Shell’s Q1 Profit Falls 58% But Beats Estimates

Royal Dutch Shell has reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter as the performance of its refining and integrated gas businesses helped compensate for the oil price slump.Profit adjusted for changes in the value of inventories and excluding one-time items dropped to $1.55 billi...

By Matthew Heller • May 5, 2016

The Raw Nerve of Materiality

Last year, when the Financial Accounting Standards Board first proposed jettisoning existing accounting lingo in favor of a legal definition of the word “material,” the board members may have thought they were making a confusing issue clear, according to former FASB chairman Robert Herz.Robert He...

By David Katz • May 5, 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

(Specialized) Help Wanted

Around the world, senior finance executives believe that their companies need to find more skilled or specialized workers in order to meet business growth targets. Most are focusing more on the need to add staff that would directly boost revenue growth (in business management and sales and market...

By CFO Editorial Staff • May 4, 2016

Going to the Source

The 2016 CFO State Tax SurveyFrom a tax perspective, the 50 states are in better shape today than they were before the Great Recession. Adjusted for inflation, they collected 5.6% more tax revenue in mid-2015 than at the peak in the third quarter of 2008, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.Bu...

By Edward Teach • May 4, 2016

Making the Connection

The slow but steady rollout of mobile point-of-sale systems in retail stores, the growth of mobile wallets, and the ongoing need for stronger data security are among the major trends today in mobile payments.This is clearly a still-emerging market overall, based on industry research. The total gl...

By Bob Violino • May 3, 2016

Fairway Grocery Stores Slide Into Bankruptcy

The parent of iconic New York food retailer Fairway has filed for bankruptcy protection as it struggles to compete with larger chains and service the debt it has accumulated since its 2007 sale to a private-equity firm.Monday’s Chapter 11 filing would enable Fairway Group to implement an agreemen...

By Matthew Heller • May 3, 2016

Seagate Swings to Loss as Cloud Hurts Demand

Seagate Technology shares plunged after it posted a quarterly loss on weak demand as customers move away from its data storage products to the cloud.For the third quarter, the company reported a loss of $21 million, or seven cents a share, down from a year-earlier profit of $291 million, or 88 ce...

By Matthew Heller • May 2, 2016

Leveraging IoT: How to Get Started

It won’t be long before smart devices are as ubiquitous as smartphones are today. Wearables and home appliances like Nest’s smart thermostat have already taken off with consumers.John Bonney, CFO, FinancialForce Companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are all feverishly working on virtual ...

By John Bonney • May 2, 2016

Expanding or Relocating? Bring in the Tax Department

In a market characterized by the mobility of capital and labor, businesses that establish, expand, or relocate facilities tend to go where they have the greatest competitive advantage. Among factors such as raw materials, infrastructure, and skilled labor, taxes are a major element that could enh...

By Melissa Munoz and Sharon M. Welhouse • April 29, 2016

Amazon on Cloud Nine With Strong Q1 Results

Amazon’s first quarter results resoundingly beat expectations, benefiting in particular from the strong performance of its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing business.For the company’s fourth straight profitable quarter, revenue rose 28% to $29.1 billion, due in large part to a 64% jump in...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 29, 2016

Are You Ready for the New Lease Accounting Standards?

Now that new lease accounting standards are set to go into effect, CFOs need to familiarize themselves with the procedures they will need to update to ensure reporting compliance. Here are five stories to help you get up to speed.FASB Leasing Update: Five CFO Action ItemsWell before the new stand...

By CFO Editorial Staff • April 29, 2016

Caterpillar to Close 5 Plants, Cut More Jobs

Caterpillar Inc. is planning to close five U.S. plants and cut about 820 jobs as it continues to restructure in the face of declining demand.The downsizing announced Thursday is part of the construction-equipment maker’s plan to reduce its workforce by roughly around 10,000 employees and close ab...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 29, 2016

88% of Firms Planning Cost Cuts in Next 2 Years

A large number of U.S. companies that are experiencing growth are also making moves to cut costs that are more typical of businesses in distress, according to a new Deloitte survey.The poll of 210 senior executives at Fortune 1000 companies found that 88% percent of respondents expect to pursue c...

