A New Planning Paradigm for CFOs

“I’m going to need those TPS reports ASAP.” — Bill Lumbergh, Office SpaceTPS reports are an actual “thing.” But, since the movie Office Space became a cult hit, the term has become the codeword for any meaningless or antiquated reporting exercise.Budgeting is, of course, no TPS report. Instead, i...

By Sanjeev Parlikar and Udit Sharma • Sept. 9, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending September 3

Dave Dowrich Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) named Dave Dowrich as finance chief. Dowrich joins the retirement services and investment firm on November 1 from Prudential Financial, where he was CFO for the company’s international business based in Japan. Dowrich previ...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 3, 2021

Explore the Trendline➔

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

SPAC Activity Falls in Q2

The number of SPAC IPOs and announced deals hit a downtrend in the second quarter and could show signs of further declines going forward.What Happened: SPAC IPOs peaked in the first quarter of 2021, hitting a total of 275. The second quarter saw 52 SPAC IPOs, according to a new S&P Global rep...

By Lauren Muskett • Sept. 2, 2021

Capital One CEO Fined for Antitrust Violations

Capital One Financial CEO Richard Fairbank has agreed to pay $637,950 to settle charges that he failed to comply with antitrust rules when he acquired additional shares of the bank.The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Fairbank’s purchase of 101,148 shares in March 2018 — which brought his holdi...

By Matthew Heller • Sept. 2, 2021

How Many of Your Primary Controls Are Preventive?

When I started my auditing career during the rollout of Sarbanes-Oxley, there was sustained debate within the industry as to which type of internal control was better: preventive or detective. While preventive controls are intended to prevent unauthorized or unwanted activities and variances from...

By Perry D. Wiggins • Sept. 1, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending August 27

Bennett Nussbaum CFO Craig Phillips will leave Purple Innovation on August 31. Phillips was appointed finance chief of the mattress manufacturer in October 2019 after serving as interim CFO since March 2019. Before that, he was a managing director at FTI Consulting. The company has appointed Benn...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 27, 2021

Forbes Media Going Public Via SPAC

An iconic financial media brand is going public with plans to continue its digital transformation.The SPAC Deal: Forbes Global Media Holdings announced Thursday a SPAC deal with Magnus Opus Acquisition Limited. The deal values the company at a pro forma enterprise value of $630 million. A $400 mi...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 26, 2021

FactSet Appoints Former MSCI Exec as CFO

Linda Huber Linda Huber will take over as finance chief at financial information company FactSet in early October. She succeeds Helen Shan, who has taken leadership of FactSet’s sales organization as chief revenue officer. Huber brings over 30 years of experience in the financial services industr...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 25, 2021

CFOs: Prepare for Changes in Global Tax Rules

You hear it everywhere: U.S. corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes. They’ve hollowed out domestic industry by moving to cheaper, more tax-friendly countries. Whether or not you believe this narrative, it’s built on criticism that’s persisted for years. And now, the raft of tax policy p...

By Bill Henson • Aug. 24, 2021

U.K. Grocer Morrisons Accepts Bid From CD&R

In the latest twist in  a takeover battle over Britain’s fourth-largest grocery chain, Morrisons has agreed to be sold to U.S. private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice for about $9.5 billion (6.97 pound sterling).CD&R’s offer, worth 285 pence per share, topped a 272 pence per share bid...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 20, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending August 20

Navdeep Gupta Navdeep Gupta will take over as executive vice president and CFO of Dick’s Sporting Goods on October 1. Gupta has worked at Dick’s since November 2017 as senior vice president of finance and chief accounting officer. Before joining the retailer, Gupta spent 11 years at Advance Auto ...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 20, 2021

Petco Promotes Finance Exec to CFO

Petco Health and Wellness Company promoted its senior vice president of finance, Brian LaRose, to finance chief. In his new role, LaRose, who joined the pet health and wellness retailer in September 2020, will oversee Petco’s corporate strategy, financial strategy, performance, reporting, and lon...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 19, 2021

