Latest news
A survey of 400 US and UK CFOs, commissioned by workforce solutions provider Safeguard Global and conducted by Censuswide, revealed that all respondents estimated incurring losses due to compliance risks during global expansion, with 22% estimating losses of at least one million dollars. Although 97% of respondents expressed interest in global hiring, only 22% planned to conduct international recruitment within the next six months.
Hackett Group's latest working capital survey shows that in 2025, the total revenue of the largest 1,000 non-financial U.S. public companies grew by 6%, but the working capital opportunity reached a record $1.94 trillion, with the cash conversion cycle shortened to 38.4 days.
Payscale's latest survey shows that only 32% of U.S. companies plan to implement across-the-board raises for all employees in 2027, down from 36% in 2026. Companies are allocating more budget to merit-based pay adjustments, promotions, cost-of-living adjustments, and salary structure adjustments. The average salary budget increase is expected to be 3.5%, roughly in line with the inflation rate.
Chicago's budget director, Annette Guzman, resigned for family reasons, following the departure of Acting CFO Steven Mahr. Mayor Johnson said the city is running stably, but the consecutive departures of financial officials have raised concerns about the budget season.
In a recent webinar, OpenAI demonstrated how its finance team uses AI to improve efficiency, but repeated questions from participants about governance, security, and control were not directly addressed during the Q&A session. This phenomenon reflects a core obstacle in AI adoption within the finance sector: before automated forecasting and accelerated book closing, financial leaders are more concerned with foundational issues such as data storage, access permissions, control execution, and SOX compliance. Although the demonstration emphasized speed and collaboration, the absence of governance may become a critical bottleneck for scaling AI applications.
Best Buy announced on Monday that it has appointed Anne Bramman, 58, as CFO, effective August 19. Bramman has held financial executive roles at companies including Nordstrom and Circana, with a compensation package including an annual salary of $950,000 plus additional incentives. Analysts generally view the appointment favorably, noting that her experience complements incoming CEO Jason Bonfig.
A volunteer initiative aimed at helping water facilities defend against cyberattacks not only strengthened the defense capabilities and confidence of a few participating units but also provided important insights into the industry's common difficulties and the most practical solutions. The project was jointly launched in late 2024 by the DEF CON hacking conference, the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, and the National Rural Water Association.
FIFA President Infantino's $20 billion commercial rights sale plan collapsed within four days. Through financial analysis, this article reveals that the core flaw of the plan lay in the use of funds—allocating $4.2 billion of investor money directly to 211 member associations as consideration for votes, rather than for actual construction. The article emphasizes that any competent CFO could quickly identify this fatal issue from the term sheet, and summarizes three financial lessons.
FTI Consulting released a white paper stating that artificial intelligence is reshaping the responsibilities and priorities of a CFO's first 100 days. New CFOs need to shift from traditional financial reporting to value creation, assess data and system maturity early, leverage AI to accelerate decision-making, but avoid automation for automation's sake.
Resilience's latest analysis shows that in the first half of 2026, 85.3% of incurred losses in its insurance portfolio resulted from cyberattacks exploiting human error, a significant increase from 17.7% two years ago. AI technology has made phishing and payment transfer fraud more deceptive, and the report recommends that companies strengthen multi-layered verification and overall risk management.