Dow Chemical: More Restructuring to Come?

Dow Chemical on Thursday revealed it is considering additional restructuring actions, including the sale of its struggling farm chemicals and seeds unit and the winnowing or outright sale of its stakes in two Kuwaiti joint ventures, although Dow might buy Corning’s stake in a silicon JV.“Dow emba...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Oct. 22, 2015

Finance and Accounting Roundup for Executives

Here’s What’s Going on in Finance Today… Have Starbucks and Fiat been benefiting from illegal tax breaks? Yes, according to the European Union, as they have ordered two European governments to collect back taxes from both companies. Although the amount is not damaging, and the decision can be app...

By Kerry Maruna • Oct. 22, 2015

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 and Accounting Roundup for Executives

Here’s What’s Going on in Finance Today Google is making moves in the productivity suite game. Google applications (Docs, Sheets, Slides and others) are being made available free of cost to companies with current enterprise agreements with other providers. Until those enterprise agreements have e...

By Kerry Maruna • Oct. 21, 2015

China Business Travel Spend to Outpace U.S.

Business travel spending within China will soon outpace U.S. travel spending, and India’s growth is quickly accelerating, “a clear indication of the resiliency and strength of both economies,” the Global Business Travel Association said Wednesday.Despite recent economic turmoil, China business tr...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Oct. 21, 2015

EU Finds Tax Breaks for Starbucks, Fiat Illegal

In an unprecedented decision with implications for the tax strategies of multinational corporations, the European Union on Wednesday ordered two European governments to collect back taxes from Starbucks and a unit of Fiat Chrysler after finding that tax breaks they had given the companies were il...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 21, 2015

Google Offers Free Google Apps for Work

Google is taking on Microsoft and other competitors by offering a new promotion: access to Google Apps for Work for free while companies are still under an enterprise agreement with another provider.“We’re so confident that Docs has all the features you need, without the ones you don’t, that we’r...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Oct. 20, 2015

Fed Bans Former Regions Bank Official

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Monday took the rare step of banning a former banker from the industry — a move watchdog groups want to see more of.Thomas A. Neely, Jr., a former executive vice-president at Regions Bank in Birmingham, Ala., agreed to the ban as part of a settlement of charges that he...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Oct. 19, 2015

Applying Analytics to Real Estate Assets

For most companies, one of the biggest commitments they will make — both in regards to cost and flexibility — is in the form of corporate real estate. The purchase or lease of office space can represent not only a significant expense but also an ongoing legal and operational liability. As the glo...

By Nathan Brzozowski • Oct. 19, 2015

Beware ‘Starving’ Cyber Risk Budgets, CFOs Warned

With cyber risks looming ever larger, CFOs must avoid “starving” information technology security budgets, the author of a recently released survey concerning cybersecurity and corporate governance warns.“When you start looking at why [a] company had a weak security program, it usually comes down ...

By David Katz • Oct. 16, 2015

Audit Deficiencies Linked to M&A Surge

A new analysis of recent Public Company Accounting Oversight Board inspections suggests corporate auditors are continuing to struggle to keep up with the uptick in mergers and acquisitions following the financial crisis.Consulting firm Acuitas reports in its 2015 Survey of Fair Value Audit Defici...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 16, 2015

Capital Still Flowing Into Venture-Backed Firms

Money continued to pour into venture-backed companies in the third quarter, while concerns over valuations and exits grew.U.S. venture investments rose to $19.05 billion in the third quarter and to $54.6 billion for the first nine months of the year, according to industry tracker Dow Jones Ventur...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Oct. 15, 2015

Accounting and Finance Roundup for Executives

What’s Going on In Finance TodayInvestors remain concerned as Walmart Stock suffers its worst fall since 2000. As of Wednesday, the stock has fallen 9%. Very disappointing news for those investors who were hoping for growth. More in the link below.Walmart is not the only one to experience follies...

