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This morning's 6-3 Supreme Court decision invalidating President Trump's IEEPA tariffs is the most significant trade news in decades. For mid-market CEOs who have spent the past year absorbing higher margins, re-pricing products and rerouting supply chains, it's tempting to treat this as a clear-cut. it's not. The legal landscape may have changed dramatically, but uncertainty has not disappeared. It's just moving to another location. Think briefly about what questions you need to ask today and who to ask them. What took a hit and what didn't? Who should I ask? Trade lawyer or customs broker. It's today, not Monday.…

As CFO of Mark43, Chris Merwin plays a key role in helping modernize the public safety sector through technology that enables first responders to work more efficiently and effectively. He joins Jack McCullough to discuss how Mark43’s cloud-native platform supports mission critical operations for public safety agencies, his approach to financial leadership and how strong partnerships across the C-Suite is essential to driving impact. Listen by clicking below. The Q&A, lightly trimmed and edited for clarity, follows. — Listen to the podcast here This is going to be a great episode because it’s a young cool CFO with a fascinating…

There's a pattern that always emerges in every corporate planning meeting I talk to. At first, everything feels like it's in line. The growth assumptions are reasonable and the spending feels justified. The CEO is in agreement, the product is excited about the roadmap, sales is confident in the pipeline, and marketing is confident in the campaign. This plan feels inevitable. The treasurer then asks a simple question like, “What happens if this goes down by a quarter?” That doesn't mean it's a challenge. It's usually an honest attempt to understand how fragile the plan is. But you can feel…

If anyone has felt the pain of uncertainty this past year, it's manufacturers. But for Dave Ring, not knowing is just part of the deal. “Business likes certainty, but the reality is that everything is uncertain,” he says. “It can be frustrating at times, but to some extent it can be boring when everything is known.” Ring is CFO of Sentry Equipment. Sentry Equipment is a 100-year-old manufacturer serving highly engineered industrial environments and one of the earliest employee-owned companies in the United States, launching an ESOP 40 years ago. One component that Ring has chosen to focus on is…

How companies like Goldman Sachs maintain board diversity – Corporate Directors Skip to content Even as boards face increasing pressure from anti-DEI activists, they can protect board diversity by moving from vulnerable written policies to resilient, performance-based selection practices. Privacy protection. We have enhanced our privacy policy to better protect you. This policy includes the use of cookies to give you the best online experience and provide essential functionality of our services. By clicking “Close” or continuing to use our website, you agree to our Privacy Policy. Click here for our privacy policy. accept Privacy and Cookie Policy…

The digital asset ecosystem is rapidly evolving. In this rapidly evolving environment, trust is more important than ever for investors, and audit committees have a critical role to play when it comes to this emerging area. New data confirms that digital assets are no longer the exclusive domain of crypto-native companies. They are gradually becoming part of the reporting environment. CAQ analyzed Form 10-Ks of S&P 500 companies filed in 2025 and found that 47 companies (about 9 percent) mentioned digital asset-related information. Furthermore, the Fall 2025 survey revealed that 22% of audit partners said that companies in the primary…

Audit committees constantly face new challenges. Technology continues to advance rapidly and the rules continue to change. Audit committee responsibilities have changed over the years, as outlined in the CAQ and Deloitte Annual Audit Committee Practice Report. Over the past few years, the report highlights that priorities such as cybersecurity, enterprise risk management (ERM), finance and internal audit talent have consistently risen to the top of audit committee agendas, even as other areas such as compliance and AI governance have evolved over the years. This changing landscape highlights why audit committees must prioritize the development and implementation of robust action…

The disruption caused by the coronavirus and all the economic and political upheaval since then taught Kevin Cooper, chief financial officer at Atlanta-based fintech company Momnt, an important lesson: Finance executives are key to organizational agility. “You can't predict every disruption, but you can quickly pivot your business,” he tells CFO Leadership. “This requires a deep understanding of the financial picture and how each function contributes to performance and resiliency.” The role of the CFO is changing from just a financial controller to a strategic partner in shaping the direction of the business. How have you personally embraced this change,…

Let's have an honest conversation about AI in FP&A. Maybe I won't be invited to some conferences. Most of what is sold as “AI-powered insights” is vaporware dressed up in machine learning buzzwords. I've built and sold multiple SaaS companies. I sat on either side of the vendor table. And I've been following our industry journey for the past two years trying to convince CFOs that AI will replace FP&A analysts. All vendor sales pitches promise the same fantasy: “Our AI automatically generates predictions, predicts outcomes, and provides strategic insights!” That's nonsense. That's expensive nonsense. Everyone knows it (but no…

Changes at the top of American companies are accelerating. According to the Russell Reynolds CEO Turnover Index, the global average tenure of a departing CEO will be 7.1 years in 2025, up from 8.3 years in 2021. Decreasing tolerance for poor performance and behavior, increasing activist pressure, and intensifying technological, geopolitical, demographic, and stakeholder demands are reshaping their role, favoring agility over stability. For boards, the implications are clear. CEO turnover is becoming more frequent and more significant. But while many corporate boards profess to seek “future-ready” CEOs, their selection processes often remain traditional and backward-looking. In a world defined…