MAY 2017 | CFO.COM ARE INVESTORS' DEMANDS FOR DISCLOSURES EXCESSIVE? PUBLIC CLOUD MIGRATION CFO TIPS Annual Harvest As more companies seek to capture the gains of the recurring revenue business model, CFOs grapple with the challenges FEATURES May 2017 Volume 33, No. 4 COVER 26 STORY Annual Harvest More companies are using a subscription-based business model, attracted by the promise of recurring revenue. But for many, realizing the gains won’t be easy. By David McCann 32 Information Inflation Despite the superabundance of data companies already disclose, institutional investors are looking for more. By Ed Zwirn 32 38 ›› Special Report: Cloud Migration Moving Up Corporate IT is shifting from data centers and company-owned servers to the public cloud. By Keith Button Cover: Getty Images; clockwise from top left: Getty images, Thinkstock cfo.com | May 2017 | CFO 1 CONTENTS May 2017 Volume 33, No. 4 Up Front 4 ›› From the Editor 6 ›› Letters 8 ›› Topline w KPMG replaces audit chair w Budget cuts plague finance w Payments fraud climbing w Emerging markets drive record debt w Well- connected directors earn higher pay w Economic losses from disasters 8 balloon w Rebound in world trade predicted 14 | ACCOUNTING Emerging Growth Firms: Revenue Recognition: Investors Beware An Early Adopter’s Story PCAOB stats suggest that most of the Unlike all but a few others, software companies are of dubious worth. company Workday opted to be an w David M. Katz early adopter of the new revenue recognition standard. w By David McCann 22 | HUMAN CAPITAL Think Like a Start-Up CFO 10 18 | CAPITAL MARKETS Adopting the mindset required to run Crowdsourcing finance successfully at a start-up can Earnings Estimates benefit CFOs of large organizations. Is there any value to getting the crowd w By Brian Faust to weigh in on companies’ earnings projections? w By David M. Katz Use of an Incentive Pay Metric Flattens IPOs Pick Up Companies may be moving away Twenty-five companies raised from basing pay on total shareholder $9.9 billion in the first quarter of 2017, return. w David McCann a stronger start than last year. 22 w Vincent Ryan 24 | STRATEGY Why Big Companies 48 20 | GROWTH COMPANIES Don’t Get Bigger Host Analytics Seeks Large companies tend to be laden Growth–Profits Balance with bureaucracy and overstretch As the enterprise performance man- their teams, among other reasons, agement firm plans for an IPO within CEB says. w By David McCann two years, the only growth it wants is the profitable kind. w By David McCann By the Numbers 48 ›› The Quiz 44 ›› DEEP DIVE 46 ›› FIELD NOTES The Price CFO Takes the Pulse of CFOs Perspectives from CFO Research Of Risk Organizations managed to Trade Gap Cyber Insecurity pay 5% less in 2016 to cover In the first-quarter Duke/CFO Business As the digital ecosystem grows, their risks, according to Outlook Survey, global CFOs caution so do threats to the security of an the RIMS 2017 benchmark President Trump about trade policy. organization’s data stores. survey. Take our quiz to test By Josh Hyatt By Chris Schmidt your knowledge of what risks cost. 2 CFO |May 2017 | cfo.com Clockwise from top right: Thinkstock (4) 26,000 lbs. of structural steel lifted weekly. 27 ironworkers operating at heights. 3 thirty-ton tower cranes. 1 active construction site. BETTER UNDERSTOOD BETTER PROTECTED™ Tailored coverage as unique as your business. As the #1 preferred business insurer,* we listen carefully to your unique needs and tailor coverage and services to fi t them. To learn more, talk to your broker or visit libertymutualgroup.com/businessprotected. Commercial Auto I General Liability I Property I Workers Compensation *Based on 2016 survey of business insurance buyers on preference of national carriers sold via independent agents. © 2017 Liberty Mutual Insurance. Insurance underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., Boston, MA, or its a liates or subsidiaries. FROM THE EDITOR Recurring Dreams ››Recurring revenue—who wouldn’t want to tap into this predictable, stable stream of sales that, presumably, flows into a company month after month and year after year? ¶ EDITOR’S PICKS Subscriptions are increasingly becoming the way consumers buy. I have given seven companies permission to debit my credit card monthly, and another five sumables model (diapers, razors), the or six to do it yearly. Subscriptions simplifier model (housecleaning), and offer flexibility and convenience. And the peace-of-mind model (The Ameri- in some cases they are disrupting can Automobile Association). monopolies (think streaming video’s Of course, there are downsides encroachment on the cable industry), to recurring revenue businesses. CAREERS another reason for their attraction. Customer churn is a big one. While In “How Functional Leaders Selling via a subscription is even subscribers tend to be sticky, they’re Become CEOs,” three McKinsey better than buying via one, as we detail not as locked