Technology
As the U.S. Customs and Border Protection initiates the tariff rebate application process, companies including Ford, General Motors, Procter & Gamble, and Apple have successively disclosed related expectations in earnings calls. Ford CFO Sherry House confirmed that a potential $1.3 billion rebate was recorded in the first quarter, General Motors expects to receive a $500 million rebate, Procter & Gamble estimates an after-tax rebate of approximately $150 million, while Apple has not disclosed a specific amount.
A recent Gartner report predicts that by 2029, CFOs who strategically align artificial intelligence with broader financial technology investments could unlock an additional 10-percentage-point increase in profit growth. However, fragmentation of the technology ecosystem and excessive hype from AI vendors may lead to budget waste. Based on a survey of 314 global organizations, the report highlights significant divergence between investment enthusiasm and value across technologies such as cloud ERP, generative AI, and AI agents, recommending that CFOs manage technology investments from a portfolio perspective.
The latest survey by Oliver Wyman and the New York Stock Exchange reveals that as AI investment increases, most CFOs expect finance team sizes to remain flat or shrink over the next three years, with deeper changes in team composition—64% of respondents anticipate a lower share of entry-level roles, as the finance function transitions from a traditional pyramid structure to a "thick-middle diamond" shape.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, retailers have faced continuous turbulence, but Bob's Discount Furniture Chief Financial Officer Carl Lukach noted at an industry event that the 'mathematics' of pricing remains unchanged, with elasticity still at the core. He shared how the company addresses challenges through emotional price points, zone pricing, and technology applications, and discussed consumers' tolerance for price increases.
A new trend is emerging in finance: controllers and FP&A leaders use weekends to engage in 'vibe coding' with LLMs, building internal tools and reporting dashboards, and the prototypes often work. This makes AI feel genuinely useful in finance teams for the first time. However, the gap between a working prototype and a system that can withstand the scale, governance, and scrutiny of an enterprise finance department is far larger than early successes suggest. This article outlines five key signals to help teams recognize when a prototype has outgrown the sandbox environment and explores how to move from experimentation to real impact.
In recent years, the finance function has faced unprecedented pressure: AI has moved from concept to system implementation, traditional ERP systems are increasingly outdated, and regulatory, cybersecurity, and supply chain challenges continue to escalate. The CFO's role is shifting from "reporting the past" to "shaping the future." However, many finance teams still rely on "spreadsheet glue" to stitch together data from multiple systems, hindering real-time insights and strategic decision-making. Through the perspectives of Acumatica CFO Jordan Weitzen and NexTec Group CFO Brian Howell, this article examines how connected cloud ERP becomes central to the modern finance agenda and clarifies the most realistic path for AI adoption in finance—provided there is a clean, connected data foundation.
Nike announced on Thursday that it will cut approximately 1,400 positions across its global operations team, with most involving technology functions. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Venkatesh Alagirisamy said the move aims to streamline operational structure, improve synergy between the technology team and the business, and accelerate technology deployment. Nike will concentrate its technology work at the Philip H. Knight campus in Beaverton, Oregon, and the Nike Technology Center in India. The layoffs come at the final stage of the company's "Win Now" transformation strategy, which was launched by CEO Elliott Hill in December 2025.
Trintech CFO Omar Choucair says AI adoption has shifted from optional to imperative for CFOs and the finance function. He emphasizes that finance leaders need to accelerate integrating AI into their operations while keeping in mind the 'non-negotiable' core responsibility within the CFO's office—financial information must be 100% accurate, with a tolerance for error approaching zero. Choucair shared Trintech's practices in embedding AI into both products and internal teams, and advised CFOs to view the AI journey as a 'marathon' rather than a 'sprint.'
At its November 2025 partner webinar, Avalara highlighted how its agentic AI strategy is reshaping compliance processes and previewed upcoming standardized onboarding experiences, a partner success playbook, and gamified learning tools. The session also recognized 2025 partner achievements, including tier advancements, the MVP contest, and annual award previews, while reaffirming the three core program goals of growth, peace of mind, and ease of use.
Software company Azul released a report stating that 69% of CFOs consider 10% to 30% of their cloud spending to be wasteful, nearly 90% of CFOs say cloud costs are rising, and two-thirds of enterprises have elevated cloud cost oversight to the board level.