It was the ban that wasn’t.

In April, the Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule that would have banned noncompete agreements—contractual deals that prevent workers from competing with their employer for a stated time after their employment.

The FTC argued that banning noncompetes would increase workers’ earnings by at least $400 billion in the next decade. Around one in five workers, or 30 million people, must sign noncompetes, according to the agency.

But then: It didn’t happen. A federal judge in Texas threw out the attempted ban in late August, not long before it was set to take effect on September 4.

Regardless of the fate of the ban, CFOs aren’t as concerned as they might eventually need to be. A joint poll from the CFO Leadership Council and CFO.com found a whopping 88% of CFOs expected the ban to have no impact on their personal career trajectory—but that was back in April, and even then, CFOs were more concerned when it came to retaining top finance talent. No matter the outcome, CFOs will be operating in a new environment for noncompetes, and compliance could be a concern.

For more on what CFOs need to know about the FTC’s noncompete ban, click here.—NP

Pfizer is busy right now. In recent months, the pharmaceutical giant made a $43 billion acquisition and launched a direct-to-consumer platform, all while sizing up the massive market opportunity of weight loss drugs.

Pfizer CFO Dave Denton recently appeared on Morning Brew’s After Earnings podcast to provide a big-picture view of what’s happening at the company and in the broader pharma space.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Pfizer is known for paying out healthy dividends consistently over the past few decades. As CFO, how do you think about putting money back into innovation versus perhaps growing that dividend?

From a capital allocation perspective, actually investing strategically in the business will allow us to grow topline and bottom line over time. And if I do that correctly, that actually accelerates my cash flow generation long term, so then I can turn around and reinvest that a bit in dividends, as an example, or share repurchases.

I’m trying to balance both strategically. I know that I need to invest to make sure that from a business perspective, I’m winning the marketplace and I touch a lot of patients. At the same time I know I have shareholders, and shareholders expect a return on the investments they make with Pfizer.

Click here to continue reading.—AZ

Within the cerebral realm of corporate finance, it’s a fierce contest to decide which specialty may rightfully claim the crown of most essential to the business.

Today we’re talking about one of the strongest contenders in this Spreadsheet of Thrones. These professionals take chaotic streams of data and alchemize it into the insights that a business needs to plan for the future. Welcome to the house of Financial Planning and Analysis.

What is financial planning and analysis (FP&A)? Financial planning and analysis, aka FP&A, “is a set of planning, forecasting, budgeting, and analytical activities” that gauge how well a business is doing and provide insight for its leaders’ decisions, according to SAP. At large companies, finance departments can have entire FP&A teams that wrangle and analyze varied and vast sources of financial, operational, and external data, but the software maker explained that regardless of size, the ongoing process of FP&A follows the same four steps.

How to advance in an FP&A career. A finance professional on the FP&A track might begin their career in an accounting role that “will teach [them] the basics of budgeting, collecting financial information and meeting financial reporting requirements,” Indeed explained. After a few years of day-in, day-out toiling with a company’s transactions, and perhaps getting an MBA, our ambitious FP&A professional might advance to an FP&A analyst role where they gather data and build financial models.

To continue reading our FP&A explainer, click here.—GD