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The rise of the CFO

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The chief financial officer is no longer just the gatekeeper of an organization’s financial health. Today, the CFO is its navigator for the business, shaping strategy, driving enterprise value and charting the course through an increasingly uncertain landscape. 

This role’s rising importance and versatility, tied with the skills CFOs must possess, has led to more CFOs being promoted to CEO. In 2023, 8.4% of CEOs at Fortune 500 and Standard & Poor’s 500 companies had made the transition, an increase from 5.8% in 2013, according to Crist|Kolder Associates. 

In financial services, the jump is more pronounced with one out of four chief executives at financial services firms having served as CFO. 

In turbulent times, it’s often those balancing the books who are No. 1 on speed dial, but the reason why CFOs are successfully making this transition is not just due to their ability to manage dollars and cents.

CFOs are now contributing across the business and addressing complex issues such as shareholder activism, geopolitics, cybersecurity and environmental instability. 

This is becoming even more essential in a world rapidly changing due to the technological acceleration of AI, new workforce dynamics, environmental pressures, geopolitical turbulence and capital market transitions. 

CFOs are expected to steer their businesses through this volatility, find opportunities in adversity and ensure decisions align with immediate needs and long-term goals. It is therefore vital in this changing world that they have the right tech stack to do their job. 

From gatekeeper to strategic enabler

Historically, CFOs focused on what had already happened from auditing, reporting and ensuring compliance. Today, the CFO must look forward, leveraging data-driven insights to chart future courses. 

This evolution is why the role now includes responsibilities across procurement, investor relations, mergers and acquisitions, and even cybersecurity.

Yet, this transformation hasn’t come without challenges. A McKinsey survey highlights how CFOs are increasingly tasked with collaboration across the C-suite, spearheading business transformation and navigating enterprise-wide performance management.

The number of roles reporting to the CFO also continues to increase, ranging from professionals in procurement, investor relations, M&A transactions/execution, enterprise transformation, post-merger integration and cybersecurity to IT. 

The reason why CFOs are being asked to provide advice on these various departments is because of the increased amount of data they now have at their disposal from advancements in technology. 

But this is both a blessing and a curse. With a plethora of tools available, the tech stack of today’s CFO can be fragmented and inefficient. 

Tools designed to solve one problem — whether spend management or FX hedging — are rarely built with the broader interconnected role of a CFO in mind. The result is a patchwork of systems requiring manual intervention, siloed data and time-consuming reconciliation.

The need for simplicity

There is an increasing emphasis on nonfinance roles including strategic leadership, business transformation and performance management.

CFOs are expected to quickly adapt and provide foresight into all of the potential risks and outline the best approach in implementing strategy in these areas, all while ensuring the business is balancing its books. 

Not only is the number of decisions increasing, but so is the pace at which they must be made. Almost all (91%) finance leaders say they are expected to make decisions “faster than ever before,” according to a poll by data platform Confluent

Therefore, CFOs need integrated, simplified solutions to empower smarter, faster decisions. The rise of fintech has introduced solutions that can help CFOs by automating financial processes, integrating disparate functions and providing real-time insights.

Treasurers benefit from centralized platforms that unify services like cross-border payments, FX operation and treasury management. This holistic approach does more than reduce errors and equips CFOs with the clarity and agility to make impactful decisions.

A future-focused role

As businesses face shifting tides — from AI advancements to geopolitical headwinds — the CFO remains at the intersection of every critical decision. Their ability to embrace technology, simplify complexity and lead with a risk-balanced perspective will determine the organization’s resilience and growth.

The exponential CFO is not only equipped to measure enterprise value but also to drive it. Their role will only grow in importance, as they continue to bridge the gap between strategy and execution, purpose and profit, and present and future.

CFOs must embrace new solutions that provide simplicity, integration and insights that will allow them to steer their decision-making with confidence in an increasingly complex world.

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House passes tax administration bills

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The House unanimously passed four bipartisan bills Tuesday concerning taxes and the Internal Revenue Service that were all endorsed this week by the American Institute of CPAs, and passed two others as well.

  • H.R. 1152, the Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Illinois, Suzan Delbene, D-Washington, Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania and Jimmy Panetta, D-California. The bill would apply the “mailbox rule” to electronically submitted tax returns and payments to allow the IRS to record payments and documents submitted to the IRS electronically on the day the payments or documents are submitted instead of when they are received or reviewed at a later date. The AICPA believes this would offer clarity and simplification to the payment and document submission process while protecting taxpayers from undue penalties.
  • H.R. 998, the Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, which would require notices describing a mathematical or clerical error to be made in plain language, and require the Treasury to provide additional procedures for requesting an abatement of a math or clerical error adjustment, including by telephone or in person, among other provisions.
  • H.R. 517, the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act, sponsored by Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tennessee, and Judy Chu, D-California. The process of receiving tax relief from the IRS following a natural disaster typically must follow a federal disaster declaration, which can often come weeks after a state disaster declaration. The bill would provide the IRS with authority to grant tax relief once the governor of a state declares either a disaster or a state of emergency and expand the mandatory federal filing extension under Section 7508(d) of the Tax Code from 60 days to 120 days, providing taxpayers with more time to file tax returns after a disaster.
  • H.R. 1491, the Disaster related Extension of Deadlines Act, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Murphy, R-North Carolina, and Jimmy Panetta, D-California, would extend the amount of time disaster victims would have to file for a tax refund or credit (i.e., the lookback period) by the amount of time afforded pursuant to a disaster relief postponement period for taxpayers affected by major disasters. This legislative solution would place taxpayers on equal footing as taxpayers not impacted by major disasters and would afford greater clarity and certainty to taxpayers and tax practitioners regarding this lookback period.

