If you followed regulations in 2024, you may have gotten some whiplash.

Several high-profile regulations were passed, only to be rescinded within a matter of weeks or months after being challenged in court. The SEC climate rule was perhaps the most prominent of these bungee regs: It passed in March, only to be paused in April to give courts time to sort through the many lawsuits against it.

Likewise, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) overtime rule, which would have raised the salary threshold under which employers needed to pay overtime, was passed in April but was struck down by a federal judge in Texas in November. And an FTC rule banning noncompete agreements for most employees was passed in April but invalidated by a federal judge (again, in Texas) in August, the month before it was set to take effect.

The fate of those regs is up in the air. The SEC said in its stay order that it would “vigorously” defend the climate rule in court, but that may change once chair Gary Gensler steps down in January. The DOL could appeal the overtime rule, but the case would go to “the most conservative federal appeals court,” HR Brew reported, and could be struck down by the Trump administration even if it passes. The FTC has appealed the case against the noncompete rule, which will next be heard by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The regs that stuck: But some regs seem like they’re here to stay (for now, though agencies might want to keep an eye on those Texas courts). In January the SEC passed a rule bringing the treatment of SPACs closer to that of traditional IPOs. That same month, the DOL implemented a rule reclassifying independent contractors. And in August the FTC announced a final rule banning the buying and selling of fake product reviews.

For more on 2024’s regulatory back and forth, click here.—CV

2024 felt full of risks—both new and old—for finance leaders to worry about, from sudden supply chain bottlenecks to massive IT outages.

So let’s grab our anxiety blankets and dive into CFO Brew’s review of some of the biggest stories in risk and risk management we covered this year.

Artificial intelligence. It’s no use hiding from the robots anymore. AI, especially generative AI, has saturated modern society.

Some may fear the eventual takeover of humanity (if your organization has mapped out a SkyNet scenario in your risk management plan, we’d love to hear from you!), but we assume most of the discussion around AI in board meetings and strategy sessions has been more grounded.

Kristen Peed, RIMS board VP and head of corporate risk at Sequoia, told CFO Brew that companies are thinking about how they can set up parameters and guardrails around AI so they won’t run into trouble with the technology.

“I think that that’s really the biggest risk that keeps popping up, not only at my company, but also at other risk managers’ companies,” she said.

For more on the year in risk, click here.—AZ

Let’s pretend you’ve been a CFO Brew subscriber since December 2023. And let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you’re a CFO Brew superfan who read along rapturously when we wrote about what we learned in 2023.

Oh, what’s that? You were too busy chugging eggnog and wrapping gifts? Oh, huh? You just started subscribing last week? You “have a life?” Details, details.

Point is: We’ve done this before. And as an old pro, I have to admit, I thought I’d seen it all. So, did any CFO-adjacent topic shock me, rattle me to my core, reframe my understanding of human life on Planet Earth in 2024? I mean, when the Fed cut rates for the first time since 2020, I was like “OK, whoa.”

But for the most part, life in the top finance seat seemed to chug along, with CFOs more adjusted to the new normal established by a global pandemic, tech upheaval, and political uncertainty.

Yet for all the chaos and uncertainty now baked into the CFO position, it was comforting to learn that many CFOs were prioritizing exactly what you’d want them to prioritize. And thus:

New beginnings. Near the end of 2023, we started asking CFOs about their first days on the job: How did they prepare? Who’d they meet with? How did they get ready for Day Two?

Click here to keep reading.—NP