How to Get Your ROI on Employee Benefits Spending

If you’re like most employers, attracting and retaining the right talent is critical to your success. You want the right people in the right position with the right training to meet your customers’ needs, and you’ve likely made significant investments in your human capital to achieve these goals....

By Ron Shah • April 20, 2017

AmEx Sales Drop 2% to $7.9B, Beat Estimates

American Express posted first-quarter earnings and sales that beat analysts’ expectations as it continues to regroup from the loss of its partnership with warehouse chain Costco.The company’s profit fell to $1.24 billion, or $1.34 per share, from $1.43 billion, or $1.45 per share, in the same per...

By Matthew Heller • April 19, 2017

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

IBM Shares Sink on Unexpected Revenue Drop

IBM reported a bigger-than-expected drop in revenue amid the continuing weakness of its legacy hardware and software businesses and a surprising decline in its cloud infrastructure segment.Big Blue has been reorganizing itself around a set of emerging cloud, security, and data analytics businesse...

By Matthew Heller • April 19, 2017

Trump and the Age of Magical Thinking

The term “magical thinking” refers to how children believe that their thoughts have a direct effect on the rest of the world.And in that vein, last week we learned that the “Trump Bump” is not real. Lower taxes and increased spending — these were never really serious goals, but merely political t...

By Christopher Whalen • April 19, 2017

Auditors Can Be Friendly as Well as Skeptical, Study Finds

To maintain the professional skepticism that’s required of them, must independent auditors mistrust CFOs and chief executive officers?Following the audit scandals of the early part of this century, during which accounting giant Arthur Andersen went out of business as a result of its alleged fraud...

By David Katz • April 19, 2017

J&J Posts $17.7B in Revenue, Misses Estimates

Johnson & Johnson reported first-quarter revenue that missed analysts’ estimates amid tepid growth in its pharmaceutical and consumer product sales.The company, which is on track to close its $30-billion acquisition of Actelion in the current quarter, on Tuesday posted net earnings of $4.42 b...

By Matthew Heller • April 19, 2017

Trading Revenue Drop Hurts Goldman Profit

Goldman Sachs surprised Wall Street on Tuesday, reporting a rare earnings miss as trading revenue fell 2% to $3.36 billion.The firm’s shares dropped 4.7% to $215.59, a 4-1/2 month low, on the first-quarter report, which also showed earnings per share of $5.15 and revenue of $8.026 billion. Analys...

By Matthew Heller • April 18, 2017

Here’s Why Executive Pay Gets a Bum Rap

Maybe some executives are overpaid. The good ones, however, are not. In fact, a good case can be made that many of them are underpaid.D. Kevin Berchelmann Executive pay gets a bum rap. Looking at a total compensation number without context, it’s easy to understand why. Examine the real magnitude ...

By D. Kevin Berchelmann • April 18, 2017

Blockchain: Should CFOs Believe the Hype?

Tipped as one of the technologies set to revolutionize how business is done across a range of industries, blockchain has risen to prominence in recent years. In Gartner’s 2016 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, which listed blockchain as an “at the peak” technology,  the firm estimated that it...

By Jeanne Boillet • April 14, 2017

The New World of the R&D Tax Credit

When it comes to the research and development (R&D) tax credit, it’s a new world out there for U.S. startups and small businesses — and their CFOs should be getting in front of this potentially game-changing opportunity, no matter when their companies file their taxes.In December 2015, Congre...

By Dean Zerbe • April 13, 2017

Wells Fargo Earnings Hit by Accounts Scandal

Wells Fargo on Thursday reported flat earnings and a decline in revenue amid signs that the scandal over fake accounts is continuing to hurt its business.Net income for the first quarter totaled $5.5 billion, or $1 a share, actually beating analysts’ estimates of earnings of 96 cents a share. but...

By Matthew Heller • April 13, 2017

Citi Earnings Beat Estimates With 17% Gain

Citigroup’s first-quarter earnings topped analysts’ estimates on both the top and bottom line as the bank’s institutional business posted double-digit sales growth across almost all business lines.Citigroup reported Thursday that net income for the first quarter rose 17% year over year to $4.1 bi...

By Matthew Heller • April 13, 2017

Four Pitfalls Keeping Big Companies from Getting Bigger

Large companies are continuing to recover from the last recession, an economic tsunami that remains relevant even though it happened almost a decade ago. At the same time, “recovery” doesn’t necessarily equate to robust growth.The fact is, sustained growth has proven elusive for a majority of suc...