in as when you sell them & Co. partners say CFOs “have in Deputy Editor David McCann’s a big, expensive product that they some natural strengths that can cover story, “Annual Harvest,” on page need to amortize over several years. So facilitate effective transitions 26. In his book, “The Automatic Cus- subscription vendors have to deliver to the CEO role.” Among them is tomer,” John Warrillow describes why world-class products and excellent a deep understanding of the recurring revenue is irresistible: “Be- customer service continuously. drivers of business value. Read cause a high percentage of the revenue That’s not a bad thing, for cus- more at http://www.mckinsey. of a subscription-based business is tomers or companies. In fact, for the com/business-functions/ strategy-and-corporate-finance/ recurring, its value will be up to eight subscription model to thrive, grow, our-insights/how-functional- times that of a comparable business and last, competition is key. No one leaders-become-ceos. with very little recurring revenue.” wants the public cloud to go the way of The beauty of the subscription electric utilities, for example. Cus- model also lies in its wide applicabil- tomer choice and lack of government ity. Warrillow details no less than meddling are market virtues that every nine subscription-based business business adopting the recurring rev- models, including the all-you-can-eat enue model should fight to preserve. library (Spotify), the front-of-the-line FINANCE model (priority access to a product or Vincent Ryan Argyle’s 2017 Chief Financial Officer Leadership Forum in Los service, like medical care), the con- Editor-in-Chief Angeles on May 9 features the finance chiefs of Farmers Insur- ance Group, Dollar Shave Club, and FloQast, as well as the trea- CFO, Vol. 33, No. 4 (ISSN 8756-7113) is published 10 times a year and distributed to qualified chief financial officers by CFO Publishing LLC, 295 Devonshire surers of Mattel and Warner St., Suite 310, Boston, MA 02110 (editorial office). Copyright ©2017, CFO Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, Bros. Read more at https://www. without the prior permission of CFO Publishing LLC. Requests for reprints and permissions should be directed to FosteReprints, (866) 879-9144; E-mail: [email protected]; website: www.fostereprints.com. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send argyleforum.com/Events/2017- address changes to CFO, 50 Broad Street, 1st Floor, New York, NY 10004. CFO is a registered trademark of CFO Publishing LLC. SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: To or- der a subscription or change your address, write to CFO, 50 Broad Street, 1st Floor, New York, NY 10004, or call (646) 839-0012; or visit our website at www. chief-financial-officer-leadership- cfo.com/subscribe. For questions regarding your subscription, please contact [email protected]. To order back issues, call (646) 839-0012. Back issues are $15 per copy, prepaid, and VISA/MasterCard orders only. Mailing list: We make a portion of our mailing list available to reputable firms. forum-los-angeles. 4 CFO | May 2017 | cfo.com Mark Bennington LETTERS THE ➽ In “Will Financial Services many of these in loan origi- houseCoopers survey. Disturbingly, Regulations Ease Up?” (March BUZZ nation and processing. It was the proportion of participating inter- 21), contributor Christopher ON called due diligence. Banks in nal auditors, senior executives, and Whalen waxed optimistic that CFO. later years went away from board members who said internal regulations on financial institu- these and subsequently got audit “adds significant value” plunged tions will be relaxed with Don- COM themselves in trouble.” to 44%, compared to 54% in a similar ald Trump in the White House. As related in “Bitcoin study a year ago. “In the aftermath of the 2008 Users May Be Cheating on “Good wake-up call,” offered one financial crisis, politicians in both Their Taxes” (March 28), an IRS inves- CFO reader, who nonetheless opined parties focused on punishing banks tigation determined that only a tiny that internal audit has the chops to and other financial services compa- percentage of virtual currency own- rise to the occasion. nies for a variety of offenses, real and ers are declaring earnings on Bitcoin In “Pressed by Investors, CFOs imagined,” Whalen wrote. “In many transactions in their annual returns. Awake to Sustainability” (March 30), respects, Dodd-Frank was designed to “It all depends on how you set up McKinsey’s Tim Stollar provided ad- chastise banks and other companies the game,” one reader pointed out. “If vice for finance chiefs on how to for perceived wrongdoing.” you declare a currency a commodity evaluate the effects of sustainability Tsk-tsked a member of CFO’s audi- and then devise a set of requirements practices on a company’s cash flow, ence: “Many of the compliance, inter- that are incredibly onerous and com- among other wisdom.