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JULY 2017 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 27 THE ACCOUNTING & AUDITING CHANNEL LATEST A & A NEWS FASB Proposes Changes to Consolidation Guidance. The change is intended to reduce the cost and complexity of financial reporting associ- ated with consolidation of variable interest entities (VIEs). http://cpapracticeadvisor.com/12347699 National Society of Accountants to Hold Convention in Reno. The annual convention will be held Aug. 21-24, 2017, at the Nugget Casino Resort. http://cpapracticeadvisor.com/12347503 Businesses Expect New Challenges on Lease Accounting. The new lease accounting standard will bring onto the balance sheet operating leases for assets such as real estate, transportation and IT. http://cpapracticeadvisor.com/12347490 Unraveling the Late Payment Challenge Through Automation. Late payments have a negative knock-on effect on partners and their oper- ations. http://cpapracticeadvisor.com/12345615 6 Ways Paying by Check Can Hurt a Busi- ness. Even though the use of paper checks for business payments has been slowly declining, most U.S. companies are still using them for 50 percent or more of their vendor payments. http://cpapracticeadvisor.com/12342608 63% of CFOs Expect Growth in Coming Year By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Managing Editor Chief financial officers at U.S. companies may be voicing concern about political and policy uncertainty, but their focus on offense over defense for the next year hit a new high and shows their underlying confidence, according to Deloitte's CFO Signals survey for the second quarter (2Q 2017). Sixty-three percent of CFOs surveyed say they are expect revenue growth, one of the highest levels in the survey's his- tory, and only 18 percent claim a bias toward cost reduction, for a survey-high net value of plus 45 percent. The bias toward investing cash over returning it to shareholders (62 percent versus 16 percent) hit another three-year high at a net plus 46 percent. CFOs also remain positive on the U.S. economy, with 65 percent saying current conditions are good and 58 percent expecting better conditions in a year. "Last quarter's CFO Signals survey registered the sharpest uptick in sentiment in its seven-year history, and the global economy has continued to show strength since. As a result, CFOs continue to be strongly optimistic," said Sandy Cockrell III, national managing partner of the U.S. CFO Program, Deloitte LLP. "However, our survey also picked up a growing concern from CFOs about political and policy uncertainty, as well as tal- ent shortages, all figuring among their most worrisome risks." All four business outlook metrics, tracked by this survey for 29 quarters, remain strong. Revenue growth expectations rose from 4.3 percent last quarter to 5.6 percent, above the prior two-year survey average. Earnings growth expectations rose to 8.7 percent from last quarter's 7.3 percent, a two-year high. Capital investment growth expectations fell to 9 percent this quarter from last quarter's 10.5 percent, but still sit at their second-highest level in five years. Domestic hiring expectations held steady quarter-over-quarter at 2.1 percent. Net optimism declined from last quarter's survey-high at plus 50 to plus 44 percentage points — the second-highest level in four years — with nearly 55 percent of CFOs expressing rising optimism and 11 percent citing declining optimism. "The positive investment outlook expressed by the CFOs is welcome, particularly since low productivity is one of the biggest economic issues facing the U.S. economy," said Patricia Buckley, managing director, economic policy and analysis, Deloitte Services LP. Almost seven years ago, CFOs were asked how they stay informed, and this quarter CFOs again answered questions about where they find information on macroeconomics, geopolitics, policy, financial markets, industry trends and management trends. Highlights of CFO responses include: ■ CFOs appear to be spending considerably more time staying abreast of global economic and policy developments than they used to, and also seem to be relying substantially on their own research. Notably, less than 25 percent say they have an on-staff economist. ■ Major global news outlets are still CFOs' primary sources of broad-based information, but there appears to be a rising reli- ance on subject matter specialists for deeper, industry-specific insight — especially consortia, professional services firms, bank analysts, and individual thought leaders. ■ The channels by which CFOs consume daily news — including websites, newsletters, TV and printed dailies — appear highly varied, and preferences appear to be significantly different by age. Device use also varies by age, but laptops were still the top device overall. Although social media use was indeed highest among younger CFOs, the age-related differences were not particularly strong. "CFOs have been citing volatility in the business environ- ment as a growing challenge for several years now, and this quarter's findings seem to show they are spending consider- able effort staying abreast of what's happening — across a very broad range of areas," said Greg Dickinson, managing director, Deloitte LLP, who leads the North American CFO Signals survey. "Some appear to get significant help from internal and external resources who focus on particular areas, but it also appears they are doing a lot of research on their own. ■ THIS MONTH'S TOP A&A; SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS ■ Are You Ready for New N o n p r o f i t L i q u i d i t y Requirements? From the A I C PA I n s i g h t s b l o g : http://bit.ly/2tjhY7v ■ M a n a g in g S c h e d ul e C Clients from QuickBooks O n l i n e A c c o u n t a n t . F r o m t h e I n t u i t F i r m o f t h e F u t u r e b l o g : www.firmofthefuture.com ■ A c c o u n t i n g , C P A s a n d B l o c k c h a i n . E r i c Johnson via LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/2s0gTxn ■ Controlling the Future of Revenue Recognition. From the Bloomberg BNA blog. http://bit.ly/2sPMTan ■ H o w C F O s C a n G e t T h e i r G r o o v e B a c k . Daphne Kis via LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/2qplY1N