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CFO Live

Impacts of the pandemic have given way to a new set of complex businesses conditions. How are CFO’s capitalising on growth opportunities in the face of rising inflation, low unemployment, energy transition pressures and supply chain issues?

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Telstra’s chief financial officer Michael Ackland, Mirvac chief financial officer Courtenay Smith and Challenger CEO Nick Hamilton at the AFR’s CFO Live summit on Tuesday.

Business says Trump’s return turns up competition for investment

Executives from Telstra, QBE, Challenger and Mirvac have warned that the US and even Britain risk pulling away from Australia by cutting red tape.

  • Updated
  • Jonathan Shapiro
NAB chief financial officer Nathan Goonan appearing virtually at the CFO Live summit on Tuesday.

NAB executive warns of ‘elusive’ productivity gains in age of AI

Finance executives have been circumspect about the transformative power of the new technology, suggesting return on investment should be the focus.

  • James Eyers
The group chief financial officer of Ramsay Health Care, Martyn Roberts.

Don’t dump corporate climate targets because of Trump, CFOs say

Big business is locked in to its decarbonisation path given commitments made in other countries, and to investors, senior executives said.

  • Amelia McGuire

Meet corporate Australia’s top bulldust detector

With nearly five decades of experience in the markets, Gary Weiss has seen it all. Here’s how he spots corporate BS, and his No. 1 rule as a director.

  • James Thomson

NSW braces for Trump trade turbulence and bond market shocks

The state’s treasurer has warned an erosion in free trade could make Australians poorer, as the incoming administration weighs imposing costly tariffs.

  • Michael Read
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November

Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland says businesses are stuck with a difficult dilemma.

This is why Australia is stuck in a rut

Low investment and productivity growth has left the country’s economy in the doldrums. The short-term challenges are large, but we can’t forget the long term.

  • James Thomson
ATO second commissioner Kirsten Fish will appear at CFO Live.

Tax Office tells CFOs to question their lawyers and accountants

Businesses should learn from the PwC tax scandal by testing the tax advice of accountants and lawyers to avoid being shamed in public, the ATO says.

  • John Kehoe

September

AFR

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.

December 2023

Some business leaders say decisions made using AI could be hard to justify in an inquiry or court.

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

November 2023

Brookfield’s Stewart Upson and EIG’s Blair Thomas.

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
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South32 CFO Sandy Sibenaler says industry needs to think about its own risk tolerance.

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
CFO live

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
Greg Yanco says the threat of criminal sanctions will put auditors on notice.

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
BHP CFO David Lamont had war stories from the miner’s OZ Minerals acquisition and Queensland coal mine sales.

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
From left: BHP chief financial officer David Lamont, JPMorgan’s Julian Peck, and Nick Kemp, head of property and infrastructure at  AustralianSuper at CFO Live.

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’s Gary Brown speaks to
senior Chanticleer columnist James Thomson at the CFO Summit on Tuesday.

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
The Australian Financial Review’s CFO Live Summit.

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
Endeavour Group chief financial officer Kate Beattie told CFO Live that hybrid working could fray workplace connectivity.

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
Jeremy Hirschhorn will address the CFO Live Summit on Tuesday.

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
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Whitehaven Coal’s CFO Kevin Ball was the top performer.

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
Super funds are hunting out opportunities to invest in the energy transition, but say options are limited onshore.

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
Origin Energy chief executive Frank Calabria will front shareholders at a scheme meeting on Thursday.

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
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

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
Australia’s economy has dropped down the rankings on business resilience.

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