Target Plans Price Cuts as Sales Slump Again

Target’s shares dropped to 2-1/2 year lows in heavy trading on Tuesday after the retailer reported a larger-than-expected decline in same-stores sales and announced it would cut prices to address what it called a “seismic shift” in the retail industry.Chief Executive Brian Cornell said Target is ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 28, 2017

Special Report: Smart Tax Planning

With Republicans occupying the White House and comprising majorities in Congress, CFOs have good reason to be optimistic about their employers’ tax prospects. After all, there is widespread agreement that the current 35% corporate income tax rate should be slashed to at least 20% (the House of Re...

By David Katz • Feb. 28, 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

Planning For Tax Policy Turmoil

After Donald Trump unexpectedly won the U.S. presidential election last November, it would have been hard for most CFOs not to be hugely optimistic about their companies’ tax positions, if not about the entire U.S. economy.Not only had the pro-business Republicans taken the executive branch, they...

By David Katz • Feb. 28, 2017

Federal Tax Reform Could Have Big Effect on States

One of the outcomes of the November election is that the near-term prospects for comprehensive federal tax reform increased considerably. Yet while most of the attention has been focused on the federal tax impacts of reform, it is well worth noting that, if enacted, any federal reform will have s...

By Larry Cusack • Feb. 28, 2017

Your Guide to Claiming the R&D Tax Credit

The federal R&D tax credit was made permanent by the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act, effective for 2016 tax returns. That broke the pattern of annual year-end—and often retroactive—extensions of the R&D credit. Further, new offsets for the alternative minimum tax and payroll tax ...

By Tom Sanger • Feb. 28, 2017

Domino’s Digital Deliveries Boost Q4 Sales

Domino’s Pizza is continuing to outdo its pizza chain rivals, posting double-digit same-store sales growth for the fourth quarter that easily beat analysts’ estimates.Comp sales at company-owned outlets in the U.S., Domino’s biggest source of store revenue, jumped 13.7% in the three months ended ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 28, 2017

Berkshire Hathaway Profit Falls 6% to $4.38B

Berkshire Hathaway’s operating profit from its businesses fell 6% in the fourth quarter, with its insurance investing and railroad, utilities and energy segments leading the decline.Warren Buffett’s conglomerate had operating earnings of $4.38 billion, or $2,665 per Class A share, in the three mo...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 27, 2017

JC Penney Closing 140 Stores in Early 2017

Department store operator JC Penney is the latest retailer to shutter storefronts in response to the onrush of e-commerce.The U.S. retail chain plans to close as many as 140 brick-and-mortar locations after announcing disappointing results over the 2016 holiday season. Comparable sales for the fo...

By Sean Allocca • Feb. 24, 2017

Fitbit Runs Into Red Ink for Holiday Quarter

Fitbit swung to its first quarterly loss as a public company in the crucial holiday quarter as weak sales of its devices suggested its days of double- and triple-digit growth are over.The fourth-quarter results were worse than both Fitbit and Wall Street analysts had predicted. Revenue fell 19% t...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 23, 2017

Lower Inventories Boost Kohl’s Q4 Margins

Kohl’s sales fell in the fourth quarter amid declining traffic in its brick-and-mortar stores but profit beat analysts’ estimates due to lower inventories.The retailer reported Thursday that total sales dropped 2.8% to $6.21 billion and same-store sales declined 2.2% for the three months ended Ja...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 23, 2017

Walmart’s Online Sales Increase 29% in Q4

Walmart Stores reported better-than-expected U.S. sales for the holiday quarter though margins were squeezed by price-cutting efforts and investment spending.Same-store sales in the U.S. rose 1.8%, the 10th straight increase and an improvement on the third-quarter gain of 1.2%. Analysts had been ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 23, 2017

Macy’s Cost-Cutting Helps Profit Beat Estimates

Macy’s comparable store sales fell for an eighth straight quarter but profit beat analysts’ estimates, reflecting the sale of some of its stores and lower costs and taxes.As Reuters reports, Macy’s, like other department store chains, has been struggling to “overcome stiff competition from Amazon...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 22, 2017

Housing Market Fuels Home Depot Sales Rise

Home Depot reported fourth-quarter sales and earnings that beat Wall Street estimates as the retailer continued to benefit from a strong U.S. housing market.Excluding certain items, the company earned $1.74 billion, or $1.44 per share, on revenue of $22.21 billion. Analysts had forecast earnings ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 22, 2017

Toys “R” Us Lays Off 250 Corporate Employees

The iconic toy store Toys “R” Us is the latest brick-and-mortar retailer to scale back operations due in part to pressures from online competitors. The company laid off close to 15% of its corporate employees, or an estimated 250 positions, last week in a restructuring effort designed to cut cost...

