CFO

Earlier this year, an unnamed company was defrauded by a ‘deepfake’ CFO. The Financial Times confirmed the company independently through two people familiar with the matter. Arup “notified the police about an incident of fraud in Hong Kong,” confirming “that fake voices and images were used,” the company said. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eDiss55V

Erica Williams, chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) discusses working with former President Obama, the auditor selection process and addresses the accountant shortage. Adam Zaki: What are your thoughts on the auditor selection process? I compare it to a restaurant being able to pick their health inspector. What are your thoughts on how this compares, and are you having these conversations? Erica Williams: No. Our job is to regulate audit firms and issuers, but the company has the right to select the auditors. That’s not something that is in our purview or is something we want to get into enforcing. What we want to make sure is that the auditors they select are driving audit quality. I think auditors have the same shared goal as we do, to protect investors. One of the things that we do here is to try and engage with the audit committees. So every year, we do an outreach to audit committees, and we put out a spotlight that has questions that these committees should be asking their auditors. Also, through our inspection process, we meet with audit committee chairs. Last year, we met with 200 of them to talk about what we are seeing in our inspections with respect to deficiencies and we answered their questions. Read the full Q&A here: https://lnkd.in/epz7w5EP

CFOs at Northrop Grumman and Charles Schwab to retire, Saia promotes VP of finance to chief financial officer and MoneyHero hires a new finance chief. Read this week’s edition of CFOs On the Move here: https://lnkd.in/ePnnGbDE

📰 Preferred Shares: Q&A With PCAOB Chair Erica Williams, CFOs on CPA requirements and 'BYOAI' This week’s newsletter highlights our recent discussion with Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Chair Erica Williams; takes from CFOs on possible CPA requirement changes; and how a large majority of AI users are bringing their own AI tools to work. Read this week's edition of Preferred Shares here:

"It’s time for CFOs to pause and reassess DEI programs so they can be incorporated the right way," writes Jay T., vice president and general manager of workforce solutions at the University of Phoenix. "Still, there’s cause for criticism in how companies have approached diversity initiatives, and, like any new program, there were fits, starts and undoubtedly mistakes made along the way," Titus writes. "Some companies rushed to adopt DEI measures viewing them as beneficial to company culture rather than integral to business success." Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eSN6k6p5

A large majority of those users are bringing their own AI tools to work, according to data from Microsoft and LinkedIn. Bring Your Own AI (BYOAI) is happening across organizations because many employees are not willing to wait for their employers to provide the tools to them. Nearly eight in 10 (78%) of AI users are bringing their own AI to the workplace. Read the full story comparing this data to SAP Concur data on CFOs and AI here: https://lnkd.in/eeN5h-Gc

Cybersecurity threats may be greater than many realize, however, leaders of company business units appear to be more realistic than their corporate bosses. Cyberattacks directed at SMBs have surged in recent years, according to a new research report by password management company LastPass and research firm InnovateMR. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eTwYTWQp

“2023 was a fabulous year for the dual mandate of the Fed — inflation fell by as much as it has ever fallen, and it occurred without a big recession.” Austan Goolsbee believes we are more likely in a restrictive state, but that the “data dogs need to do some sniffing. Are we on the path like last year? … Or did we use up all our good luck and now the beginning of this year is a sign of overheating?” Read this week's edition of Trial Balance here: https://lnkd.in/eKYGysj6

Lisa VanPatten left her CFO position to experience sales consulting, then brought what she learned back to the C-suite. Sandra Beckwith: How does your background – especially your sales consulting experience – affect how you do your job at Transcend? Lisa VanPatten: I work closely with sales because we are focused on building momentum and a customer base. Back in the day, if they had said, “We need to expand the commission plan” or “We need to give this kind of incentive,” I probably wouldn’t have been as receptive as I am now. Read the full Q&A here: https://lnkd.in/dsEQvy6K

CFOs and finance leaders share their takes on whether CPA requirement changes are necessary to address talent issues within corporate finance. "Lowering the standards for the sake of headcount may not only impact future work, but leave current accountants wondering why they had to put in all of the work in the first place," writes reporter Adam Zaki. Read the full story with takes from Razzak Jallow of FloQast, Stacey Ryan Cornelius of Ogilvy, Nick Araco JR of the The CFO Alliance, and Lori Love, CPA of Eide Bailly LLP here: https://lnkd.in/eKYp3G8a