Cfo

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Morris Kupfer is VP of Finance at HighRadius , a global SaaS Fintech Company for the Office of the CFO. In The Art of War , Sun Tzu famously quipped, “In the midst of chaos, there is opportunity.” He believed that quickly reacting to any battle’s evolving realities and taking the right risks is key to marching ahead and tipping the outcome of the war. Tzu’s age-old advice still holds true about 2,500 years later—especially for CFOs that are today faced with an onslaught of macroeconomic challenges. Those that are invested in identifying their unique problems and continually improving their business are bound to create opportunities for themselves. Meanwhile, others that are putting on a tourniquet to stop hemorrhaging will likely find themselves playing catch-up for the foreseeable future. Why? Because fear without insight stops the circulation of progress. Spend A Little To Make A Lot—On Tech And … [Read more...] about Lessons For CFOs In Overcoming Economic Uncertainties

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Toby Carrington is the Executive Vice President of Global Operations at Seismic , making go-to-market teams more efficient and effective. The turbulent economy that came to define 2022 is still here, and its conclusion remains uncertain. Regardless, the shift away from growth at any cost has fundamentally changed priorities for the foreseeable future. The main priority for any business has pivoted to truly improving operations rather than simply tightening budgets and hunkering down for a few quarters. As a result, increased importance has been placed on the role of the CFO, especially when it comes to evaluating investments in new vendors and tech. Enterprises have begun examining opportunities for rigorous organizational alignment—and, thereby, the tools that help them achieve it. I served as a chief financial officer at the tail end of the 2008 recession, and having led operations teams in recent years, … [Read more...] about How CFOs Can Better Evaluate New Vendors In A Down Economy

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin CEO of Sales Readiness Group (SRG), author and speaker with a passion for coaching teams to peak sales performance. In times of economic uncertainty, corporate spending garners greater scrutiny and more decision makers. This is undoubtedly the case in 2023, when sales organizations see buying decisions being put on hold, budgets getting canceled and, in general, deals taking longer to close. One of the key players in these important decisions is the chief financial officer, who by all rights has more power this year to manage costs, reduce budgets and help “do more with less.” Organizations may see the spending approval level decrease, requiring careful consideration of business cases and additional justifications before contracts are approved. So it’s more important than ever that sales professionals know the CFO’s priorities, their decision making process and how to work with them effectively. Here are … [Read more...] about How To Sell To The CFO During Difficult Economic Times

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin By Guylaine Saint Juste, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Black Accountants, Inc. (NABA) The resilient labor market in the United States continues to challenge leaders to attract, retain and develop high-performing talent as there exist persistent business needs for a highly skilled workforce. Organizations need team players, problem solvers, out-of-the-box-thinkers, creative and strategic minds, can-doers and change agents who can create forward-looking solutions and deftly execute plans in collaboration with a highly diverse cohort of colleagues. As companies consider a variety of sources for talent, the answer might be readily available in their existing workforce. Research shows women continue to experience pay disparities , less access to growth and promotional opportunities than their male counterparts, and persistent challenges with work-life balance. If companies … [Read more...] about Unlock Your Organization’s Potential To Attract, Advance And Retain Black Women Leaders

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The top two obstacles to growth are winning new customers and building people capacity who are doing well by doing good. To help you with the first obstacle, I wanted to share how our Growth CFOs think about eCommerce. We learn a lot when working with CMOs and marketing experts. As the world becomes more connected and digital, e-commerce continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. In 2020 alone, global e-commerce sales topped $4.2 trillion, with projections indicating that this number will only continue to rise. With the ever-changing landscape of e-commerce, it's vital to stay ahead of the curve and understand the latest trends shaping the industry. Here are some of the key trends to watch in 2023: AI-Generated Noise: AI-produced articles and pictures are going mainstream fast. As a result, AI-generated content marketing will explode while its effectiveness decreases. To keep results going in the right … [Read more...] about The Future Of E-Commerce: Trends To Watch In 2023

