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

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

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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

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

Is the End of ‘Inventory Lite’ in Sight?

After 15 years of great success in boosting its operating cash-flow via “inventory lite” strategies, corporate America may be reaching the limit of how much cash it can generate via working capital management, according to an author of a new study on corporate cash generation by the Georgia Tech ...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Oct. 7, 2021

Limit ESG Disclosures to Cash-Flow Impacts: Economists

Should the Securities and Exchange Commission write rules that require disclosure of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a company’s operations and, possibly, its entire value chain? Not if those emissions don’t affect the company’s financial performance, says the Financial Economists Roundtable....

By Vincent Ryan • Oct. 6, 2021

Time to Double Down on Efficient Cash Conversion

Cash conversion performance is a barometer for overall business quality.This is something I remind clients who either tell me that they have enough cash or that interest rates are low, debt is cheap, and cash conversion is not a necessary focus. I respond that our clients in the upper quartile of...

By Peter Kingma • Oct. 5, 2021

Ross Stores Promotes Adam Orvos to CFO

Adam Orvos Ross Stores promoted Adam Orvos to executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective October 1. Orvos joined the retailer in January as group senior vice president of supply chain administration. As CFO, Orvos will be responsible for the retailer’s accounting, treasury, f...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 30, 2021

FedEx Rerouting 600K Packages a Day Due to Worker Shortage

FedEx’s Ground network is rerouting more than 600,000 packages a day due to a shortage of workers.What Happened: The staffing problems at FedEx are occurring even as the company has increased the hourly pay for package handlers in its ground division by 16%. Workers in FedEx’s express division ha...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 27, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending September 24

Tiziana Figliolia Hootsuite appointed Tiziana Figliolia as the social media manager’s new finance chief. Most recently, Figliolia was vice president of finance at InterDigital, a mobile and video technologies developer. Before that, she spent 10 years in Shanghai working with software companies P...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 24, 2021

Amazon’s Warehouse Productivity Measure Sparks New California Law

Amazon and other companies are mandated to disclose any quotas or workplace productivity measures for their workers in the state under a new California law, The Wall Street Journal reports. Other states could also follow suit. The law follows Amazon warehouse and other employees’ complaints about...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 23, 2021

Get Ready for Loan Enforcement

The pandemic has hurt many companies. Fortunately, at the urging of the Federal government and with relief from regulators, many secured lenders have refrained from taking action against borrowers in default under the terms of their loan. However, lenders are now becoming less patient and more en...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 23, 2021

Chaos Reigns in Corporate Tax Departments

From the global push for a corporate minimum tax to a dizzying array of acquisitions to macro-changes related to politics and the economy, tax departments are feeling the heat, and it comes at a time when bandwidth is already stretched to the limit.Thomson Reuters’ 2021 State of the Corporate Tax...

By Vincent Ryan • Sept. 21, 2021

CFO Taskforce Launches Global SDG Initiative

The 60 CFOs in the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce committed to invest more than $500 billion over the next five years towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as they try to promote further integration of the SDGs in corporate finance.The task force also committed to link ...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 20, 2021

Intuit to Buy Email Marketing Firm Mailchimp for $12B

Financial software company Intuit has agreed to buy privately-held email marketing firm Mailchimp for $12 billion in cash and stock, a deal that would leverage on the growth of small and midsize businesses, the companies said on Monday.What Happened: Intuit, which is known for supplying customers...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 14, 2021

Facebook Unveils $100M Trade Finance Program

Facebook has unveiled a trade finance program to support small businesses owned by women and minorities.Under the Facebook Invoice Fast Track program, the social media giant will buy invoices from participants, sparing them from having to wait the usual 60 to 120 days to get paid by customers.Fac...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 14, 2021

Walmart Confirms No Partnership With Litecoin

A press release put out by one of the leading global newswires was believed to be true and was reported by major media outlets, sending a cryptocurrency soaring.What Happened: The price of Litecoin quickly gained over 26% hitting a high of $233.06 this morning because a press release stated Walma...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 13, 2021

Bank of America Names New CFO

Alastair Borthwick Bank of America announced a management overhaul on Friday, replacing its finance chief and adding five new members to the senior management team. Alastair Borthwick, president of global commercial banking, will be promoted to CFO in the fourth quarter. Borthwick joined the comp...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 10, 2021