Would You Have Invoked the Disaster Recovery Plan?

Your IT organization probably has a disaster recovery (DR) plan – but have you really thought through what it would take to implement it if you had to?You may have watched on live TV recently as first United Airlines and then the New York Stock Exchange ground to a halt as a result of computer sy...

By John Parkinson • July 20, 2015

CFOs Frustrated with Return on FP&A Investments

It’s not exactly news that CFOs as a group aren’t satisfied with the quality of their financial planning and analysis functions. That’s been the case for some time. But with investments in FP&A rising as more data becomes available and companies seek to unlock its potential value with top-not...

By David McCann • July 17, 2015

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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

Workers’ Compensation and the Cost of Mistrust

Your employee was just injured at work. The worker is in pain, cannot perform regular job duties, and is unsure how quickly he or she can return to work. The mortgage, medical care, and child’s tuition payments are due next month. It is a vulnerable time, with substantial uncertainty involved.Whe...

By Richard A. Victor • July 17, 2015

Financial Planning and Budgeting: The Finance Executive’s Guide

As finance takes on more and more responsibilities within the organization, its traditional tasks need to be reconfigured to boost efficiency and effectiveness. These articles consider new ideas, tools, and techniques for financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting that just might free up your...

By Alexander Johnson • July 16, 2015

The Hidden Risks of Employee Benefit Plan Audits

An employee benefit plan (EBP) that has over 100 participants is required to have an audit to accompany the filing of its Form 5500. Many CFOs consider these audits unnecessary and delegate the audit process to the controller or human resource manager.Adam S. Lilling What many finance chiefs don’...

By Adam S. Lilling • July 16, 2015

Vive la France!

July 14 marks Bastille Day in France, a national holiday that commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789. In the 226 years since, France has become one of the world’s major economic powers. Test your knowledge of modern-day France by taking our quiz:1. What is the population of F...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 16, 2015

Diebold Grows Bold

Two years ago, Diebold was in a slump. After peaking at $3.1 billion in 2008, revenue for the maker of ATMs and electronic security systems had stalled, while gross margin, operating profit, and free cash flow all fell during the same period.In the fall of 2013, under new CEO Andy Mattes, the Nor...

By Edward Teach • July 15, 2015

Beware Stiff Tax Penalties Buried in New Trade Law

Although President Obama’s signing of the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 on June 29 arrived with much fanfare, the potentially large new penalties imposed by the act on employers that err on their tax returns have received almost no attention.The trade preferences act provides job traini...

By David Katz • July 15, 2015

Small-Business Confidence Drops Sharply

Small-business owners’ optimism about the economy took a surprisingly sharp turn for the worse in June, likely reflecting five months of “lousy growth,” according to the National Federation of Independent Business.In its June report, the NFIB said its small-business optimism index fell 4.1 to 94....

By Matthew Heller • July 14, 2015

What the Delay of FASB’s Revenue Recognition Standard Means

On July 9, the Financial Accounting Standards Board voted to defer the effective date of its revenue recognition standard by a year, while still allowing companies to adopt the standard as initially planned.Anne-Lise Vivier Anne-Lise VivierFASB listened to the concerns preparers voiced about the ...

By Anne-Lise Vivier and Kara Peterson • July 13, 2015

CFOs on the Move: Week Ending July 10

Paulo Basilio will become finance chief of The Kraft Heinz Co. once the merger between the two firms is complete. He has headed finance at Heinz since joining the company in 2013. James Kehoe, CFO of Kraft, will leave the combined firm.Hugh Johnston PepsiCo has named CFO Hugh Johnston to the addi...

By Joan Urdang • July 10, 2015

Bipartisan Legislation to Strengthen SEC Penalties

U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle on Thursday introduced legislation to strengthen the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ability to crack down on violations of securities laws.Senate Banking Committee members Senators Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat, and Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • July 10, 2015

How to Create a World-Class Finance Function

Like seemingly every company today, you want to “transform” your finance function. But how to do it?Luckily for you, a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report describes eight “differentiating focus areas that define leading finance functions generally.” Actually, the report may not always tell you “how...

