fourth quarter, down from a prof...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 28, 2021