July 2009 - Posts
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Two members of a high-level accounting advisory group say that their recommendations are not just a aimed at regulators and standard setters, but corporate finance executives, too. A global advisory group released 37 pages of recommendations on Monday...
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Concerns are switching from the residential to the commercial sector. From a distance Potsdamer Platz looks a bit like its old self. Once the central hub of Berlin, before it was turned into a rubble-strewn no-man's-land divided by the Wall, it is...
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Textron, EarthLink, RESTAT, US Dataworks, MRV Communications, Websense, MoneyGram International. Frank Connor will become CFO of multi-industry firm Textron Inc., effective August 1. Connor comes to the company after 22 years at Goldman, Sachs & Co...
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A long period of high turnover among finance chiefs evaporates as companies avoid risk during the recession. The churn rate among CFO positions at Fortune 1000 companies dropped markedly in the first half of 2009. After 24% of the field turned over...
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There are signs of revival among private equity's giants. Along with the rest of the finance industry, the private-equity business has endured a miserable couple of years. Congress continues to plan heavier taxation of its profits, even though they...
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Companies that provided early warnings when they expected to miss an estimate enjoyed better returns than those that failed to announce an earnings miss beforehand, a new study finds. During the first quarter of this year, as the Dow approached 6,500...
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Why should CFOs worry? Their liability for signing off under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is one reason. Another: their responsibility for corporate compliance. Driven by the mass globalization of business, the U.S. government is continuing to speed up its...
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Acquisition plans by big-name companies like IBM and Sprint Nextel breathe a little life to the deal market, which is down more than 40% this year. Companies looking to snatch up smaller competitors during the economic downturn are behind most of...
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But some finance executives fear the new rule could generate time-consuming, costly work. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has approved a new rule prohibiting audit firms from allowing lower-level employees from conducting final reviews of...
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Corporate executives will have far less leeway in designing their company's benefits because the federal government would be dictating more about how plans should be structured, according to Ernst & Young lobbyists. If President Obama's health...
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Finance executives are a bit more pessimistic than economists and other experts about the forecast for gross domestic product, the unemployment rate, and other economic indicators, according to The CFO Prediction Market. As financial markets embrace the...
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The IRS released new tax guidance this month related to so-called backdated stock options. But discounted options are still not considered "qualified performance based compensation." In 2006, the Internal Revenue Service became aware of instances...
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CFOs and treasurers that do business with the biggest banks, insurers, and hedge funds may find it comforting if sputtering ones are red-flagged. The last time the Obama administration labeled financial services firms too big to fail, the result was government...
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Rating firms could lose their special status. If the past decade's financial over-engineering was a crime, rating agencies were the getaway drivers. The punishment for putting their stamp of approval on collateralized-debt obligations, bond insurers...
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First-quarter financials mark the first time that comprehensive derivatives disclosure was mandated for all U.S. companies. Members of Congress probing threats to the global financial system — especially the threat of concentration of risk —...
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Despite the awful economy, the number of Fortune 1000 companies with frozen defined-benefit plans climbs by only four percentage points since last year. Despite the recession, the number of big companies with frozen pension plans has followed a recent...
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Xerox, Ore Pharmaceuticals, JDA Software Group, Purfresh, Welch Allyn, PanTerra Networks, Financial Executives International. Xerox Corp. CFO Lawrence Zimmerman adds the title of vice chairman to his position. He has been at the company since 2002. Benjamin...
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Companies have delayed outsourcing projects, leaving service providers waiting for the go-ahead. Companies considering outsourcing are now in the driver's seat when it comes to negotiating contracts. On top of a big slowdown in the business-process...
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Is forecasting an art, a science, or an exercise in futility? As the recession drags on, companies rethink their attitudes, and their approaches. "A great deal of uncertainty exists in the global economy, making it extremely difficult to know how...
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Taking on new challenges keeps the job fresh for female controllers, treasurers, and vice presidents of finance. There seems to be little room at the top of finance for women these days. According to CFO magazine's recent count, only 9% of the...
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As standard-setters inch toward a new lease-accounting standard, corporations push back on the added work it could create. Standard-setters have more than comment 150 letters to sort through before they can finish crafting a new rule for how companies...
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Cost performance may be a useful measure for companies that want to trim spending as effectively as possible. Even in the best of times, finance departments keep a close eye on costs. In bad times, they wield a sharp ax, cutting costs wherever they can...
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A big reason, though, is that all the big financial-services firms have already been sued. The number of federal class-action securities lawsuits declined substantially in the first half of this year compared to 2008, a new report says. Given the state...
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FASB proposes a bevy of new disclosure provisions aimed at financing receivables. Will companies balk at the rules, despite already having most of the information on hand? The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued an ambitious new plan...
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He chides them for citing accounting standards that "few people understand" in their financials and for their puzzling apathy on IFRS. The Securities and Exchange Commission's new top accountant took a pair of swipes today at the corporate...
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