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CFOs at the helm: driving growth in a dynamic business landscape
How today’s CFOs are at the forefront of strategic decision-making, driving innovation and unlocking future opportunities for growth.
CFO Live - Early bird registration
The Australian Financial Review’s sixth annual CFO Live summit will explore how the nation’s top finance chiefs and business leaders are dealing with the evolving financial, operational, cyber and regulatory risks.
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CFOs at the helm: driving growth in a dynamic business landscape
How today’s CFOs are at the forefront of strategic decision-making, driving innovation and unlocking future opportunities for growth.
Why execs don’t trust AI with big decisions yet
A year after the launch of ChatGPT, businesses dabbling with generative AI aren’t convinced the technology would hold up under the intense scrutiny of a senate inquiry or lawsuit.
- Tess Bennett
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
PwC scandal hangs over audit quality fight, but clients aren’t waiting
While the professional services sector awaits more detail on ASIC’s new audit quality review, clients are voting with their feet.
- James Thomson
- Exclusive
- Energy
Brookfield contemplates relisting Origin in as little as five years
The Canadian giant has told potential co-investors that it could bring the energy group back to the stock exchange in a shorter timeframe than most expected.
- Anthony Macdonald
Proxy firms say executives need more ‘skin in the game’
The boards of locally listed companies can do better to align executives with bonus payments, they say, and boards must be more independent on remuneration.
- Jonathan Shapiro
November 2023
ASIC hopes threat of criminal sanction enough to force good audits
The regulator this year slashed the number of audits it reviews in its annual quality inspection regime from 45 to 30, even amid wider scrutiny on the sector.
- Hannah Wootton
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Energy transition penny drops on M&A, capital deals
Everything comes back to how to invest in and make money from the energy transition.
- Anthony Macdonald
Gold miners lift ASX, Origin Energy weighs
Shares jump; Plenti boosted by NAB; retail sales fall 0.2 per cent; Origin delays LNG shipments; $A above US66¢; Follow CFO Live updates here.
- Updated
- Timothy Moore, Cecile Lefort, Joshua Peach, Joanne Tran and Sarah Jones
Dealmakers told to ‘give up weekends’ as M&A gets stuck
Bankers and company chiefs are encountering more shareholder activism, while interested buyers do not want to get stuck in bidding wars for assets.
- Updated
- Aaron Weinman
AGL hangs its strategy on energy demand rise, not Paris Agreement
EVs will spark a 30 per cent increase in home electricity consumption as drivers plug their cars in to recharge overnight.
- Elouise Fowler
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Remote work, red tape and AI: Top CFOs name big risks
The country’s top financial officers believe corporate Australia is heading towards a likely economic slowdown in good shape. But there are risks ahead.
- James Thomson
Work from home frays workplace connections
Endeavour CFO Kate Beattie worries that remoteness may hinder collaboration as leading chief financial officers say bringing people together drives innovation.
- Jemima Whyte
ATO warns small business to stop using tax to ‘prop up’ cash flow
Operators are increasingly using unpaid tax and superannuation liabilities to support their cash flow, attracting growing scrutiny from the Tax Office.
- Tom McIlroy
The 25 best-performing CFOs in Australia
Whitehaven Coal’s Kevin Ball has topped the ranks of the country’s best performing financial bosses, based on the increase in the miner’s market capitalisation.
- Patrick Durkin
AusSuper to use ‘disproportionate’ footprint to block Origin deal
Several super funds have backed the giant’s stance that there are insufficient opportunities to deploy their capital in the energy transition locally.
- Hannah Wootton
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Origin Energy share price tells the proxy story
The bulk of the votes for Origin Energy’s scheme meeting are in, and while everyone claims to have not seen the “final” numbers, we can see where this is headed.
- Anthony Macdonald
Treasury casts doubt on ACCC claims about bad behaviour in mergers
The ACCC is pushing for a mandatory approval regime, meaning parties would not only have to tell the regulator of deals but also get approval before going ahead.
- Michael Read
Sharp drop in Australia’s economic competitiveness
New analysis of a major international index of competitiveness has a bleak message for the country’s economic leaders, and suggests future prosperity is at risk.
- Tom McIlroy
October 2023
Energy transition, digital shift make merger reform ‘critical’: ACCC
Fundamental changes to the economy triggered by decarbonisation and digitisation make it even more “critical” for the regulator to oversee major mergers, it warns.
- Hannah Wootton
Why ASIC stopped naming and shaming the big four over audit quality
The corporate regulator has now flagged it is planning to begin reviewing the operations of the six largest firms from next year.
- Edmund Tadros and Patrick Durkin
Super fund CEOs put ASX on notice over workplace conditions
Industry super funds are using their $3.5 trillion asset pool to influence companies on decent work conditions, secure contracts and banning sexual harassment.
- Updated
- Hannah Wootton
- Exclusive
- Construction
Greenwash clash as funds hit Boral board over lowered carbon targets
A group of funds led by HESTA and AMP are demanding Boral reinstate its 2030 emissions reduction target. Boral says that would be akin to greenwashing.
- Hannah Wootton
Big super funds against pubs billionaire’s Endeavour shake-up
The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors recommends a vote against Bruce Mathieson jnr and Bill Wavish in the Endeavour Group tussle.
- Updated
- Simon Evans and Carrie LaFrenz
- Exclusive
- Funding
Employment Hero secures $263m in year’s biggest capital raising
The human resources technology firm has shrugged off depressed private tech market sentiment and is now valued at just shy of $2 billion.
- Paul Smith
- Opinion
- Bonds
The worrying rise in corporate busts
More businesses are looking down the barrel of insolvency, as an economic slowdown crimps sales and squeezes profit margins as borrowing costs soar.
- Karen Maley