By Kerry Maruna • Oct. 15, 2015

MetLife Stock Falls on News of Accounting Error

MetLife shares fell Wednesday on news that the insurer’s combined risk-based capital (RBC) ratio was lower than reported due to accounting blunders tied to annuity claims.MetLife disclosed in a regulatory filing late Tuesday that the ratio — a key measure of the financial solvency of insurers — w...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Oct. 14, 2015

Restatements Infect Reporting at Peer Companies

Financial restatements may be contagious, serving as a “handbook of trickery” for peer companies unless the restating company faces regulatory discipline or an investor lawsuit, according to a new study.When a company restates earnings, it may actually prompt its peers to imitate the publicly ann...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 14, 2015

Three Rules for Navigating the Global Tax Maze

The recent volatility experienced in global markets has prompted U.S. businesses to reevaluate and refine their investment and growth strategies. This is visible in emerging markets like China, where a decrease in foreign investment is notable and a contributing factor to the country’s economic s...

By Carl Allegretti • Oct. 14, 2015

Accounting and Finance Roundup for Executives

What’s Going on in Finance Today Failure to pay travel reimbursements in a timely manner may be costing companies more than they think. 25% of the companies that take longer to pay (nine days or more) end up paying nearly four times the amount out of their annual revenue compared to the 25% of co...

By Kerry Maruna • Oct. 14, 2015

California Treasurer Wants Private Equity Firms to Disclose Pension Fees

California State Treasurer John Chiang is calling on the state’s two major pension funds to join his lobbying efforts to force fee disclosures by private equity firms that the funds invest in.In a letter to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Reti...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Oct. 13, 2015

Meg Whitman: Dell-EMC Deal Spells Opportunity for HP

Hewlett-Packard chief executive Meg Whitman thinks Dell’s planned acquisition of EMC will present an opportunity for her company because of the large debt load arch-competitor Dell likely will be taking on.Whitman on Monday told employees in a memo that the Dell-EMC deal, announced earlier that d...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Oct. 13, 2015

Buffett: Wall Street No Help in Beating Activists

Companies can stay off the radar of activist investors without having to enlist the services of Wall Street advisers, Warren Buffett said Tuesday.The billionaire CEO of Berkshire Hathaway told Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington that he had “zero” interest in joining the ranks of a...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 13, 2015

Metric of the Month: Travel Reimbursement

Many a business traveler has lived in fear of the expense report deadline: Running to catch the next plane with a briefcase full of receipts, hoping to arrive and check into the hotel in time to log it all into the spreadsheet and get it to the overnight drop box in time.But woe to the weary road...

By Mary C. Driscoll • Oct. 13, 2015

Restructuring Gaining Steam at European Banks

After lagging behind U.S. banks that restructured quickly after the global financial crisis, European banks are finally beginning to overhaul themselves amid concerns over profitability, according to The Wall Street Journal.Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank are among European ba...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • Oct. 9, 2015

Audit Fees for Public Companies Up 3.4%

Audit fees for public companies rose 3.4% last year, reflecting in part the impact of completed mergers or acquisitions, according to a new survey by the trade group Financial Executives International.More than 7,000 SEC filers paid external auditors an average of $1.5 million in 2014, with a med...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 9, 2015

Abenomics: Less of the Same

After four months battling to pass unpopular security legislation, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, lost no time in returning to somewhat safer ground: the economy. On September 24 he fired off what he called “three new arrows” in service of Abenomics, his program of monetary easing, fiscal st...

By Economist Staff • Oct. 8, 2015

Everything the Finance Exec Needs to Know About Cyber Security

The importance of cybersecurity is no secret to anyone who watches the nightly news. Senior executives at businesses of all sizes understand all too well that today’s global economy is still not adequately protected against cyberattacks, despite years of effort and spending in the multi-billion d...

By Alexander Johnson • Oct. 7, 2015

Mortgage Servicer to Pay $1.5M Fine Over Ocwen Deals

Home Loan Servicing Solutions has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle charges over its relationship with former Ocwen Financial Chairman William Erbey and its valuation of billions of dollars in mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) it acquired from Ocwen.The charges are the latest fallout from regul...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 6, 2015