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Louis Dreyfus Company announced that global freight chief Sebastien Landerreiche will assume the role of Chief Financial Officer starting Wednesday. Following the unexpected passing of former CFO Patrick Trull at the end of December, the company had appointed an interim CFO. With rich experience in both freight and finance, Landerreiche will align the company's financial strategy with its growth plans.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has established a four-step process to refund fees collected from importers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs, which were struck down by the Supreme Court last month. CBP outlined this process in a filing submitted to the U.S. Court of International Trade on Thursday, and revealed that it is developing new features in the Automated Commercial Environment to calculate and deliver refunds.
Rhode Island and Louisiana have become the latest states to join the national movement for Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensure reform, with legislators in both states introducing bills in late February to eliminate the 150-credit education requirement and establish three alternative pathways. This continues a nationwide trend that began with Ohio's pioneering reform last year, aimed at alleviating the accounting talent shortage. Currently, only Maine, Wyoming, and North Dakota have not actively pursued similar legislation.
With the advancement of new regulations such as Pillar 2 and AI technology, tax and finance departments are seeking to restructure how they access data. Daren Campbell, EY Americas Tax Technology and Transformation Leader, says that new regulations provide an opportunity to secure budget, but data silos and rigid processes remain the main obstacles to achieving AI transformation.
In an article, Josh Schauer, CFO of insightsoftware, points out that the finance industry is at an inflection point of AI transformation, yet only 39% of finance teams are confident in actually using AI. Drawing on his own shift from lightly experimenting with ChatGPT in 2022 to using it as a thought partner, he illustrates AI's value in boosting efficiency and freeing up human capacity, while stressing that human judgment, ethics, and accountability remain irreplaceable. The article also shares the challenges he faces as a CFO in quantifying ROI and governance considerations when evaluating AI investments.
The latest KPMG survey reveals that about 40% of U.S. companies plan to increase supply chain agility investment over the next year to cope with persistent trade and tariff policy uncertainty. Nearly half of companies are actively modeling and deploying tariff mitigation strategies, and 41% have deployed artificial intelligence to optimize trade compliance.
Data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed that initial jobless claims for the week ending March 7 fell to 213,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week, partially offsetting pessimism caused by the unexpected contraction in February nonfarm payrolls. However, economists cautioned that weak hiring activity indicates there is still slack in the labor market, with new entrants facing particular difficulty in finding jobs.
Illinois customer Matthew Stockov sued Costco in federal court on Wednesday, alleging that after tariffs imposed by the Trump administration under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, Costco still passed on tariff costs to consumers through price increases, constituting unjust enrichment. The lawsuit demands that Costco refund the overcharged tariff surcharges or share the tariff refunds it received.
Peloton Interactive announced in a securities filing that Chief Accounting Officer Saqib Baig will serve as interim Chief Financial Officer starting March 27, succeeding Liz Coddington, who departed due to "external opportunities." Baig has served as CAO since November 2022 and has also held the role of CFO for the commercial division since August of last year. Previously, he worked at Meta, Colgate-Palmolive, GE Capital, and Big Four accounting firms. The company is facing declining subscription numbers and continues to advance its restructuring plan to cut costs.