Latest news
Ashley Still, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Mid-Market at Intuit, said that over the next five years, AI agents will continuously handle manual tasks such as reconciliations and report assembly, moving finance teams from monthly crunch periods to real-time operations. She introduced the new conversational AI and more than 40 AI skills in Intuit Enterprise Suite, emphasizing the combination of AI with deterministic accounting logic to ensure accuracy. On pricing, she predicted the industry will move toward a hybrid model of seats plus consumption, rather than unconstrained token-based billing. She also advised CFOs to first consolidate their data foundation before deploying AI, and to use faster growth and margin improvement as metrics for measuring returns.
KPMG Australia announced on Monday the layoff of 360 employees and 27 partners, approximately 5% of its total Australian workforce. This move comes amid a decline in consulting revenue and allegations of client data breaches. Revenue for fiscal year 2026 fell 1% to A$2.257 billion, with consulting revenue down nearly 17% year-over-year. CEO John Sampson stated that the layoffs are mainly concentrated in the consulting division and acknowledged the challenges arising from the firm's own shortcomings. The company plans to conduct multiple internal and external reviews over the coming months to drive remediation and rebuild trust.
Scotts Miracle-Gro CFO Mark Scheyer served as interim CFO in January 2025 and was promoted to permanent CFO five months later. He successfully made the role transition by leveraging his financial experience, focusing on investor relations repair, and strengthening communication. This article is an interview with CFO.com, exploring his transition strategy, seasonal business cash management, the SMG 2.0 plan, and his career journey.
According to court documents filed earlier this month, Costco Wholesale Corporation has begun recovering some of the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that were later ruled unlawful, while continuing to defend against a proposed class-action lawsuit brought by customers. In an August 5 filing, the company stated it had received about one-third of the refunds it is owed and had begun returning the "recovered value" to customers through price reductions on certain products. However, Costco's lawyers argued that the refunds do not change the fact that the plaintiffs' claims are not "ripe" and lack standing.
The FTC announced on Monday that it has reached a settlement with Zillow and Redfin in an antitrust lawsuit. Previously, the FTC alleged that the two companies conspired to restrict competition in the apartment rental ILS market through a 2025 agreement, which involved Zillow paying Redfin $100 million to shut down its ILS service. The settlement order requires Redfin to restart its rental advertising business within six months and commit to listing more properties; Zillow must assist Redfin in hiring employees and lift related restrictions. The FTC stated that the settlement secures benefits for renters and property management companies more quickly and with greater certainty than litigation outcomes.
Artificial intelligence is transforming traditional manual tasks such as financial modeling, but Ian Schnoor, Executive Director of the Financial Modeling Institute (FMI), cautions that CFOs must establish governance and ethical processes around AI, clarifying how AI is used and the extent of human involvement, to maintain model credibility and mitigate risks.
According to a forecast released by Gartner on Monday, AI data center spending will account for more than half of total semiconductor revenue over the next four years, rising from 36.5% in 2026. This growth will push global semiconductor revenue above $1.6 trillion this year, nearly doubling year over year. While memory revenue remains a major contributor, the rising share of AI data centers highlights a shift in industry value creation and demand evolution.
CBRE's latest Tech Talent Scorecard report shows that in 2025, the New York metropolitan area's tech workforce reached 394,300, surpassing the San Francisco Bay Area's 375,730 for the first time, making it the largest tech talent market in the U.S. AI positions grew by 45%, intensifying talent competition between the financial industry and tech companies.
Most CFOs and finance teams still treat tax planning as a seasonal task: busy with growth, cash flow, and forecasting all year, only to rush through tax matters a few weeks before deadlines. However, the real cost of waiting is not penalties, but missed tax credits, cash recoveries delayed by months, and forecasts skewed by outdated tax assumptions. In an era where AI and real-time reporting compress decision windows, and tax authorities ask sharper questions about incentives and multi-state operations, tax planning is no longer a seasonal event. This article proposes five actionable habits to help CFOs turn tax planning into a year-round advantage: capturing credit opportunities promptly, leveraging credits to drive cash flow, synchronizing documentation, improving financial planning accuracy, and continuously monitoring state tax risks.