Finance Roundup for Executives: May 23, 2016

Standout StoriesU.S. patent box… The United States has a rich history of encouraging and safeguarding research and development (R&D) activities. In 1981, for example, we became the first nation to realize the importance of spurring R&D through the implementation of a tax credit applied to...

By Kerry Maruna • May 23, 2016

Big Leap Forward for Human Capital Disclosure

After many years marked by varied, mostly unsuccessful initiatives to prod companies to disclose more information about their human capital, the movement appears to be finally gaining some traction. What’s not yet clear is whether these efforts will, in the end, matter much.At least two groups of...

By David McCann • May 20, 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

Corporates’ Cash Pile Rises To $1.68T

The corporate sector is sitting on an even larger pile of cash, according to Moody’s Investors Services.U.S. non-financial companies rated by Moody’s held $1.68 trillion in cash at the end of 2015, up 1.8% from $1.65 trillion the year prior, the rating agency said Friday. The top 50 holders of ca...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 20, 2016

Companies Don’t Need CFOs to Be CPAs Anymore

Must you have a formal accounting background to become a CFO? Increasingly, the answer is no.While historically CFOs cut their teeth in accounting and treasury operations, focused on managing costs and cash, today’s CFOs often serve as strategic business partners to the CEO. Under this remit, the...

By Jenna Fisher • May 20, 2016

Will Ratings Agency Downgrades Haunt Connecticut?

Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings have downgraded Connecticut’s debt ratings, citing concerns over the state’s ability to address future fiscal challenges.S&P changed its rating of the state’s general obligation bonds from “AA” to “AA-.” It said substantial revenue shortfalls over the p...

By Matthew Heller • May 19, 2016

Trump’s Trade Tariffs ‘A Bad Deal For Americans’: Study

Donald’s Trump’s proposed trade tariffs would likely backfire by costing Americans thousands of dollars, according to a study released last week by the nonprofit National Foundation for American Policy.The study was conducted by David Tuerck, Paul Bachman, and Frank Conte, all of Suffolk Universi...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 19, 2016

FASB Looks to Cut Goodwill Valuation Costs

To cut the cost of calculating goodwill impairment after a merger, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is proposing to remove a key step in how public companies gauge the fair value of an acquired unit.Under a proposed accounting standard update issued last week, FASB would eliminate the sec...

By David Katz • May 19, 2016

Is a U.S. ‘Patent Box’ a Good Idea?

The United States has a rich history of encouraging and safeguarding research and development (R&D) activities. In 1981, for example, we became the first nation to realize the importance of spurring R&D through the implementation of a tax credit applied toward such activity.Yair Holtzman ...

By Yair Holtzman • May 19, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives: May 19, 2016

Standout StoriesA CFO without an accounting background… A chief financial officer is responsible for the financial health of a company, from overseeing transaction-level data, to publishing financial statements, to investor calls. That’s a pretty broad range of responsibilities and skills. Often ...

By Kerry Maruna • May 19, 2016

Desired CFO Skills Shift with the Times

If only time would stand still, we could all draw a picture of the perfect CFO.I can see this illustration on paper: the outline of a human being made up of equal-sized foundational skill sets like accounting, strategy, technology, operations, banking, and compliance, blended with such leadership...

By Mark Partin • May 19, 2016

Security Products Shield Cisco From Weak Networking Market

Cisco Systems reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter as a 17% increase in revenue from its security products and services tempered the tepid demand for its main business of making network switches and routers.The company on Wednesday said net profit fell to $2.35 billion, or ...

By Matthew Heller • May 19, 2016

Is an Accounting Background Important for Today’s CFOs?

Over the years, I’ve had many discussions with public-company CFOs that went something like this:Me: So tell me about your background.The CFO: I came up through investment banking (or business development, or FP&A, or treasury — anything but accounting).Me: No accounting?The CFO: No. I unders...

