Skip to main content
Red herring
To:Brew Readers
CFO Brew // Morning Brew // Update
“Greedflation” might not be an inflation villain after all.

Hello, and welcome back to the office. New newsletter alert! Introducing Brew Markets, a daily afternoon newsletter taking you deeper into the markets than any Brew has gone before. Each weekday after the bell rings, you’ll get a quick, lighthearted recap of the trading session from editor Mark Reeth and writer Lucy Brewster. Sign up here and issues will start hitting your inbox this week.

In this issue:

Pricing power?

Fresh (re)start

Coming together

Drew Adamek, Natasha Piñon, Courtney Vien, Alex Zank

ECONOMY

Greedflation inflation SF Fed

Anthiacumming/Getty Images

We love a scapegoat, particularly when it comes to accusing corporate leviathans of exploiting everyday folks with unnecessarily high prices.

And that’s what we found with the concept of “greedflation,” aka when a giant corporation starts upping prices more than costs have actually risen. It gave us a handy excuse to complain every time we looked at our latest grocery store receipt to find that our entire life savings had vanished, and all we got in exchange was a couple of apples.

But a recent study from the Federal Reserve of San Francisco is here to say, “Let’s sit with our feelings, folks.” The greedflation theory might not have as much merit as previously believed.

SF Fed economists found corporate price hikes might not have been neither the primary driver of the 2021–2022 inflation surge, nor were they a key driver “of the recent disinflation that started in mid-2022.”

For more on the role of price hikes on inflation, click here.NP

PRESENTED BY BILL

Do you know how to CFO? In the past, the job responsibilities of finance leaders revolved around…company finances. But these days, CFOs are planning for long-term growth.

Today’s financial leaders need to build expertise around business strategy and digital transformation to be effective. Enter BILL’s Next in Finance: The CFO of the Future—aka a virtual crash course in everything you need to know about how the CFO role is changing.

Every day from May 20–24, subject-matter experts will lead a tailored discussion on a must-know topic for CFOs. Attendees will dig into the following:

  • how CFOs interact with strategy, leadership, + culture
  • how to harness AI + automation in finance
  • strategies to attract and retain talent
  • FP&A trends

PLUS, earn a CPE credit for each session. Save your spot.

CFOS

An Iphone with a recycling symbol, a reusable bag, reusable water bottles

Francis Scialabba

This is part of our occasional series on CFOs’ first day on their current job.

Ever feel like you’re failing at recycling? Do you ever put types that don’t go together in the same bin? Fail to check whether those types are, you know, actually recyclable in your area? Try to recycle something that’s not the cleanest? (Um, not that we would ever do such a thing.)

Point is, recycling plastic is complicated. That’s one reason why so little of it actually gets a second life. Only 4.7% of household plastic waste is recycled in the US, according to Greenpeace.

Resynergi, a California-based startup, is trying to change all that. It’s constructing modules that use microwaves to break down plastics into pyrolysis oil—a substance that can be used as fuel or be converted into other plastic products. The reactors in its modules can handle even plastics that aren’t recycled that readily, such as #4 and #5 plastics, as well as dirty plastics.

What’s more, the modules are portable. Most other existing pyrolysis facilities are built on-site and plastic waste must be shipped to them, which is both difficult and expensive, said Jens Umehag, Resynergi’s CFO and COO. Resynergi’s modules “fit on the back of a truck. They’re like a container: very modular, flexible, and quick to scale,” Umehag said. In the future, the company plans to sell them to municipal recycling facilities.

Resynergi’s main goal is to “make a dent in the plastic waste that’s all around us,” said Umehag, who came on board in January 2024.

He spoke with CFO Brew about why he took the role, what his early days were like, and what advice he’d give fellow CFOs for raising capital.

Click here for more on getting started as a CFO.CV

STRATEGY

AI implementation

Yossakorn Kaewwannarat/Getty Images

CFO Brew recently spoke with Alexander Bant, chief of research for CFOs, ahead of this week’s Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference about some of the biggest opportunities and challenges facing finance leaders and their teams.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Where do you see AI having the most potential impact in organizations?

In the back offices of finance, in accounting, and processes, and transactions, AI is a time saver. AI will rapidly shave time and resources off of our key processes that need to be fulfilled by the finance function…in the front office, AI and generative AI will give us new, enhanced ways of looking at the business, seeing risks, understanding demand, forecasting things better, seeing around corners. We’re actually seeing not as much of a time displacement or resource reallocation in the front office. It’s more of the creativity of, what will this thing be able to do to support us to be more competitive in our enterprise holistically?

Click here to continue reading.AZ

TOGETHER WITH ORACLE NETSUITE

One productive partner$hip. As CFO, you may wanna increase your tech spend, but is your CIO aligned? Oracle NetSuite put together this free business guide to help bypass finance x IT hurdles. Check out the 2024 spending plans of top CFOs + five focus areas for cultivating a winning CFO/CIO partnership.

MARKET FORCES

market forces chart

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: $25 million. That’s how much British engineering company Arup lost in a deepfake scam. One of its Hong Kong-based finance employees was tricked into sending the money after a video meeting with “deepfake recreations” of the company’s CFO and other employees. (CNN Business)

Quote: “Lately, I’ve discovered Tesla has one shareholder, a one-person (board of directors) and one tyrant CEO. I tried to reach out, but he doesn’t listen to anyone. Only to his own loud voices in his head. The priority is he should work and do his job as CEO of Tesla. He already received 13% of Tesla. More than enough. He’s funded all his ventures from the Tesla ATM machine.”—Leo Koguan, a major Tesla investor, on why he’s voting against Elon Musk’s $50 billion compensation package (Forbes)

Read: How Google manages talent and corporate structure to compete in the AI age. (Business Insider)

Chief future officer: Get ready for the next evolution of financial leadership. On May 20–24, Next in Finance: The CFO of the Future covers how financial leaders’ roles are changing. Claim your seat.*

*A message from our sponsor.

FP&A explainer

Andrii Dodonov/Getty Images

Companies use FP&A for effective planning and growth. Mastering these skills will help you guide your business more strategically.

Find out more

SHARE THE BREW

Share CFO Brew with your coworkers, acquire free Brew swag, and then make new friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag.

We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link.

Your referral count: 2

Click to Share

Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
cfobrew.com/r/?kid=9ec4d467

         
ADVERTISE // CAREERS // SHOP // FAQ

Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here.
View our privacy policy here.

Copyright © 2024 Morning Brew. All rights reserved.
22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011

News built for finance pros

CFO Brew helps finance pros navigate their roles with insights into risk management, compliance, and strategy through our newsletter, virtual events, and digital guides.

A mobile phone scrolling a newsletter issue of CFO Brew