What B2B CFOs Can Learn from B2C Pricing

Successful pricing strategies strike the right balance between the value attributed to a product or service by the buyer and the seller. Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft have found this balance with their dynamic pricing models that fluctuate with demand. Each Saturday night, a safe drive h...

By John Oosterhouse • Aug. 1, 2016

How CFOs Can Streamline the Supply Chain

The supply chain can make or break an organization’s profitability, which has prompted many CFOs to focus on issues related to the supplier network. Here are five articles that take a look at improving the supply chain.Focus on Cash, Not Cost, in the Supply ChainCFOs should emphasize reducing day...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 30, 2016

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

CFO Week in Review

In case you missed them, CFO offers the week’s most-read stories.To Cut Costs, Push Your Purchasing Dept. Out the DoorPurchasing department employees must spend more face-to-face time with suppliers to drive true value. – Christopher Good, contributorWhat Promise Does the IoT Hold for Your Busine...

By Kerry Maruna • July 30, 2016

PlayStation Powers Sony to Slim Q1 Profit

Sony surprised analysts on Friday by posting a slim first-quarter profit as its gaming unit continued to thrive and the downsized smartphone business broke even.The 21.2 billion yen ($205 million) profit was well below the 82.4 billion yen profit Sony reported a year ago, but analysts had on aver...

By Matthew Heller • July 29, 2016

Facebook Revenue Soars 59% to $6.4B in Q2

Facebook crushed Wall Street’s earnings estimates for the second quarter, reporting its fastest rate of revenue growth in two years and reaching the milestone of 1 billion daily mobile users.The social media network said revenue rose 59% to $6.44 billion while earnings per share, excluding certai...

By Matthew Heller • July 28, 2016

Workday’s New CFO Aims to Make Hay with Financial Software

It seems like Workday has been around forever, ceaselessly nipping at the heels of Oracle and SAP. Actually, it’s been only 10 years since the company was founded, and just under four years since it went public.Workday CFO Robynne Sisco At its IPO Workday was valued at $9.5 billion. Today its mar...

By David McCann • July 28, 2016

FASB Seeks Improved Income Tax Disclosures

The Financial Accounting Standards Board yesterday issued a proposed Accounting Standards Update containing what it contends are improvements in its current disclosure requirements on income taxes.The proposed ASU would change existing disclosure requirements for income taxes as well as provide n...

By David Katz • July 27, 2016

Carlyle Beats Q2 Estimates But Stock Drops 2%

Carlyle Group’s stock fell more than 2% on Wednesday even though its second-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates amid healthier financial markets.The global alternative asset manager reported that economic net income, a key performance measure for private equity, nearly doubled from the firs...

By Matthew Heller • July 27, 2016

Amazon: A Case Study in Tech Valuation

The final article in a four-part series on the drivers of success for shareholders in the technology industries.In 2014, Greg McFarlene wrote in “Amazon Never Makes Money But No One Cares” on Investopedia.com that if you totaled the cumulative net income since Amazon went public, it equated to wh...

By David Fedigan, Gregory V. Milano, and Arshia Chatterjee • July 26, 2016

EverBank Reveals Buyout Negotiations

Midsize lender EverBank Financial is in the midst of negotiating a takeover that would be one of the biggest acquisitions of a bank since the financial crisis.The Jacksonville, Fla.-based online banking company confirmed on Tuesday that it was in “advanced negotiations with a well-respected finan...

By Vincent Ryan • July 26, 2016

Democrats Demand Clawback of Outsourcers’ Tax Breaks

Avowing a corporate tax agenda aimed at fighting outsourcing and keeping U.S. jobs at home, the Democratic Party Platform committee writes in the party’s 2016 platform that the nation must “claw back tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, using the proceeds to reinvest in communities a...

By David Katz • July 26, 2016

Accountant Suspended Over Failure to Spot Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission last week suspended an accountant for conducting a faulty audit of the financial statements of a public company that was committing fraud. The firm where he was a partner at the time, EFP Rotenberg LLP, has been prohibited from accepting new public company c...