Bill Ackman’s SPAC Hit With Lawsuit

An investor in activist Bill Ackman’s giant SPAC has accused it of illegally operating as an investment company so he can extract “astronomical” compensation from it. SPACs invest in securities but have been able to avoid being regulated as an investment company as long as their primary purpose i...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 18, 2021

COVID Delays Apple’s Production Shift Away from China

Apple is slowing plans to shift production from China to Vietnam as governments tighten border controls to contain outbreaks of new variants of the coronavirus, Nikkei Asia reported on Tuesday, citing sources. What Happened: The Cupertino, California-based tech giant plans to start mass productio...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 18, 2021

Spirit Slashes Guidance After Flight Disruptions

Spirit Airlines has lowered its guidance for the third quarter, citing the negative impact of its massive flight disruptions in recent weeks.The discount carrier said Monday the disruptions cost it about $50 million and that it was continuing to experience “some amount of short-term brand impact ...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 17, 2021

Pearson to Pay $1M Fine for Misleading Investors About Cyber Breach

London-based education publisher Pearson agreed to pay $1 million to settle charges that it misled investors about a 2018 cyber intrusion involving the theft of millions of student records, including birth dates and email addresses. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the da...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 16, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending August 13

Sharon McCollam Sharon McCollam will join Albertsons Companies on September 7 as the grocery store chain’s new president and CFO. McCollam retired from Best Buy in 2016, where she was executive vice president, chief administrative officer, and chief financial officer. She is recognized as the co-...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 13, 2021

Zeta CFO Attributes Revenue Growth to COVID-Era Refocusing

Zeta, the cloud-based marketing technology company, reported a 39% year-over-year increase in its second-quarter revenue.What Happened: The New York City-based company reported $106.8 million in revenue in its newly published second-quarter earnings report, up from $77 million one year earlier.Th...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 11, 2021

DeFi Platform Fined $13M Over Crypto Offerings

In the first enforcement action against a “decentralized finance” platform, the founders of DeFi Money Market have agreed to pay more than $13 million to settle charges that they illegally sold more than $30 million in securities.According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, DMM’s sal...

By Matthew Heller • Aug. 9, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending August 6

Edward Liu Healthcare marketplace Zocdoc appointed Edward Liu as chief financial officer. Liu has spent more than two decades at Morgan Stanley, where he was formerly head of Americas technology banking. At Morgan Stanley, he provided counsel to C-Suite executives and board members on strategic a...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 6, 2021

Lockheed Hunts for CFO After Ken Possenriede’s Sudden Exit

Pentagon’s largest defense contractor Lockheed Martin said on Tuesday chief financial officer Ken Possenriede is retiring immediately “due to personal reasons” and named a company veteran as an interim replacement.Ken Possenriede What Happened: The maker of F-35 fighter jets named John Mollard, t...

By Lauren Muskett • Aug. 4, 2021

EY, Partners Charged With Auditor Independence Violations

In trying to become the auditor of publicly held Sealed Air, maker of Bubble Wrap, Ernst & Young LLP and three of its partners went too far. Way too far, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. And they were assisted by  Sealed Air’s chief accounting officer at the time, William ...

By Vincent Ryan • Aug. 2, 2021

10 CFO Tips for the SPAC Transition

“The one regret I have is not investing more in the development of our finance function early on.”So said a chief financial officer who, after completing a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger, realized that his company was not as prepared for the rigors and stresses of life as a pub...

By Shauna Watson and Barclay Stanton • Aug. 2, 2021

SEC to Tighten Disclosure Rules for Chinese Firms

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is beefing up disclosure requirements for Chinese issuers, reflecting concerns over Beijing’s crackdown on technology firms.SEC Chairman Gary Gensler announced Friday a wide range of directives to staff that cover both Chinese companies that seek to reg...

By Matthew Heller • July 30, 2021

CFOs On the Move: Week Ending July 30

Jayant Mittal Jayant Mittal joined online pizza ordering platform Slice as finance chief. Mittal most recently spent four years as director of worldwide corporate development at Amazon. In that role, he led corporate development activities in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa into advanced tech...

By Lauren Muskett • July 30, 2021