By David McCann • July 10, 2015

BEPS Tax Storm Is Coming This Year

Remember when Dodd-Frank was just a series of angry speeches and calls for consumer protection from a group of impassioned politicians? If you’re old enough, you may also remember when Sarbanes-Oxley was little more than a rag-tag collection of ideas about changing corporate auditing policies and...

By Joe Harpaz • July 9, 2015

Former MF Global Execs Settle Claim for $64.5 Million

Former CEO Jon Corzine and nine other former MF Global officials, including two CFOs, on Tuesday settled for $64.5 million a class-action claim that they were liable for the futures brokerage’s 2011 bankruptcy, according to Reuters.U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan Tuesday granted p...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • July 8, 2015

PCAOB Mulling New Form for Naming Audit Partner

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is seeking public comment on a “middle ground” proposal to disclose the names of lead audit partners in a new form to be filed with the regulator rather than in the auditor’s report.Since 2005, the board has been exploring how to make auditors’ report...

By Matthew Heller • July 8, 2015

Univision Planning Possible $1 Billion IPO

Apparently thwarted in its efforts to find a buyer, powerhouse Spanish-language broadcaster Univision has announced plans for an initial public offering.In a prospectus filed Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company described itself as “the leading media company serv...

By Matthew Heller • July 3, 2015

Unemployment Down in June, yet Wages Stagnant

Jobs rose by 223,000 in June, slightly under economists’ forecasts, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.3%, the Labor Department said Thursday. However, the size of the workforce receded and wages were unchanged from May at $24.95, and up only 2% over the past year.The unemployment rate in Ju...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • July 2, 2015

Centene Goes West With $6B Health Net Deal

A whirlwind of merger-related activity in the U.S. health-insurance industry continued Thursday as Centene Corp. announced it had agreed to acquire Health Net for $6.8 billion.The deal combines two managed-care providers that have more than 10 million members between them and an estimated $37 bil...

By Matthew Heller • July 2, 2015

More Firms Have Positive View of Obamacare Ruling

Employers are more likely to have a positive than negative view of the Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare’s premium subsidies for all public exchanges, according to a new Mercer survey.The research firm reports that of nearly 600 employers it polled after the landmark decision in King v. ...

By Matthew Heller • July 2, 2015

PayPal Buys Money Transfer Provider Xoom

PayPal said Wednesday that it had struck a deal to buy Xoom, a digital money transfer provider, to broaden its services across the globe.PayPal would pay Xoom’s shareholders $25 a share, or about $1.09 billion. Excluding Xoom’s cash and short-term investments and including its debt, PayPal would ...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • July 2, 2015

SEC Proposes to Vastly Expand Clawback Rules

The Securities and Exchange Commission, as expected, proposed on Wednesday to expand the circumstances under which companies must “claw back” performance-based bonuses awarded to executive officers. The proposal, aimed at implementing the clawback provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, did contain at ...

By David McCann • July 1, 2015

Green Giant Not So Jolly for General Mills

General Mills reported Wednesday that fourth-quarter profits fell 53% to $186.8 million, or 30 cents a share, largely because of a $260 million asset impairment charge from its struggling Green Giant frozen and canned produce line.Excluding the Green Giant write-down and other charges, the compan...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • July 1, 2015

White House Planning to Extend Overtime Benefits

The Obama administration is planning a radical overhaul of overtime regulations that it expects will benefit nearly 5 million workers next year.Under the new rules, private-sector workers who make up to $50,400 a year will be guaranteed the right to earn additional pay if they work more than 40 h...

By Matthew Heller • July 1, 2015

Towers Watson and Willis To Merge

Insurance broker and risk adviser Willis Group Holdings and and professional-services firm Towers Watson announced plans to combine in a $18 billion deal dubbed as a “merger of equals.” The phrase is a euphemism of sorts, though, because Willis shareholders would own 50.1% and Towers Watson share...

By Katie Kuehner-Hebert • June 30, 2015