By David McCann • May 18, 2016

SABMiller Profit Hit By $160M in Merger Costs

Beer giant SABMiller on Wednesday reported that fiscal-year net profit fell 18%, reflecting in part costs related to its pending takeover by bigger rival Anheuser-Busch InBev.SAB said the $108 billion merger had already cost it $160 million in banking, legal and other advisory fees, as well as in...

By Matthew Heller • May 18, 2016

Target Shares Drop 7.6% on Comp Sales Miss

Target shares took a beating Wednesday after the retailer reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue and forecast flat to lower sales in coming months.Target’s same-store sales, a key retail metric, gained 1.2% in the first quarter, missing analysts ‘ estimates of 1.6% growth. For the second ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 18, 2016

Leadership, Strategic Skills Leave Accounting in the Dust

It’s pure and simple: Leadership and strategic ability are more important than technical accounting skills for today’s CFO.That perspective is based on an insider’s view of the financial officer executive search process, the increased emphasis on CFOs by boards of directors as part of CEO success...

By Josh Wimberley • May 18, 2016

Why Accounting Will Always Matter for CFOs

The corporate finance landscape has changed significantly over the past decade. The CFO role has evolved to include more oversight and influence across the organization, which makes sense when you consider that the CFO has visibility into every single part of the business.As a result, the role of...

By Robynne Sisco • May 18, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives: May 18, 2016

Standout StoriesMetric of the month… There’s an unmistakable buzz in the business community today about big data and business analytics and how the two of them can be used to help marketing people destroy the competition and score big revenue gains. So where does finance come in? Is the financial...

By Kerry Maruna • May 18, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives: May 17, 2016

Standout StoriesReducing risk through project management… As CFO, you’re charged with ensuring that your organization is positioned to deal effectively with all kinds of risks — operational, financial, reputational, and strategic. Assessing your organization’s risk profile through the prism of it...

By Kerry Maruna • May 17, 2016

LendingClub: Forced to Tap Its Own Balance Sheet?

LendingClub on Monday said that the U.S. Department of Justice had opened an investigation into the alternative lender’s internal controls, following the ouster of its co-founder and chief executive Renaud Laplanch.On May 9, the San Francisco-based firm received a grand jury subpoena from the DOJ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 17, 2016

Industrial Production Rises On Higher Utility Demand

Higher demand for electricity and natural gas drove an increase in industrial production in April, though factory output grew more modestly, according to the Federal Reserve.Industrial production rose 0.7% in April after decreasing in the previous two months, the Fed said Tuesday. Fueling the ris...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 17, 2016

Nordstrom Same-Store Sales Drop 1.7% in Q1

Nordstrom’s first-quarter profit fell far more than Wall Street estimates as growth in its online sales was not enough to offset a sharp decline at its luxury stores.The retailer on Friday reported earnings dropped 60% to 26 cents per diluted share on $3.25 billion in revenue. Analysts had expect...

By Matthew Heller • May 16, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives: May 16, 2016

Standout StoriesNon-GAAP measures… Reacting to what it sees as the growing prevalence of non-GAAP measures and suspecting that they’re increasingly misleading, the Securities and Exchange Commission is cracking down on the practice.Following its issuance of a 2010 guidance restoring some non-GAAP...

By Kerry Maruna • May 16, 2016

Shell Games: Two Charged With Selling Sham Companies

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a California stock promoter and a New Jersey securities lawyer with operating a “shell factory” that made $2.25 million by creating sham companies and selling them.According to the SEC, the companies included an e-cigarette marketer, an onli...

By Matthew Heller • May 13, 2016

Seven Charged in $43M Tribal Bond Fraud

A California man and his father already accused of stock fraud in a “pump-and-dump” scheme are facing new charges alleging they swindled investors in Native American bonds out of more than $43 million.According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Jason Galanis, 45, and his father John...

By Matthew Heller • May 12, 2016

Workplace Injuries to Be Made Public

Much like restaurants have to post the grades they receive from health departments about their sanitary conditions, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Wednesday issued a final rule requiring employers in highly hazardous industries to send OSHA injury ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • May 12, 2016