AI-curated news for your industry

Adam Echter, Managing Partner at global consulting firm Simon-Kucher, writes that inflation is driven by currency depreciation, and CFOs need to ensure long-term financial health through value-based pricing strategies and agile pricing models.

With AI software spending projected to surge to $297.9 billion by 2027, enterprises urgently need to ensure investment returns. CFO-CRO collaboration is essential. The article recommends: establishing unconditional trust, treating the CRO as a source of frontline insights, embracing shared goals, and focusing on both strategic and tactical benefits of internal AI applications.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined the former CEO of Ideanomics a total of $3.5 million, including $3.3 million in disgorgement and a $200,000 civil penalty, for allegedly defrauding investors between 2017 and 2019 through inflated revenue, concealed related-party transactions, and improper accounting practices. The SEC also brought fraud charges against the company's current CEO and former CFO.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced it has restarted its review of Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims from the pandemic era, recently sending 28,000 denial notices to businesses for claims that, if approved, could have led to up to $5 billion in improper payments. The agency also stated it has confirmed 50,000 valid claims and is accelerating them into the payment process.

The national law firm McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter filed a motion on Thursday with the New Jersey bankruptcy court to dismiss the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition of former Chief Financial Officer John Dunlea. The firm alleges that Dunlea's primary purpose in filing for bankruptcy is to delay the ongoing civil litigation between the parties, rather than to achieve financial reorganization. Previously, Dunlea had been sentenced to five years in prison for misappropriating more than $1.5 million from the firm.

FW Cook analysis shows that four out of five large companies (market capitalization ≥ $10 billion) have policies that exceed the scope and rigor of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules effective since January in clawing back executive incentive compensation. Approximately 70% of companies apply clawback provisions to a broader range of personnel than the Section 16 officers defined by the SEC; nearly 65% of companies use fraud or misconduct (whether or not resulting in a restatement) as a clawback trigger; and nearly 70% of companies require clawback of a broader range of compensation types, including time-based awards.

A Guy Carpenter report indicates that insurance losses from the CrowdStrike outage are expected to range between $300 million and $1 billion, and reminds the insurance industry to pay attention to the risk of more frequent small and medium-sized events.

The number of delayed filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is increasing, with 71 companies postponing their annual reports in 2023, up about 40% year-over-year. UHY experts Ro Sokhi and Amy Gallagher note that a shortage of accounting talent, stricter regulations, and a surge in newly listed companies have created a 'perfect storm.' This article proposes five countermeasures, including eliminating key person risk, planning filing calendars, utilizing grace periods, reserving time for mergers and acquisitions, and strengthening internal controls.

The National Accounting Talent Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG), composed of accounting industry stakeholders, released a 95-page final report proposing six recommendations to address the accounting talent shortage, including reducing the time and cost of education required to become a CPA, increasing starting salaries, and reforming licensure requirements. The report emphasizes the need for coordinated industry action and notes that the talent shortage has already impacted the timeliness of financial reporting for U.S. companies.

Earnings calls are both a stage for some CFOs to showcase achievements and a stressful occasion for others. CFO.com compiles monthly insights shared by financial executives in these meetings, including company statements, financial data analysis, and responses to analyst questions.