The Trial Balance is CFO’s weekly preview of stories, stats, and events to help you prepare.
Part 1: Tipalti CFO’s on AI, Peer Audit on Digital Communication
This week’s stories include senior reporter-at-large Vince Ryan’s talk with Sarah Spoja, CFO of Tipalti, about the potential uses for artificial intelligence in the office of the CFO as well as its applications in accounting, financial planning, and forecasting (3/21).
Reporter Adam Zaki publishes an edition of the Peer Audit series on the topic of addressing tone in digital communications like email or instant messages. The CFOs of Planned Parenthood, Treasury Prime, Kapitus, Generation West Virginia, Apex, and others share their advice. (3/22).
Part 2: This Week
Artificial intelligence enthusiasts hope to hear compelling news about the technology underpinnings of accelerated computing and generative AI when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers a highly anticipated keynote at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose on Monday afternoon. You can watch it here.
“Positive trading here would encourage other IPO candidates to finally pull the trigger.”
Bill Smith
CEO, Renaissance Capital
The second meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in 2024 takes place. With no surprises in store (we think), CFOs may be more interested in three relatively large initial public offerings set to launch: Reddit, Auna, and Astera Labs. “With no major offerings since early February, having three on the calendar is a sight for sore eyes,” said Bill Smith, CEO and founder of IPO ETF provider Renaissance Capital, in an email. “Positive trading here would encourage other IPO candidates to finally pull the trigger.”
There’s positive preliminary news about two of the deals: According to Seeking Alpha, the Reddit IPO — which could raise nearly $750 million — is already oversubscribed. But, as the financial media outlet points out, that’s no guarantee of a first-day bump. Astera Labs raised both its offering price and the number of shares to be sold, upping the equity raise by 29%, to $653 million.
If these deals don’t dazzle, don’t expect investment bankers and late-stage startups to throw in the towel on 2024. None of the companies is without flaws. For example, Auna, a Peruvian healthcare provider, is making its second attempt at going public, and most of the IPO proceeds, according to the company, will be used to repay debt (a turn-off for some investors).
The FOMC announces its monetary-policy decision and Fed Chair Jerome Powell holds his post-meeting press conference on Wednesday. The committee’s economic projections and “dot plot” forecast of interest rates, as well as Powell’s remarks, are the wild cards, as the markets try to figure out if the FOMC expects to lower the Fed funds rate in June. Fed funds futures pricing still implies a 50% probability of a 25-basis-point rate cut.
On Wednesday, the Financial Accounting Standards Board discusses research on and the direction of the Accounting for and Disclosure of Software Costs project.
It will be a relatively quiet week for economic data releases, except in the housing category. Housing starts, building permits, and homebuilder confidence data hit the wires on Monday and Tuesday, and numbers on existing home sales for February will be revealed on Thursday.
Earnings this week: Lululemon Athletica, Nike, StoneCo, Comtech. Science Applications, JinkoSolar Holding, Tencent Music, Caleres, Micron Technology, Signet Jewelers, General Mills, Five Below, Accenture, Darden Restaurants, J. Jill, Designer Brands, Winnebago Industries, Hyzon Motors.
Part 3: Leading Business Transformation
Simone Grimes, CFO of Arcadia Insurance, will publish a contributed column on how CFOs can lead business transformation. Grimes, whose career started with a mix of audit experience at PwC and advisory for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, brings a unique set of experiences along with her perspective (3/19).