By Sean Allocca • Feb. 21, 2017

Deere Raises Sales Growth Outlook for 2017

Deere & Co. reported better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its sales growth outlook for 2017, citing signs that demand is stabilizing in key markets after years of falling sales.For the first quarter, the world’s largest farm-equipment manufacturer earned a profit of $193.8 millio...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 21, 2017

Campbell Soup’s Fresh Food Sales Drop 8%

Campbell Soup reported lower-than-expected sales for the second quarter as the struggles of its fresh food business continued to weigh on the company.Campbell Soup has diversified into fresh foods to offset the decline of its iconic canned soups and other packaged foods. Campbell Fresh includes r...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 20, 2017

Nestle Misses Estimates With 2017 Outlook

Nestle reined in its growth outlook for this year after reporting disappointing results for 2016, with profit declining about 6%.The world’s largest packaged food group reported annual sales of 89.5 billion Swiss francs, up just 0.8% year-ago levels, and organic growth of 3.2%, consisting of pric...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 17, 2017

Hilton Swings to Loss on Restructuring Costs

Hilton Worldwide swung to a fourth-quarter loss, due in part to restructuring costs, but earnings still beat Wall Street estimates.The company reported a net loss of $382 million, or $1.17 per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2016, compared to a profit of $816 million for the year-ago q...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 16, 2017

Activist Investors Fined for Disclosure Violations

Two activist investors have been charged with failing to properly disclose material information during a series of campaigns to influence or take control of microcap companies.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Jeffrey E. Eberwein and Charles M. Gillman began collaborating on activi...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 15, 2017

FASB Eyes Big Changes in Inventory Disclosure

After more than 60 years of little change in the requirements for disclosing inventory, U.S. accounting standard setters are proposing to update the standards.Prompted by financial statement users who want more details about changes in inventory during reporting periods, the Financial Accounting ...

By David Katz • Feb. 15, 2017

GOP Group Pushes Tax on Carbon Emissions

A group of prominent Republicans has proposed a tax on carbon emissions to combat climate change, calling it “a conservative climate solution” based on free-market principles.The proposed tax, released in a report titled “The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends,” would replace the Obama admini...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 14, 2017

Cash-Flow Forecasting Still Vexing

By now, one would think finance departments would have made some improvements to the all-important task of cash-flow forecasting. But this year’s Global Corporate Treasury Benchmarking survey by PwC suggests otherwise. While a vital function of the treasury department, cash-flow forecasting is st...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 14, 2017

Burger King Same-Store Sales Jump 2.8% in Q4

Restaurant Brands International shares jumped more than 4% on Monday after the company reported better-than-expected profits and same-store sales growth at both its Burger King and Tim Hortons chains.As Financial Post reports, the chains “posted strong sales in the U.S. market, where rival McDona...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 13, 2017

Metric of the Month: The Cost of General Accounting

In some organizations, general accounting processes run like well-greased machines, and when adjustments to the process model are needed, the changes are not unwieldy. In others, it seems there’s always the need to call in a mechanic to keep the gears moving smoothly. Constantly “fixing” things c...

By Mary Driscoll • Feb. 13, 2017

Franchising Boosts Dunkin’ Brands to Profit

Dunkin’ Brands swung to a profit in the fourth quarter as the owner of Dunkin’ Donuts benefited from increased royalty income and franchise fees.Same-store sales at Dunkin’ Donuts shops in the U.S. grew 1.9% in the quarter, missing Consensus Metrix’s expectations of 2.1% growth, while same-store ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 11, 2017