Syria's ongoing civil war has claimed more than 28,000 lives, left 1.5 million people homeless, and sent 500,000 Syrians into exile. But as far as CFOs are concerned, it's still a better place for foreign investment than debt-battered, austerity-riven Greece.
Investors, it turns out, you really can't trust the numbers you see in those quarterly reports: Researchers at Emory and Duke universities say that at any given time, about 20% of publicly traded firms are misrepresenting their earnings.
Walgreen Chief Financial Officer Wade Miquelon was arrested on drunk driving charges last month -- his second such arrest in a little more than a year. The drugstore chain calls it a personal matter, but when it comes to executives, when does personal irresponsibility become a corporate problem?
When companies use the word "immaterial" to describe errors or irregularities in their previously reported numbers, what they're trying to say is that their mistakes involved such small amounts that they don't really matter. Too often, though, that's not really the case.
Verizon Communications said that CFO John F. Killian will retire near the end of this year. No successor was named.
Chief financial officers at U.S. companies are increasingly pessimistic about the job market over the next six to 12 months: Results from two independent surveys say most firms don't plan to do any significant hiring until 2011 or beyond.