“The AICPA has long supported these proposals and will continue to work to advance comprehensive legislation that enhances IRS operations and improves the taxpayer experience,” said Melanie Lauridsen, vice president of tax policy and advocacy for the AICPA, in a statement Tuesday. “We are pleased to work closely with each of these Representatives on common-sense reforms that will benefit taxpayers, tax practitioners and tax administration and we’re encouraged by their passage in the House. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress to improve the taxpayer experience.”

The bills were also included in a recent Senate discussion draft aimed at improving tax administration at the IRS that are strongly supported by the AICPA.

The House also passed two other tax-related bills Tuesday that weren’t endorsed in the recent AICPA letter. 

  • H.R. 1155, Recovery of Stolen Checks Act, sponsored by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-New York, would require the IRS to create a process for taxpayers to request a replacement via direct deposit for a stolen paper check. If a check is determined to be stolen or lost, and not cashed, a taxpayer will receive a replacement check once the original check is cancelled, but many taxpayers are having their replacement checks stolen as well. Taxpayers who have a check stolen are then unable to request that the replacement check be sent via direct deposit. The bill would require the Treasury to establish processes and procedures under which taxpayers, who are otherwise eligible to receive an amount by paper check in replacement of a lost or stolen paper check, may elect to receive such amount by direct deposit.
  • H.R. 997, National Taxpayer Advocate Enhancement Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, would prevent IRS interference with National Taxpayer Advocate personnel by granting the NTA responsibility for its attorneys. In advocating for taxpayer rights, the National Taxpayer Advocate often requires independent legal advice. But currently, the staff members hired by the National Taxpayer Advocate are accountable to internal IRS counsel, not the Taxpayer Advocate, creating a potential conflict of interest to the detriment of taxpayers. The bill would authorize the National Taxpayer Advocate to hire attorneys who report directly to her, helping establish independence from the IRS. 

House  Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri, applauded the bipartisan House passage of the various bills, which had been unanimously passed by the committee.

“President Trump was elected on the promise of finally making the government work better for working people,” Smith said in a statement Tuesday. “This bipartisan legislation helps fulfill that mandate and makes improvements to tax administration that will make it easier for the American people to file their taxes. Those who are rebuilding after a natural disaster particularly need help filing taxes, which is why this set of bills lightens the load for taxpayers in communities struck by a hurricane, tornado or some other disaster. With Tax Day just a few days away, we must look for common-sense, bipartisan ways to make filing taxes less of a hassle.”

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Accounting

In the blogs: Many hats

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Teaching fraud; easement settlement offers; new blog on the block; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Many hats

  • Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): There’s sure an “I” in this “teamwork:” What to know about potential IRS and ICE collaboration.
  • Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): How IRS data would likely be unhelpful validating SNAP eligibility.
  • Yeo & Yeo (https://www.yeoandyeo.com/resources): How financial benchmarking (including involving taxes) can help business clients see trends, pinpoint areas for improvement and forecast future performance.
  • Integritas3 (https://www.integritas3.com/blog): One way to take a bite out of crime, according to this instructor blogger: Teach grad students how to detect, investigate and prevent financial fraud.
  • HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): Verifying income, fairly distributing property, digging the soon-to-be-ex’s assets out of the back of the dark, dark closet: How forensic accounting has emerged as a crucial element in divorces.

Standing out

Genuine intelligence

  • AICPA & CIMA Insights (https://www.aicpa-cima.com/blog): How artificial intelligence and other tech is “Reshaping Finance,” according to this podcast. Didem Un Ates, CEO of a U.K.-based company offering AI advisory services, tackles the topic.
  • Taxjar (https:/www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): How AI and automation can help even the knottiest sales tax obligations and problems.
  • Dean Dorton (https://deandorton.com/insights/): Favorite opening of the week: “The madness doesn’t just happen on college basketball courts — it also happens when your finance team is stuck using a legacy on-premises accounting system.”
  • Canopy (https://www.getcanopy.com/blog): Top client portals for accounting firms in 2025.
  • Mauled Again (https://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): Despite what Facebook claims, dependents have to be human.

New to us

  • Berkowitz Pollack Brant (https://www.bpbcpa.com/articles-press-releases/): This Florida firm offers a variety of services to many industries and has a good, wide-ranging blog. Recent topics include the BE-10, nexus and state and local tax obligations, IRS cuts and what to know about the possible bonus depreciation phase out. Welcome!

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Accounting

Is gen AI really a SOX gamechanger?

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By streamlining tasks such as risk assessment, control testing, and reporting, gen AI has the potential to increase efficiency across the entire SOX lifecycle.

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