Opinion
Many companies lack a comprehensive compensation strategy, leaving them reactive amid macroeconomic fluctuations. Payscale CFO Philip Watson points out that viewing compensation as a cost rather than an investment is a common misconception. The article analyzes lessons from the labor market bubble of the early 2020s, emphasizing the importance of precisely rewarding top talent, leveraging market uncertainty to attract talent, and using data to boost confidence in compensation decisions. Ultimately, companies should build flexible and resilient compensation strategies to maintain a competitive edge.
Artificial intelligence is profoundly reshaping how enterprises operate, analyze data, and make decisions. For financial executives tasked with both driving innovation and managing risk, AI offers substantial returns on investment while also harboring hidden yet equally significant legal and regulatory risks. This article distills seven key legal considerations to help financial leaders understand and mitigate potential risks in AI projects, covering data privacy, bias and fairness, regulatory uncertainty, intellectual property, contractual risk allocation, transparency and governance, and cybersecurity.
Although financial leaders invest in business intelligence tools, they often fall back on manual reconciliation due to a lack of alignment in data sources, metric definitions, and reporting structures. Written by Swetha Pandiri, FP&A Business Systems Manager at Kaiser Aluminum, this article proposes a five-step approach: diagnosing sources of fragmentation, establishing governance and accountability, investing in a centralized data foundation, promoting a culture of reuse and data literacy, and starting small to build momentum, ultimately forming a replicable model for reporting transformation.
As countries worldwide accelerate e-invoicing mandates, update VAT frameworks, and implement sales-based 'economic nexus' rules, tax compliance challenges for U.S. companies in their internationalization process are becoming increasingly severe. Based on insights from Vertex Chief Tax Officer Michael Bernard, this article proposes five key strategies: building local VAT expertise or outsourcing, ensuring data flows for outsourced compliance, being wary of EU 'Wayfair-style' economic nexus laws, addressing non-uniform reporting requirements across countries, and preparing for phased e-invoicing mandates.
Artificial intelligence is shifting from experimental projects to a core force reshaping enterprise operations, competition, and growth. However, its revenue potential is often exaggerated, and finance teams need to distinguish hype from reality. This article explores the true costs of AI investment, business-aligned metrics, dynamic return environments, and risk factors, emphasizing a strategic portfolio approach to managing AI to ensure every expenditure drives measurable long-term value.
When evaluating potential acquisitions, understanding the key acquisition-related terms in existing debt financing is crucial. This article outlines four main components: acquisition restrictions and requirements, debt incurrence restrictions, pro forma target financial integration, and additional collateral commitments and joinders, and provides recommendations for CFOs to collaborate with legal counsel.
Traditional ROI struggles to accurately measure the complex value of AI investments. This article recommends adopting intelligent adaptive tools such as digital twins, downstream impact analysis, and rights analysis to convert intangible benefits into quantifiable, predictable financial metrics, helping CFOs make more informed decisions.
In early Q2 2025, the United States implemented or proposed new tariffs, impacting the M&A market. Deloitte expert Adam Reilly believes that despite uncertainty causing some dealmakers to wait on the sidelines, leaders are proactively leveraging volatility. The article proposes three major strategies: cross-border expansion, exploring non-traditional financing, and embedding technology into deal processes, emphasizing that value realization is the greatest opportunity at present.
Facing economic uncertainty from fluctuating tariff policies in 2025, CFOs cannot wait for policy clarity but should proactively build a future-ready finance organization. This article proposes nine key initiatives covering technology (data warehouses, CPM platforms, automation, scenario planning, AI), processes (cost control, rolling cash flow forecasting), and talent (distributed delivery, upskilling), emphasizing a structured assessment to develop a pragmatic transformation roadmap.
Global AI spending is expected to exceed $337 billion by 2025, but fewer than half of AI projects reviewed by finance teams are considered to generate actual value. This article analyzes three reasons why AI value is difficult to quantify and suggests that CFOs adopt a more dynamic evaluation framework.