GM Lowers Earnings Expectations Due to Higher Raw Materials Costs

General Motors cut its profit outlook for the year, citing higher costs for steel and aluminum. Prices have risen since the Trump Administration imposed tariffs on the auto industry’s two key raw materials. The company lowered earnings expectations to about $6 per share for 2018, down from its pr...

By William Sprouse • July 25, 2018

What Is a Critical Audit Matter?

Are you, your audit committee, or your auditor unclear about critical audit matters and their inclusion in the new auditor’s report? On Tuesday, the Center for Audit Quality published a “key concepts and FAQs” document addressing compliance with critical audit matters reporting.A critical audit m...

By Vincent Ryan • July 25, 2018

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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

Appeals Court Backs IRS in Transfer-Pricing Case

A federal appeals court has delivered a major setback to Intel’s subsidiary Altera in a high-stakes legal battle over Treasury Department regulations governing the sharing of employee stock compensation costs between related entities.The IRS had issued notices of deficiency after Altera and an in...

By Matthew Heller • July 25, 2018

Harley Beats Estimates, Warns of Tariff Costs

Harley-Davidson on Tuesday reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings but warned of declining profitability as it grapples with retaliatory European Union tariffs.The iconic motorcycle maker stepped into President Trump’s global trade war last month by announcing it would move more motorcyc...

By Matthew Heller • July 24, 2018

Whirlpool Shares Dive 9% on Q2 Earnings Miss

Whirlpool shares fell sharply in extended trading on Monday after the appliance maker posted disappointing quarterly earnings amid weak sales in the region encompassing Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).After grappling with raw material inflation and declining unit volume last year, Whirl...

By Matthew Heller • July 24, 2018

Unlock the Hidden Benefits of Lease Accounting Rules

Everyone in the accounting and finance world is inundated with information about the new lease guidance, from its effective date and primary financial statement impacts to the inherent complexities and best practices for a successful adoption.This flow of information confirms that, yes, the impac...

By Bill Maloney, Udit Sharma, and Patrick Garrett • July 23, 2018

Azure Cloud Growth Powers Microsoft Q4 Beats

Microsoft on Friday reported quarterly revenue and earnings that beat analysts’ estimates, powered by the continued momentum of its cloud business as well as strength in legacy software, tablets, and gaming.For the fourth quarter, the tech giant’s revenue jumped 17% to $30.09 billion while operat...

By Matthew Heller • July 20, 2018

GE Profits Plummet, But Hopeful Signs Appear

General Electric reported that its second-quarter profit was down 30% from the same year-earlier quarter, driven in large part by weakness in the company’s power division.However, some results were more positive and seem to provide a glimmer of hope for the beleaguered industrial company.GE poste...

By William Sprouse • July 20, 2018

SEC Eases Equity Compensation Disclosure

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has adjusted its rules governing disclosure of employee stock compensation to reflect changes in the labor market.Securities Act Rule 701 exempts non-reporting companies from disclosing stock issued as compensation to employees if the aggregate sales pr...

By Matthew Heller • July 19, 2018

How Important Are Intangible Asset Impairments?

In July 2017, PayPal Holdings acquired Canadian payment-processing company TIO Networks for $238 million. The purchase price consisted of $66 million of technology and customer-related intangible assets, net assets of approximately $2 million, and initial goodwill of approximately $170 million.A ...

By Olga Usvyatsky • July 19, 2018

‘Strategic Imperatives’ Drive IBM’s Q2 Growth

IBM’s “strategic imperatives” segment has passed a fiscal milestone, accounting for more than half of quarterly revenue for the first time as the company delivered a third straight quarter of revenue growth.For the second quarter, IBM rose 4% to $20 billion, topping analysts’ estimates of $19.85 ...

By Matthew Heller • July 19, 2018

Strong Demand Fuels United Earnings Beat

United Continental reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings as strong demand for air travel helped offset rising fuel costs.The No. 3 U.S. airline’s fuel expenses surged 43% to $2.39 billion in the second quarter, weighing on its net profit, which fell nearly 17% to $684 million.But reven...

By Matthew Heller • July 18, 2018

Netflix Shares Dive as Subscriber Adds Miss

Netflix shares tumbled in after-hours trading Monday after the company reported lower-than-expected subscriber growth, sparking fears that its expansion is slowing.For the second quarter, Netflix added 5.2 million streaming users, well short of the 6.2 million it estimated in April. The additions...

