Tech companies are souring on outsourcing.
According to a survey of 100 chief financial officers at technology companies by BDO USA, LLP, just 35 percent said they are currently outsourcing services or manufacturing to companies outside of the US. This represents a 43 percent decrease from the 2009 high when 62 percent of companies were outsourcing and a slight decline from 2010 (37 percent).
What's more, the 65 percent that are not outsourcing would not consider going oversea [...]
The doom and gloomers are growing in numbers.
On a day when the ADP employment report for May showed slower job growth than expected and the ISM Manufacturing Index plummeted in May, at least two new reports were released indicating the business community and investors are becoming increasingly nervous about the future.
A global survey of 800 institutional investors and corporate executives found that 86 percent believe there are significant opportunities for growth in fin [...]
The funded status of pension funds slipped for the first time in nine months.
The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan in May fell 2.3 percentage points to 86.9 percent, according to monthly statistics published by BNY Mellon Asset Management. This also erased nearly half of the gains achieved since the beginning of the year.
"The sudden reversal in May reflected the impact of lower Treasury yields as investor concern grew regarding the [...]
One dozen companies paid no taxes over the most recent three-year period.
According to a study from Citizens for Tax Justice, the 12 companies paid an effective tax rate of negative 1.5 percent on $171 billion in profits. In the process, they reaped $62.4 billion in tax subsidies over the 2008-10 period.
Had these 12 companies paid the full 35 percent corporate tax, their federal income taxes over the three years would have totaled $59.9 billion. Instead, they enjoyed so m [...]
CFOs around the world are feeling good--good enough to start spending some money.
But they're going to do so carefully.
First of all they seem to feel better than they have in four years. That's according to a study of senior finance executives globally conducted by American Express/CFO Research Global Business & Spending Monitor.
Specifically, 75 percent foresee economic expansion over the next 12 months, the highest level in the four years the s [...]
Now this is what you can call inflation.
US employers are likely to shell out 8.5 percent more on healthcare costs in 2012 on top of an increase of 8 percent this year, according to an annual report on medical cost trends published by PwC's Health Research Institute.
However, mitigating changes in health benefit plan designs, including increased cost-sharing with employees, could keep employers' costs increases to an average of 7 percent next year. Of course, that is [...]
A growing number of companies think it is very important that their employees be healthy and plan to do something about this.
A new study from Towers Watson found that three out of four companies said workforce health and promoting health and well-being will be more of a priority this year and next. In addition, 87 percent said it will be a higher priority over the next two to four years.
Of course, actions speak louder than words. This said, some47 percent of those who r [...]
Inflation? What inflation?
Pundits are fretting that prices are poised to surge out of control. They are partly pointing to Friday's report that The Consumer Price Index increased 0.4 percent in April, pushing up the 12-month rate to a whopping 3.2 percent.
The worry warts then fret that this is the biggest 12-month gain since October 2008.
Never mind if you exclude food and energy, prices rose just 0.2 percent for the month and just 1.3 percent this year. Gra [...]
Is the economy steadily improving or is it at risk to slip back into a recession? Is inflation about to take off or are its fears unfounded?
The answer to these questions is debated daily, depending upon the published stat du jour.
Wholesale, consumer prices and commodities prices are rising, suggesting higher inflation. However, wages are not taking off yet and housing is still depressed. No inflation fears there.
Corporate profits are surging at rapid clips and [...]
Employees are once again ramping up their commitment to their 401(k) plans.
Just 2.4 percent of Defined Contribution plan participants stopped contributing in 2010, compared with 3.4 percent of participants in 2009, according to the ICI's latest quarterly study.
At the same time, DC plan withdrawal activity in 2010 was in line with the prior year's activity; participants generally did not tap their accounts. Only 3.5 percent of DC plan participants took withdrawals d [...]
It's official: The first quarter was a huge pleasant surprise.
In a report fired off to clients, Deutsche Bank figures with 87 percent of the S&P 500 companies having reported, earnings for the March three-month period surged 18 percent year-over-year. This far exceeded the 12 percent expectation at the beginning of the quarter.
It was also the ninth consecutive quarter of sequential earnings growth.
Earnings were driven by cyclical sectors such as Materials [...]
The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan in April rose 0.7 percentage points to 89.2 percent, the eighth consecutive month of improvement, according to monthly statistics published by BNY Mellon Asset Management.
The funding ratio for the typical corporate plan has improved 4.9 percentage points since the beginning of the year.
BNY Mellon attributes this su [...]
Chief Executive magazine's annual "Best & Worst States" survey once again singled out North Carolina as the second best state to do business.
"A handful of states have made business-friendly policies a priority," says J.P. Donlon, Editor-in-Chief of Chief Executive magazine and ChiefExecutive.net. "These forward-thinking states a [...]
The companies that comprise the S&P 500 generated a record high annual cash-flow value for 2010 of $1.145 billion, according to Standard & Poor's.
This beat the prior record of $1.117 billion set in 2006.
Even so, investors are not exactly celebrating this development. The market to cash-flow value at year-end was 9.1, down from the 9.5 at year-end 2009 and its 17.1 high of 1993, when S&P crack stat man Howard Silverblatt began calculating this date.
< [...]In the past week alone, two companies completed distressed exchange offers--US-based Liz Claiborne and Canada-based Cinram International.
This brings the total number of corporate defaults so far this year to six, including four based in the US, according to Standard & Poor's.
Don't despair. The overall default trend is way down from recent year.
Last year at this time, 30 global corporate issuers had already defaulted. Of that total, 21 were US-based i [...]
It's all about revenues.
Chief financial officers surveyed by Deloitte said nearly half of their companies' strategic focus is on revenue growth. This far exceeds their 30 percent focus on cost reduction.
And this emphasis on sales does not bode well for future job growth. Year-over-year domestic hiring growth projections for the first quarter of 2011 remained at a low 1.8 percent, similar to projections from the previous three quarters, according to the newly rele [...]
It looks like 2010 was a boom year for CEO compensation.
According to a new analysis of proxies conducted by Towers Watson, median total cash compensation increased 17 percent for CEOs last year. This compares with a 3 percent median increase the prior year. To compute cash compensation, the consulting firm includes base salary, as well as annual and discretionary bonus payments.
Total direct compensation, which includes total cash compensation plus the grant value of long [...]
As Corporate America gears up to report first quarter earnings this week, Deutsche Bank fired off a report to clients that predicts modest results and a modest reaction from the stock market.
The investment bank is looking for 6.9 percent year-over-year revenue growth, the sixth straight quarterly revenue increase. It will be led by revenues in energy, materials and info tech.
It believes that financials and utilities are the only two sectors that are poised to report sal [...]
If you take a look at the compensation tables in the proxies of the Wall Street giants, it is hard to believe it is only two years or so since the global financial meltdown.
You would almost think the top executives are running successful hedge funds, given their gargantuan gains. And to think they complained that the brief government involvement in their affairs.
Just look at the compensation of the chief financial officers of a handful of the firms that filed their repor [...]
Follow the bouncing stock market.
The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan in March climbed only slightly last month, by 0.5 percentage points to 88.5 percent, according to BNY Mellon Asset Management.
Even so, it was another monthly improvement, extended the streak to seven straight. As a result, in the first three months of this year, the funding ratio for the typical corporate plan has improved by 4.2 percentage points.
March was a fairly comp [...]