Tribune Publishing Dumps CFO, Auditor

Tribune Publishing, owner of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, has fired its chief financial officer and its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, after finding an “ineffective control environment” within the company’s financial reporting operations.The Chicago-based publisher said in an ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 29, 2016

A Key for Getting Debtor-in-Possession Financing

When a company enters Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and wants debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing from a bank or permission to spend proceeds of accounts receivable that have been pledged (that is, use cash collateral), it needs the bankruptcy court’s approval. A key part of the debtor’s requ...

By Kenneth A. Rosen • March 29, 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

Finance Roundup for Executives

Standout StoriesReducing joint venture risk… International joint ventures remain one of the principal means for multinational companies to enter a foreign market. According to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 1,409 global CEOs in 83 countries, 49% plan to enter into a new joint venture o...

By Kerry Maruna • March 29, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives

Standout StoriesCloud-based ERP… Once burned, twice shy: That’s the experience many companies have had with on-premise ERP. We’ve all heard the horror stories of years-long implementations, budget overruns, and dubious benefits upon go-live. Who can blame a CFO for being reluctant to go through i...

By Kerry Maruna • March 28, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives

Standout StoriesWhat would a President Trump mean for The Street/SEC?.. Predicting what financial sector policies a future President Donald Trump might pursue regarding stocks, bonds, corporate governance, and other matters before federal agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission is fr...

By Kerry Maruna • March 25, 2016

U.S. Corporate Profits Fall 8.1% in 4th Quarter

U.S. economic growth did not slow as sharply in the fourth quarter as previously estimated but corporate profits fell for a second straight quarter on a strengthening dollar and low oil prices.Gross domestic product increased at a 1.4% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Co...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 25, 2016

The Case for Cloud-Based ERP

Once burned, twice shy: That’s the experience many companies have had with on-premise ERP. We’ve all heard the horror stories of years-long implementations, budget overruns, and dubious benefits upon go-live. Who can blame a CFO for being reluctant to go through it all over again — even if the ER...

By Michael Johnson and Debbie Schultz • March 25, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives

Standout StoriesSpecial report… The property-casualty insurance industry is sitting on a ton of surplus capital. From most perspectives, it’s hard to see that as a negative. For one thing, it is protection against the effects of a severe economic downturn on the industry; for another, a healthy i...

By Kerry Maruna • March 24, 2016

Top Illinois Court Denies Chicago Pension Changes

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday ruled unconstitutional a state law that would have cut the pension benefits of Chicago public employees and make them pay more toward their retirement.The court upheld an earlier decision by a Cook County judge who found that the 2014 state law — introduced ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 24, 2016

Merrill Client Becomes Merrill CFO

One option for executives to find new career opportunities is to keep alert for openings at their existing suppliers and service providers. You already know things about the company, you’ve used its products, and it, likewise, knows more about you than it does about most other candidates.Tom Donn...

By David McCann • March 24, 2016

General Mills’ Q3 Profit Beats Estimates

General Mills’ third-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates due to aggressive cost-cutting measures that offset weaker U.S. sales.The Minneapolis firm said net income rose to $361.7 million, or 59 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Feb. 28, from $343.2 million, or 56 cents per share, a ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • March 23, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives

Standout StoriesInitial public offerings… The last time initial public offerings were as unwelcome as they have been the last three months was the first quarter of 2009, when the Treasury Department was spending billions to stabilize banks and only one U.S. IPO priced. The quarter before that, th...

By Kerry Maruna • March 22, 2016

How to Prepare for an Earnings Call

For any CFO, the first earnings calls have the potential to be a daunting undertaking. It requires a distinct focus on every aspect. From facts and figures to word choice and pacing, the more attention and preparation you put in, the more likely it is to be a success.Henri Steenkamp But how do yo...

By Henri Steenkamp • March 22, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives

Standout StoriesActivist investors… Your company could be doing better. The stock is in the doldrums, and the price-to-book ratio is low. On a variety of financial measures — shareholder returns, revenue growth, operational costs, and so on — the company is underperforming its peers. Cash flow is...

By Kerry Maruna • March 21, 2016

Whistle a Different Tune

The Securities and Exchange Commission paid a record $37 million to whistleblowers last year. Even so, research has found that as many as half of the employees who witness misconduct do not disclose it.To encourage more disclosure, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners has recommended that...

By David McCann • March 18, 2016

Stripe to Offer Financial Services to Cubans

Online payments firm Stripe Inc. is moving to take advantage of the easing of U.S. financial restrictions with Cuba, announcing Friday it will offer a range of services to Cuban entrepreneurs.As part of Stripe’s new Atlas program, the services will enable entrepreneurs to incorporate U.S. compani...

By Matthew Heller • March 18, 2016

Reversing the Aging Process

According to the most recent Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook survey, U.S. executives see their companies in something of a holding pattern, generated by uncertainty and slippage in a number of large economies around the world. But, in contrast to the widespread paralysis that...

By David W. Owens • March 18, 2016

Cashing In on Insight

Cash management and forecasting are more difficult than ever, but they are more important than ever as well. Increasingly, companies recognize that improving the speed and accuracy of cash reporting and forecasting can catalyze growth. In turn, this recognition is putting pressure on treasury fun...

By David W. Owens • March 17, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives

Standout StoriesCFO Square-Off on human capital… The cover story for the November 2011 edition of CFO magazine, “Power from the People,” introduced a topic that had been discussed among human capital experts for some time but had been the subject of little media coverage. The discussion was about...

By Kerry Maruna • March 17, 2016

Material World: Human Capital Disclosure Matters

As a former CFO with 20 years of experience at some of the world’s most admired companies, I fully understand the significance of calls for companies to report yet more information, in light of the ever-increasing responsibilities and workload for CFOs and accounting.Jeff Higgins However, since w...

By Jeff Higgins • March 16, 2016

Caution: Human Capital Reporting Zone

Corporate reputations are contributing $3.3 trillion of shareholder value across the S&P 500, according to Reputation Dividend’s 2015 report. Of that value, almost $1 trillion is derived from perceptions of people management and management quality.Usha Mirchandani So, should companies annuall...

By Eddie Short and Usha Mirchandani • March 16, 2016

Finance Roundup for Executives

Standout StoriesPost-merger integration… The list of high-profile mergers that have faltered or failed due to a clash of cultures is long. It’s a serious and common problem — and largely avoidable. When it comes to integration, as one of our clients likes to say, “culture trumps strategy.”In our ...

By Kerry Maruna • March 16, 2016

Human Capital Disclosure Is ‘Unambiguously a Good Thing’

Yes, companies surely should disclose more information about their human capital.Laurie Bassi Looking at the issue from the perspectives of major stakeholders — including companies, shareholders, employees, and society as a whole — increased disclosure on human capital is unambiguously a good thi...

By Dan McMurrer and Laurie Bassi • March 16, 2016

Should Companies Expand Human Capital Disclosure?

The cover story for the November 2011 edition of CFO magazine, “Power from the People,” introduced a topic that had been discussed among human capital experts for some time but had been the subject of little media coverage. The discussion was about whether investors and other stakeholders would b...

By David McCann • March 16, 2016

The Risks, Rewards, and Fallacies about Human Capital Reporting

Many people would agree that quantifying the worth of human capital would be advantageous to a company because, putting aside the administrative burden, it would permit them to shift the focus away from tangible assets to the real core of value creation.Mark Oppenheimer Human capital reporting wo...

By Mark Oppenheimer • March 16, 2016