By Matthew Heller • July 17, 2018

BofA Sees Higher Profit On Lower Costs, Taxes

Bank of America reported second-quarter profit of $6.8 billion, up from $5.1 billion a year ago. The bank, the second largest in the U.S. by assets, reported earnings of 63 cents per share, compared with expectations of 57 cents per share, according to analysts surveyed by Reuters.BofA said quart...

By William Sprouse • July 16, 2018

Wells Misses Estimates With Broad Weakness

Wells Fargo on Friday reported lower-than-expected quarterly results, with declines in revenue and profit across its business segments, but the bank appears to be making progress cutting costs as part of its turnaround effort.For the second quarter, Wells Fargo posted adjusted earnings of $1.08 p...

By Matthew Heller • July 13, 2018

How to Forecast Growth in the Age of the Overnight Policy Whipsaw

International trade wars used to brew over the course of decades. Today, they are launched overnight. And that’s wreaking havoc on many companies’ ability to accurately forecast growth.As a case in point, look no further than the chronology of events surrounding the introduction of new U.S. tarif...

By Brian Peccarelli • July 12, 2018

Finance Execs Fearful of Spending Tax-Cut Proceeds

Spending habits are hard to break, even if you’re a treasury and finance professional.A new survey from the Association for Financial Professionals shows that, despite the U.S. corporate tax cuts, 40% of respondents anticipate no change in the level of spending at their organizations. One reason:...

By Vincent Ryan • July 11, 2018

Five Keys to Succeeding as CFO of a PE-Backed Company

For a CFO, navigating new institutional ownership is “a whole new world.” And often, not a welcoming one.Why? There are many reasons, but chief among them is also the simplest: CFO business-as-usual is not PE-backed CFO business-as-usual. Institutional ownership comes with meaningful strategic an...

By Ayla Queiroga and Jason Madden • July 11, 2018

Working Capital Scorecard: Suppliers Can Wait

The 2018 CFO/The Hackett Group Working Capital ScorecardCompanies’ liquidity is at record levels in the United States. According to the 2018 CFO/Hackett Group Working Capital Scorecard, cash on hand for the 1,000 largest U.S. companies rose by a whopping 17%, or $154 billion, in 2017. Much of tha...

By Ramona Dzinkowski • July 10, 2018

Ex-ITT Execs Fined in Student Loan Fraud Case

The former chief executive and the former CFO of ITT Educational Services have agreed to fines and other sanctions to settle charges that they hid the “abysmal” performance of two student loan programs from investors.The settlement wraps up a fraud case that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commi...

By Matthew Heller • July 9, 2018

Dow Chemical Fined $1.75M Over CEO’s Perks

Dow Chemical has agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle charges that it failed to properly disclose around $3 million in perks for former CEO Andrew Liveris in its proxy statements.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Dow applied an incorrect standard in deciding not to disclose perks ...

By Matthew Heller • July 5, 2018

Study Pans Disclaimers on Forward-Looking Statements

They are among the most common of corporate communications to investors: forward-looking statements about company prospects, accompanied by warnings that these projections could differ materially from actual future results.Commonplace though such cautionary disclaimers are, there is much controve...

By David McCann • July 5, 2018

Metric of the Month: Uncollectible Balances

More than half of organizations consider customers’ adherence to payment terms to be a key indicator of the credit function’s performance. But all too often, organizations take an unrealistically optimistic outlook on past-due receivables — even when deep down, they know that the likelihood of co...

By Perry D. Wiggins • July 5, 2018

Balancing Act: CFOs Must Meld Innovation and Control

Risk and caution. Speed and patience. Creativity and restraint. Innovation and control. Life, and business, are made up of finding the shifting balance between extremes and knowing when to drift toward one pole or the other.Tom Crawford As a former CFO, I firmly believe that the role of finance g...

By Tom Crawford • July 2, 2018

SEC Wants the Power to Limit the Size of Whistleblower Awards

The Securities and Exchange Commission apparently thinks the federal government is paying some whistleblowers too much for revealing corporate malfeasance.So, the SEC is proposing amendments to rules governing the whistleblower program. Among other things, the changes would give commissioners mor...

By William Sprouse • July 2, 2018