The Trial Balance is CFO’s weekly preview of stories, stats and events to help you prepare.
Part 1 — CFOLC West expectations
This week, The CFO Leadership Council kicks off CFOLC West in Dallas, Texas. Keynote speakers include Ogilvy’s Stacey Ryan-Cornelius, Anand Govind of o9 Solutions, Devina Rankin of WM and Marie Myers of Hewlett Packard. Below are seven expected talking points at the event:
- Cross-collaboration across the business: As data becomes more valuable, cross-collaboration throughout the organization to present it in understandable and actionable ways is essential for finance teams looking to add value beyond their traditional function. Though collaboration can be industry-specific, how and why finance teams are partnering with different areas of the organization can be extremely valuable for CFOs tasked with doing the same and unsure of the initial approach.
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Transition to the CEO role: CFOs are increasingly becoming CEOs, as financial acumen combined with a sense of the business’s function from an FP&A perspective often makes them the most qualified for the job. For CFOs, this can be a difficult transition to prepare for without guidance from peers or networking groups.
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Time management: As the CFO role continues to expand, the CFO’s time becomes more of a valuable commodity to the business. How finance leaders are approaching time management, especially when it comes to making themselves globally available, will likely be discussed.
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ROI in technology: There’s pressure to show a quantitative benefit to new technology. For those seeking new technology with this in mind, what can CFOs implement now into their tech stacks that will generate immediate value?
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Generative AI guidance and implementation: Most CFOs have experimented with ChatGPT and have a general understanding of how these types of tools work. What’s the next step to determining generative AI’s value in finance?
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Talent: CFOs will likely talk about creating a culture that promotes retention, but there’s a larger question: How can CFOs play a role in getting smart, young people interested in finance and accounting?
- Health care costs: Health care costs are set to rise nearly 10% in 2025. CFOs will likely discuss solutions and methods they have used to help offset some of those costs.
Part 2 — This week
Here’s a list of important market events slated for the week ahead.
Monday, Oct. 7
- Consumer credit, Sept.
Tuesday, Oct. 8
- NFIB optimism index, Sept.
- U.S. trade deficit, Aug.
Wednesday, Oct. 9
Thursday, Oct. 10
- Initial jobless claims, week ending Oct. 5
- Consumer price index, Sept.
- Core CPI, Sept.
- CPI year over year
- Core CPI year over year
Friday, Oct. 11
- Producer price index, Sept.
- Core PPI, Sept.
- PPI year over year
- Core PPI year over year
- Consumer sentiment (preliminary)
Part 3 — Intuit CFO Q&A, cash flow catalysts and Metric of the Month
This week, CFO.com will have coverage live from CFOLC West, a story from Prophix leadership about strategies for becoming a cash flow catalyst, a new edition of Perry Wiggins’ Metric of the Month series and a Q&A with Intuit’s CFO Sandeep Aujla.
