Risk management

Credit action helped payments company FLEETCOR withstand COVID-19

The company reined in the amount companies could float, limiting its exposure amid the uncertainty.

By Robert Freedman • Nov. 15, 2020

Opinion

Using data analytics to improve audit functions

Data analytics let finance leaders employ a risk-based approach to conducting internal and compliance audits and prioritize improvements when problems are found.  

By Greg Buchanan, Michael Costa and Ed Levy • Nov. 08, 2020

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. 04, 2020

Extraction, retail companies comprise majority of 2020 mega bankruptcies

Filings by companies with $100 million or more in assets have jumped 84% over last year. More than a third involve companies with $1 billion or more in assets.

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 29, 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

Emergency government procurement opens opportunities — and risks

Agencies are bypassing procedures to get COVID-19-related goods and services faster. Ensure the solidity of your own processes before doing business with them, specialists advise.

By Robert Freedman • Oct. 18, 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

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. 06, 2020

M&A politicization presents new CFO challenges

The Trump Administration's call for an American company to oversee U.S. operations of TikTok adds a level of uncertainty to future cross-border deals involving consumer technology.

By Ted Knutson • Oct. 01, 2020

Companies lagging on LIBOR transition; lawsuits expected

There's little chance regulators will delay the December 2021 transition because of the pandemic, specialists say. 

By Robert Freedman • Sept. 29, 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

Executives risk wealth loss as bankruptcies increase

CFOs and other corporate leaders face big personal losses if their company goes bankrupt and their deferred compensation is tied to nonqualified accounts.    

By Robert Freedman • Sept. 28, 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

Rotations don't lead to audit improvements, studies find

Efforts by firms to minimize disruption when engagement partners leave appear to work well in keeping audit quality high. 

By Robert Freedman • Sept. 27, 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

Modeling skills a key shift in FP&A teams, CFOs say

The pandemic has accelerated the trend of new finance hires being expected to bring modeling competency to improve predictive analytics capabilities.  

By Robert Freedman • Sept. 22, 2020

CFO: Crisis 'not a good time to slow down' on innovation

Shoring up cash and investing for growth can happen in tandem, Learn4Life Network finance leader Guita Sharifi says.

By Robert Freedman • Sept. 21, 2020

The cost CFOs refuse to cut: Employee retention

As the pandemic drags on, CFOs are reexamining their budgets and overwhelmingly opting to protect staff retention efforts, fearing the costly departure of top performers.

By Jane Thier • Sept. 16, 2020

Opinion

Real-time planning helps CFOs answer pandemic-critical 'what if' questions

To forecast today, think in shorter time horizons, identify how COVID-19 changes your business drivers, use large amounts of quality data to weigh "what if" scenarios, and create agile processes, specialists say. 

By Paul Prendergast and Patrick Picha • Aug. 27, 2020

Wall nonprofit said to have used shell entities to pass donations to officers

We Build the Wall is charged with using a shell nonprofit, a veiled corporation and two anonymous associates as part of an effort to pass payments to officers.

By Robert Freedman • Aug. 24, 2020

Judge OKs lawsuit by businesses seeking coronavirus-related insurance claims

In a first, restaurants and other businesses hit by pandemic shutdowns can move forward on legal efforts to get insurers to pay on business interruption policies.

By Robert Freedman • Aug. 23, 2020

Improper revenue recognition tops SEC fraud cases

Attorneys who work with SEC whistleblowers walk through the 10 most common types of fraud in an Accounting Today analysis.  

By Robert Freedman • Aug. 20, 2020

Rank-and-file sexual harassment can devalue companies by 20%

Sexual harassment that doesn't make the news won't often affect stock prices right away, but within a year it can hit valuations hard.

By Robert Freedman • Aug. 17, 2020

Opinion

Making recovery audits part of your source-to-pay process

Invoicing errors chip away at margins, eventually turning into large losses, which recovery audits can help address.

By Mark Irwin • Aug. 13, 2020