By David McCann • April 13, 2017

Pier One Earnings Top Estimates But Sales Fall

Pier One reported fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday that topped analysts’ estimates while its top line benefited from a 28% increase in e-commerce sales.For the quarter ended Feb. 25, Pier One earned an adjusted 34 cents a share on sales of $528.4 million. Analysts had expected earnings of 33 cen...

By Matthew Heller • April 12, 2017

Toshiba Issues ‘Going Concern’ Warning

Hard on the heels of the bankruptcy filing of its U.S. nuclear power unit, Toshiba has warned that it may not be able to stay in business.The warning came as the ailing Japanese conglomerate released unaudited third-quarter results showing it lost 648 billion yen ($5.9 billion) and projected a 1....

By Matthew Heller • April 11, 2017

The Great Divide

All the attention on corporate income taxes at the federal level means state corporate income taxes in the United States rarely get discussed. While some states are raising taxes to address budgetary crises, others are lowering tax rates to lure businesses to operate within their borders. The res...

By CFO Editorial Staff • April 10, 2017

POTUS Primer: Kill the Tweets

Senior finance executives in the United States are concerned that President Trump’s off-the-cuff Twitter posts and public comments may affect business, specifically by causing market fluctuations and uncertainty. Finance chiefs also consider some of the president’s signature policy and tax initia...

By CFO Editorial Staff • April 6, 2017

Democrats Seek Probe of Acting SEC Chair

Democratic members of the Senate Banking Committee have asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether its acting chair has exceeded his authority in directing staff to review two Obama-era rules.In a letter to the SEC’s internal watchdog, the senators said Michael Piwow...

By Matthew Heller • March 30, 2017

Cargill Posts Strongest Quarter in Seven Years

Agribusiness giant Cargill posted a sharply higher quarterly profit, reflecting improved performance in sweeteners, bio-industrials, ocean shipping and chocolate.The company said adjusted operating profit for the third quarter rose 50% to $715 million, while net profit increased 42% to $459 milli...

By Matthew Heller • March 30, 2017

Bitcoin Users May Be Cheating on Taxes

An Internal Revenue Service investigation into tax evasion related to Bitcoin has found that only a tiny percentage of virtual currency owners are declaring profits or losses on Bitcoin transactions in their annual returns.As part of the investigation, the IRS is seeking a court order requiring v...

By Matthew Heller • March 28, 2017

Two CFOs Tell a Tale of Fraud at HealthSouth

The infamous $2.8 billion accounting scandal at HealthSouth, which was perpetrated from 1996 through 2002, left a trail of misery in its wake. Included in the carnage was the imprisonment of CEO Richard Scrushy and several HealthSouth CFOs, among a number of other company officials. Two of the...

By David McCann • March 27, 2017

GameStop Shares Plunge on 13% Sales Decline

GameStop shares dropped more than 13% on Friday after the video game retailer reported a sharp drop in same-store sales though its non-gaming businesses showed strong growth.GameStop has been diversifying away from its core gaming business as its core customers move away from physical video games...

By Matthew Heller • March 24, 2017

Ford’s Heavy Spending to Cut Into 2017 Profit

Ford Motor has made a surprisingly weak earnings forecast for 2017 amid an industry-wide sales decline but expects an improvement in 2018 as its investments in “emerging opportunities” start to pay off.In a regulatory filing Thursday, the automaker predicted adjusted pre-tax profit of about $9 bi...

By Matthew Heller • March 24, 2017

Accenture Shares Fall 4.5% on Earnings Misses

After rising 8% this year and hitting record levels earlier this week, Accenture shares suffered a setback as the consulting and outsourcing services provider issued lower-than-expected guidance for the full fiscal year.Accenture reported that net revenue for the second quarter rose 4.75 to $8.32...

By Matthew Heller • March 23, 2017

Nike Sales Just Didn’t Do It in Third Quarter

Nike shares fell more than 7% on Wednesday after the retailer reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales and indicated it is expecting a 4% decline in futures orders, a barometer of sales growth.Nike’s third-quarter revenue grew just 5% to $8.43 billion, missing analysts’ estimates of $8.47 bil...

By Matthew Heller • March 23, 2017