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

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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

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

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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

Revised Fair-Value Rule Is Weaker: Moody’s

The effects of a fair-value accounting rule change are popping up in the third-quarter earnings reports of banks — and at least one credit-rating agency thinks investors were better off before the revision.In a report issued Friday, Moody’s Investors Service analysts take issue with changes to IA...

By Marie Leone • Oct. 24, 2021

The House Sticks its Nose into Audit Rotation

In the U.S. House of Representatives, it seems, no battle against sensible regulatory reform is too small to throw your weight behind. Hence on Monday night the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1564, the “Audit Integrity and Job Protection Act,” a bill that prohibits the Public Company Accoun...

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 24, 2021

Avalara Acquires CrowdReason

Tax software company Avalara acquired property tax compliance software developer CrowdReason, as well as a related property valuation and advisory services business, to help firms solve property tax compliance challenges.The acquisitions boost Avalara’s document management, tax content, and prope...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 19, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending October 8

Chris Kuhns Chris Kuhns was named CFO at Iris Telehealth. Kuhns was previously senior vice president of finance at Vituity, where he led financial planning and analysis, operational finance, and corporate development teams. Before that, he was director of corporate strategy and development for Om...

By Lauren Muskett • Oct. 8, 2021

Amazon Reaps Record $669M in Tax Breaks

Amazon has enjoyed record-breaking largesse from state and local governments this year, securing more than $650 million in tax breaks as it builds out its distribution networks around the United States.The watchdog group Good Jobs First reported that Amazon has so far received $669 million in sta...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 7, 2021