FEI Podcast

The post pandemic economy has reset the playbook for many financial executives and industries, but one company that seemed to have thrived in the crisis is Nashville-based Tractor Supply Company. With stores throughout the US and a focus on rural America, Tractor Supply has grown by double digits in terms of sales and new customers. As part of Financial Executive Weekly’s continuing series on fina...

How organizations recruit and retain their top talent has never been more of a hot button issue in the finance and accounting industry than it is at this time. Whether it’s the decline in qualified graduates or a no holds barred war for existing talent, how to incentivise and manage your workforce is going through a generational shift that requires pulling many different levers. But its not just a...

It’s no surprise that the pandemic led companies to reevaluate and adjust their approach to hiring. It also led candidates to reassess their professional preferences and priorities. For Wichita, Kansas-based Koch Industries and its companies, this was an opportunity to disrupt the way they view and hire talent in the tax and accounting fields. Koch developed an apprenticeship program that aimed to...

Accounting fraud and how to model it with Dr. Daniel Beneish The search for corporate and accounting fraud has become its own form of academic study with researchers and universities trying to determine the common threads that would offer the easiest path to discovering deceit. It is also fueled the sometimes highly profitable investment practice of “shorting” stocks. One of the most established a...

To get some clarity around the issue, I speak with Lisa Knee of EisnerAmper, Tax Partner and National leader of the firm's Real Estate practice and the National Real Estate Private Equity Group her perspective on changes in the commercial real estate market over the next fiscal year and what both CRE investors and users are thinking. Take our podcast survey Join FEI Special Guest: Lisa Knee.

There is no shortage of hot takes when it comes to the possibility of generative artificial intelligence in finance, especially when it comes to consultants or vendors talking about the ways it can be leveraged by large enterprises in accounting and financial reporting. But like in many instances, first mover advantage usually belongs to investors leveraging new technologies as a window into the b...

At it's core, generative AI has the potential to bring transformative impact to business and society, comparable to the paradigm shift brought about by cloud technology. Yet despite interest from executives to want to implement Generative AI, a recent survey showed that many CFOs still face significant barriers when introducing AI within their workflow. On this episode of the Financial Executives...

As the US slips closer – again – to the threat of default, one of the ways policymakers talk about delaying the crisis is the use of “extraordinary accounting measures.”. Now, that is not a term you hear in the private market and, I would think, if it were used there would be more than a few red flags brought up by investors and regulators. So in today’s podcast we speak with Justin Marlowe, Resea...

For the State of California, oversight over the water supply is of utmost concern. Especially on the back of recent climate related events. On this episode of the Financial Executives Podcast we sit down with PPIC Water Policy Center Research Fellow, Andrew Ayres to learn about water accounting: what it is and how the accounting model can be applied outside climate related risks. Special Guest: An...

The past three years have been marked by turbulent change. The unanticipated global pandemic fundamentally altered the ways in which organizations operate. From accelerating digital transformations to enabling a highly-functioning virtual work environment, the past three years have forced organizations to be resilient in the wake of adversity.   On the three year anniversary of the COVID...

It didn’t take long following the most recent banking crisis for the conversation to turn to a debate around accounting and disclosure. Particularly, the fair value and hold to maturity treatment that financial institutions employ around the securities on their balance sheets. In this episode of the podcast we speak with Rober Pozen, currently a senior lecturer at the MIT School of Management. Bef...

At the onset of the new year, the WSJ reported the SEC is “considering a softening of planned rules” while also highlighting the proposed 1% threshold, otherwise known as a bright-line test. On this episode of the Financial Executives Podcast, we sit down with Maura Hodge, KPMG’s ESG Audit Leader, to get a better understanding of what the 1% disclosure threshold could mean for companies and their...

The past several days have brought new attention to the way financial institutions communicate the health of their balance sheet and the way that investors and depositors react. In this episode of the podcast we speak with Pingyang Gao, Area Head of Accounting and Law and Professor at Hong Kong University. Before joining HKU in 2020, Dr. Gao had been on the faculty of Chicago Booth School of Busin...

Financial executives across the US were given a taste of the unthinkable last week when Silicon Valley Bank was closed by regulators and thousands of businesses - mostly venture or privately backed – had their deposits threatened. Although regulators stepped in and ended the panic, what was unthinkable suddenly became possible. Would my business lose its deposits? How will I make payments? What if...

Towards the end of last year in December 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that more than 300,000 US accountants and auditors had left their jobs in the past two years. On the academic front, they reported that college enrollment for finance and accounting degrees fell by 17%. Now, this mass exodus of finance and accounting professionals is not entirely a new phenomenon. We've heard a lot ove...

Tensions with China have been at the top of the political discourse over the past several months whether it's rouge balloons or Taiwan trips. And just like the geopolitical landscape, the capital markets are coming to terms with a reset of the relationship between the US and PRC. In this episode of the Financial Executive Podcast we speak with Weiheng Chen, partner with the law firm of Wilson Sons...

COVID-19 induced workplace shifts had an affect on almost every indusry. But for the finance and accounting profession at large, these shifts have contributed to a mass exodus of accountants. It was reported by the Wall Street Journal that more than 300,000 U.S. accountants and auditors have left their jobs in the past two years and colleges across the United States have seen a 17% decline in the...

Whatever the future holds for the finance function – recession, supply chain disruptions, or management pivots – having the correct and latest financial information will be the key to success. A large part of the battle to optimize financial information falls within an organization's digital transformation efforts. In this sponsored episode of the financial executive podcast we speak with Gina Fer...

Mentorship in finance and accounting is more important than ever as the economy and job market changes. That’s one of the reasons Financial Executives International is launching a new mentorship platform as part of FEI Engage. In this episode of the podcast we listen to some of the most relevant discussions that FEI’s Olivia Berman had last year as part of FEI Engage’s How I Got Here series. In or...

The War in Ukraine created a new global energy crisis, while at the same time the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act is making a historic investment in solar and renewable energy. The question remains whether the transition away from fossil fuels can keep pace with renewable sector’s capacity as a reliable source of energy for the US economy. Special Guest: William (Tres) Petmecky.

In this sponsored episode of the Financial Executive podcast we speak with Rehman Rashid, Finance Leader at Workday and Rex Blodgett Director, People Analytics at Workday, regarding their approach to closely tying together finance and human resources for more effective planning, Special Guests: Rehman Rashid and Rex Blodgett.

Whether it’s uncertainty in the Gulf, war in Ukraine or the move to renewable sources, the energy industry is facing a generational paradigm shift with long-term implications for its future. Not since the crisis of the 1970s have energy providers been confronted with so many risks and opportunities. Fossil fuels remain at the center of the global energy ecosystem, and Houston-based Halliburton pro...

Environmental, Social and Governance standards have recently moved beyond the realm of necessities. These standards, used to attract socially conscious investors, have become necessities for companies and organizations alike. The real struggle for many investors is tangibility and practicality. Greenwashing too, has become a real industry challenge. Chris McClure is the leader of the Crowe's newly...

October 11 is National Coming Out Day and we thought it would be a good time to share a conversation that took place earlier this year during Financial Executives International Belonging In Finance. Dillon Papenfuss, FEI’s Director of Research and Kevin Lavin, a partner with EY had a very thoughtful discussion about some of the hurdles they faced when coming out in the industry and what changes th...