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Both REITs admit climate risk is a material risk factor in their 10Ks. Coastal Risk, a consulting firm, and I tried estimating such risk using publicly available data. We made some progress but could not go too far. We need rules on quantitative climate risk disclosures that would help investors bound such risks, contrary to claims that our current voluntary disclosure regime is adequate. Climate risk disclosures are arguably the most controversial development in the staid world of accounting and reporting in recent times. As a case study, consider the SEC’s proposed climate risk disclosure rule which is reported to have attracted over 14,000 comment letters. The proponents of more and useful disclosure (including me) argue that climate-induced physical and transition risks are real for many businesses, but the current state of required disclosure does not give investors enough information to get a reasonable handle on … [Read more...] about The Need For Climate Risk Disclosures: A Case Study Of Physical Risk Of Two REITS, EQR And ARE

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Martha Amram is CEO of GLYNT.AI, which produces enterprise-grade sustainability data for finance and sustainability teams around the globe. 2023 is a transitional year for sustainability data. IFRS, the global accounting standards body, has been remarkably clear: By January 2024, companies should be using accounting-based standards to report sustainability data. This enables the key wins investors want: reliable sustainability data, ready for comparisons over time and across companies. In a previous article, I focused on " The Three A's Of Investor-Grade Emissions Data ." These are qualities of sustainability data that investors demand: accurate, actual and audit-ready. Investors are frustrated with current practices—the use of estimates instead of actual data, the lack of third-party reviews and the incredible variety of company reporting practices. But the quality gap in sustainability data cannot be … [Read more...] about The Trifecta Of Trust For Sustainability Data: Assertions, Assurance Reports And Audits

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin NS1 cofounder and CEO. Leading a world-class team to solve the biggest challenges in modern infrastructure. As recently as a few years ago, corporate IT departments had the authority to decide what technology the entirety of the company would use. But this changed over the recent period of tremendous digital transformation. The pandemic demanded robust, flexible and agile infrastructure to support remote work and online consumer experiences. And dwindling consumer patience for performance issues made downtime less acceptable than ever, so improving reliability, however possible, was a top priority. To quickly adapt to the times, many individual lines of business hurried to acquire new technologies on their own, forgoing the guidance of corporate IT. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a fragmented tech stack. A bank’s retail business line may have started using cloud services from AWS, while another might have … [Read more...] about Putting A Corporate IT Lens On Multi-Cloud, Multi-CDN And Application Traffic Management

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Sanjay Reddy is a co-founding partner of Unlock Venture Partners . In early-stage investing, venture capitalists don’t just evaluate the business opportunity, traction or total addressable market. The traits, ethics and drive of the founder or management team are more important than anything else. Diligence in the early stage of investing doesn’t look at company financials the same way a later-stage investment does, because those numbers don’t yet exist. It’s a common myth that every successful founder is a 22-year-old college dropout with big dreams. However, a study conducted by researchers from MIT, Northwestern, NBER and the U.S. Census Bureau discovered the average age of a founder with at least one employee was around 42. So what does diligence consist of in early-stage investing? It’s a combination of the founder’s experience, market knowledge, and personality and motivation. Experience … [Read more...] about 3 Things Early-Stage Investors Look For In Founders

FedEx Corporation ( FDX ) is the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 after the package delivery firm beat quarterly profit estimates and raised its full-year guidance. FedEx posted fiscal 2023 third quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $3.41, 25% above forecasts. Revenue fell 6.2% to $22.17 billion, short of expectations. The company credited the better profit to its cost-cutting measures, which helped offset “continued demand weakness” and inflation. It also boosted shipping prices in January. FedEx laid off workers, cut flights, grounded planes, reduced office space, and took other steps as part of a plan to reduce expenses by $4 billion a year through the end of 2025. Cost-Cutting Moves Paying Off CEO Raj Subramaniam said FedEx "continued to move with urgency to improve efficiency, and our cost actions are taking hold, driving an improved outlook for the current fiscal year." CFO Mike Lenz added, "Every dollar is under scrutiny." The company now anticipates … [Read more...] about FedEx Shares Rise on Earnings Beat, Improved Guidance