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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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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
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
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

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

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
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November

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
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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
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

October

ACCC chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb says merger reform is more urgent than ever.

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
The ATO case adds to increased spotlight on the big four following the PwC tax scandal.

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 Paul Schroder (AustralianSuper), Debby Blakey (HESTA), Deanne Stewart (Aware Super), Vicki Doyle (Rest Super), Bern Reilly (Australian Retirement Trust) and Peter Chun (UniSuper) are actively engaging with company boards, which they say will improve the value of their investments.

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
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Boral and the broader cement and concrete industry are particularly vulnerable to climate change, investors say.

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
Endeavour Group owns the Dan Murphy’s liquor chain, BWS and 354 hotels.

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
Employment Hero co-founders Ben Thompson and Dave Tong have attracted more big US investment, and plan to crack the UK.

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
The US pharmacy chain Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy on Sunday

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

‘It’s bad’: The 9.23pm moment ANZ’s $2.5b deal crumbled

Hedge funds screaming down the phone, 2.26am emails to the client, billions of dollars at risk and a late night “Oh, f---” moment. Justice Mark Moshinsky reveals what it was like inside ANZ’s deal room.

  • Updated
  • Anthony Macdonald