By Vincent Ryan • July 26, 2016

Intangible Assets: They’re Not What You Think They Are

For centuries, executives expertly managed the total productivity of tangible assets, such as plants and equipment. They monitored both efficiency and effectiveness because tangible assets, or “things,” historically accounted for more than 80% of business value.William Heitman But in the last 40 ...

By William Heitman • July 19, 2016

In Tech, One Measure Rises Above the Rest

This is third article in a four-part series on the drivers of success for shareholders in the technology industries.In the previous article, we showed how growth and return measures are superior to margin measures when it comes to evaluating tech company success for shareholders. In this article,...

By Arshia Chatterjee, David Fedigan, and Gregory V. Milano • July 19, 2016

The Business of Politics

Political uncertainty is altering the spending plans of U.S. companies, according to the latest Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook survey. Worried by the upcoming presidential election and continuing Washington dysfunction, nearly half of U.S. firms (47%) are pulling back on hir...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 18, 2016

Avoiding Budget Busters

tFinance chiefs have to remain vigilant when it comes to keeping budgets in check. Many CFOs are using techniques such as zero-based budgets and rolling budgets to keep tabs on spending and to fine-tune forecasts. Check out these five articles on avoiding the budget blues.Who Should Decide Whethe...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 16, 2016

Wells Fargo Matches Estimates But Stock Falls

Wells Fargo said Friday its second-quarter earnings fell 3% from a year earlier as low interest rates continued to weigh on its profitability despite strong growth in lending.Both profit and revenue matched analysts’ expectations but Wells Fargo shares dropped 2.5%, to $47.71, on the earnings ann...

By Matthew Heller • July 15, 2016

Avoid These Mistakes When Planning an Exit

Technology unicorns are seeing their valuations crushed, and public tech companies aren’t faring much better. People are wondering whether we’re headed for a correction. But regardless whether this balloons into a full-blown downturn, the tech fundraising climate is undoubtedly changing.Michael M...

By Michael Morgan • July 15, 2016

JPMorgan Posts ‘Big Revenue Surprise’ in Q2

JPMorgan Chase reported better-than-expected second-quarter results, with a jump in revenues easing fears of a hangover from the U.K.’s Brexit vote.The largest U.S. bank by assets kicked off the banking sector’s earnings season on Thursday by announcing it earned $6.2 billion, or $1.55 a share, i...

By Matthew Heller • July 14, 2016

Wholesale Prices See Largest Jump in More Than a Year

Prices on U.S. goods and services rose 0.5% in June, the steepest increase in more than a year and reflective of rising energy and food prices, according to the Labor Department’s Producer Price Index, released Thursday.June’s results reflect an acceleration of price increases from U.S. producers...

By Christopher Hosford • July 14, 2016

Enabling “Eureka!”

CFOs around the world increasingly recognize that the standards for their finance functions’ responsiveness and credibility are being raised, and that yesterday’s processes and solutions will no longer be able to deliver information that provides a competitive advantage.To regain this advantage, ...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 14, 2016

Tesla Ends Buyback Program for Model S Cars

Tesla Motors has ended its popular resale value program for the entry-level Model S, freeing up cash as it seeks to boost total production.The buyback program guaranteed the resale value of a Model S after three years when purchased through one of Tesla’s loan financing plans. As Reuters reports,...

By Matthew Heller • July 14, 2016

Beware of a Tax Reform Revolution

It is somewhat ironic that many politicians, including numerous ones who refer to themselves as conservatives, espouse radical changes to our tax system. They claim our tax system is broken and requires a drastic transformation. I’m skeptical of following their guidance. Many of them and their pr...

By Philip G. Cohen • July 13, 2016

Square-Off: What Kind of Corporate Tax Is Best?

With the Democratic and Republican Presidential conventions coming up soon, the perennial question of what to do about corporate taxes has predictably entered center stage.Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for president, wants to abolish corporate and personal income taxes, substituting a s...

By David Katz • July 13, 2016

What’s the Best Corporate Tax? It Depends How You Define ‘Best’

What kind of corporate tax is best?John Gimigliano At the risk of appearing to dodge the question, I would argue that the answer depends on your answer to a more fundamental question: What do we want our tax system to achieve?We cannot design the best corporate tax system unless we can agree on w...

By John Gimigliano • July 13, 2016