Violators pay SEC a record $4.7B in judgments

The agency brought hundreds of enforcement actions against companies and individuals in the fiscal year just closed, despite the pandemic. 

By Robert Freedman • Nov. 4, 2020

Wirecard CFO released from jail amid accounting fraud investigation

Burkhard Ley was released on bail Monday after German prosecutors found most of the fraudulent fintech's crimes to have been committed following his departure from the company in 2017.

By Jane Thier • Nov. 4, 2020

Sizing up ESG data and reporting quality

How do you move from talking the talk on environmental, social and governance goals to walking the walk on measuring and reporting?

By Robert Freedman • Nov. 3, 2020

CFO compensation less than half of CEO pay, study finds

Across industries, middle market CFOs have seen up to a 50% base pay reduction amid COVID-19, according to a BDO study. 

By Jane Thier • Nov. 1, 2020

Study: Stock compensation reporting may be misleading

Companies that report performance-based stock compensation as a target may give investors unhelpful information, according to University of Missouri assistant professor, Andrea Pawliczek. 

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 29, 2020

CFO KPI Close-up: Return on invested capital

"ROIC is a vastly superior way to measure long-term success than EBITDA," Jack McCullough of CFO Leadership Council says. So why don't more CFOs track it?

By Jane Thier • Oct. 27, 2020

PwC releases ESG reporting app

Finance leaders are under pressure to measure their company's performance on environmental, social and governance values. 

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 25, 2020

SEC charges Andeavor for inadequate controls

The company failed to show a stock buyback complied with a policy prohibiting repurchases while it was in possession of material non-public information.

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 20, 2020

SEC eases auditor independence rules

Audit firms are less likely to get in trouble for working with affiliated companies.

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 19, 2020

ESG to transform CFO role

Now that the Big Four have agreed on a set of metrics, the path forward is becoming clearer for standardized corporate ESG reporting.

By Ted Jackson • Oct. 18, 2020

CFO KPI Close-up

CFOs all rely on a standard set of financial metrics, but certain KPIs enable them to outperform the competition.

Oct. 13, 2020

Efforts to increase IPOs through deregulation gets thumbs down from SEC commissioner

IPOs have been declining for years, but "reflexively blaming overregulation" is not the answer, SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee said. 

By Ted Knutson • Oct. 12, 2020

Survey: CFOs expecting lower revenues, employment in 2021

Despite increased optimism, CFOs still report being below their pre-COVID levels of revenue and employment, a survey from Duke University Fuqua School of Business and the FRBanks of Richmond and Atlanta found.

By Jane Thier • Oct. 12, 2020

COVID-19 intensifying audit committee work

Helping CFOs and their teams make forward-looking assessments against pandemic uncertainty has become a focus, a survey shows. 

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 11, 2020

Ruby Tuesday files for bankruptcy

The casual chain has buckled under the weight of pandemic pressure and years of culling underperforming restaurants. It plans to reduce liabilities and restructure its business through the Chapter 11 process.

By Emma Liem Beckett • Oct. 7, 2020

As regulators step up data analytics, companies must do the same

Complying with government document requests is becoming too difficult and risky without predictive analytics tools, an e-discovery specialist says.

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 6, 2020

HP hit with $6M fine for violating disclosure controls

The company used incentives to "pull-in" to the current quarter sales of supplies they otherwise expected to materialize in later quarters. 

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 1, 2020

Auditors can improve non-GAAP measures, group says

Inconsistent calculation of EBITDA and other metrics not used in formal reporting can be made more informative if they're subject to external review.  

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 1, 2020

Ex-Amazon tax manager hit with insider trading

The employee had access to calculations used to finalize numbers in the company's quarterly and annual earnings filings. 

By Robert Freedman • Sept. 29, 2020

Using data-analytics tool, SEC catches two companies' accounting violations

In a first, the agency used risk-based data analytics to uncover accounting and disclosure violations in the way the companies manage and disclose their earnings. 

By Robert Freedman • Sept. 28, 2020

SEC hits BMW with $18M fine for false sales disclosures

 Investors who purchased some $18 billion in company bond offerings were misinformed about the pace of the company's U.S. sales.  

By Robert Freedman • Sept. 27, 2020

Revolution Lighting hit with SEC accounting violations

The company is alleged to have inflated its reported revenues over a four-year period. The former CEO and CFOs of the company's largest division are among executives charged with falsifying information. 

By Robert Freedman • Sept. 24, 2020

Peloton CFO: Company doesn't 'want, or need, gyms to die' to maintain growth

Jill Woodworth said the company's total recorded workouts, reaching almost 77 million in the quarter, is the KPI of which she is most proud.

By Jane Thier • Sept. 14, 2020

CFOs face a new way of disclosing risk under SEC Regulation S-K changes

New requirements are less prescriptive and more principles-based, which could mean a less consistent approach to enforcement.

By Ted Knutson • Sept. 3, 2020

Following strong Q2, Zoom CFO says video conferencing is here to stay

Even after in-person gatherings return, video conferencing will remain a fixture in business, education and communication, and "will be a part of our lives forever," Zoom finance chief Kelly Steckelberg said.

By Jane Thier • Sept. 2, 2020