FEI Weekly

September 19, 2019

A billion dollar accounting system upgrade, CFOs still fighting for talent Phoebe was more of a CEO, Monica a CFO

I Will Fix This Accounting System for.... $1 BILLION DOLLARS

Government Technology

The bill for State of California’s long-developing accounting program has surpassed $1 billion and continues to grow. The Financial Information System of California, or Fi$Cal, recently received an additional $145 million and a newly extended deadline of July 2020. California started work on the project 15 years ago. While state report’s argue the system is 98 percent functional, six departments still depend on legacy systems from around the 1980s to complete necessary financial tasks such as closing out month- and year-end financial statements.

Recession Tops Retaining Talent as Biggest CFO Concern

Duke Today

More than half of U.S. chief financial officers anticipate the economy will be in a recession within a year, according to the latest Duke University/CFO Global Business Outlook. U.S. optimism level dropped to 62.6, down from 65.7 in June and from 70.0 in September 2018. Economic uncertainty has hiring and retaining qualified employees as the top concern among CFOs, but talent issues remains an ongoing issue. “CFOs are frustrated about not being able to hire workers with skills that are well-matched to their job openings,” said John Graham, a finance professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and director of the survey.

Fighting Unconscious Bias Should Move Beyond Debate

Fortune

Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooy has been busy focused on paying it forward to the next generation of women by encouraging them to rally around each other and break new barriers together. Nooy argues that much of women’s ability to succeed at home and at work depends on existing workplace systems, which are rife with unconscious bias.“It’s very, very important that we stop talking about unconscious bias, and start doing something about it,” Nooy argues. “The onus is not just on the men. It’s on the women.”

The Economy May Tank, but Investors Still Buy, Buy, Buy

The Conversation

Stocks are usually considered a barometer of a company’s future prospects, so rationally you’d think market prices would be a lot lower if a recession were close at hand. After all, recessions are a drop in economic activity, which means consumers and businesses are buying less stuff. The answer to my students’ question has a lot to do with profits and interest rates, but also “animal spirits.” To understand why stocks keep going up, researchers argue that you need to consider not just what profits and interest rates are doing, and what Wall Street traders are focused on.

Friends As a Management Case Study

strategy + business

A successful small-scale trial can establish a new business model and an individual who speaks up about a problem can trigger substantive evolution. And all employees, wherever they are in the organizational chart, are continuously offered chances to prove themselves and effect change — even if they’re not always aware of them. And that’s totally what happened that time Monica and Phoebe were throwing a birthday party for Rachel.