By Matthew Heller • April 28, 2016

Cooling Down the Costs of Data Centers

“I’m a bit of a technology geek,” declares Mark Gibbens, CFO and chief development officer of Aligned Energy, a group of four companies that aims to make money by cutting down on the cost of keeping data centers cool.Mark Gibbens Gibbens, who joined the group 10 months ago, is adept at elucidatin...

By David Katz • April 28, 2016

Comcast Emulates Disney With DreamWorks Deal

Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit said Thursday it had agreed to acquire DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, giving it access to a stable of valuable characters including Kung Fu Panda and Shrek as it competes head-on with Disney.NBCUniversal will pay $41 a share for the studio, representing a 50% p...

By Matthew Heller • April 28, 2016

Abbott to Acquire St. Jude Medical For $25B

Abbott Laboratories on Thursday said that it would buy St. Jude Medical in a $25 billion deal to garner more share in the high-growth cardiovascular and neuromodulation markets.St. Jude Medical shareholders would receive $46.75 in cash and 0.8708 shares of Abbott common stock, representing total ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 28, 2016

MasterCard Profits Slide But Beat Expectations

Currency impacts helped weigh down MasterCard’s first-quarter earnings but revenue rose 9.7% from a year ago as card transactions increased 14% to 12.6 billion.MasterCard on Thursday reported a profit of $959 million, or 86 cents a share, down 6% from $1.02 billion, or 89 cents, a year earlier. R...

By Matthew Heller • April 28, 2016

Ally Financial Profit Dips 53% in Q1

Ally Financial’s adjusted first-quarter earnings missed analysts’ estimates as the auto lender continues to adjust to the loss of its exclusive lease agreement with General Motors.Ally, the former financing arm of GM previously known as GMAC, reported a profit of $250 million, or 49 cents a share...

By Matthew Heller • April 27, 2016

Apple’s Q2 Results Miss on iPhone Sales Drop

Apple’s 13-year run of quarterly revenue growth has come to an end as the company was unable to offset a 16% drop in sales of its flagship iPhone.Apple reported Tuesday that it sold 51.2 million iPhones in its second fiscal quarter that ended March 26, down from 61.2 million in the same quarter a...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 27, 2016

Goodyear’s Q1 Profit Drops 17% to $184M

Goodyear Tire & Rubber shares dropped as much as 10% on Wednesday after its first-quarter results took a hit from exchange rates and the writedown of its Venezuelan operations.Goodyear’s sales were $3.7 billion, down from $4 billion a year ago, and net income fell 17.9%, to $184 million, or 6...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 27, 2016

Carlyle Profits Drop 78% But Beat Estimates

Carlyle Group’s first-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates as the private-equity firm weathered volatility in the financial markets somewhat better than some of its rivals.Carlyle said Wednesday its economic net income, a key performance measure for private equity, fell 78% to $58.2 million ...

By Matthew Heller • April 27, 2016

Cabela’s Fined $1M for Inflating Profit Metric

Outdoor recreation retailer Cabela’s has agreed to pay $1 million to settle charges that it improperly included an intercompany promotions fee in its financial statements, resulting in an inflated measurement of profitability.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the inclusion of the f...

By Matthew Heller • April 27, 2016

First Data Decline Fuels $553M Loss for KKR

KKR & Co. swung to a first-quarter loss amid volatility in the financial markets that dragged down the value of payment processor First Data, its largest private-equity holding, by 19%.The firm on Monday reported an economic net loss of $553 million, or 65 cents a share, compared with a year-...

By Matthew Heller • April 26, 2016

Global Debt Issuance Drops Sharply in Q1

The volume of long-term corporate debt issuance globally was down 17% in this year’s first quarter, compared with the same period in 2015, according to a new report from Standard & Poor’s.Total global issuance of new debt, including corporate debt as well as public financing and investor-plac...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • April 26, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives: April 26, 2016

Standout StoriesDon’t be obsessed with metrics… Felix Fox, an ambitious car salesman in the post-financial meltdown society where valuable resources are scarce, looks enviously at people who are personally quoted on the human stock exchange. The evolution of their stock — the value of their life ...

By Kerry Maruna • April 26, 2016