Good Morning, CFO
Sunday, August 17, 2025 • The only newsletter a CFO needs to start the day right
Make sure to subscribe on Beehiiv to get it in your inbox every morning.
☕ Here’s what smart CFOs read before their first Zoom of the week...
HEADLINES & DEADLINES
--
AI just shaved a week off your close
A new MIT–Stanford field study finds accounting teams using AI shortened the monthly close by an average of 7.5 days, with better task allocation and reporting quality to boot.
Translation: fewer pizza-fueled fire drills, more analysis that actually moves the needle.
--
Heat check on inflation, then a chill on rate-cut panic
Core CPI came in at roughly 3.1% year over year in July while services stayed sticky. Producer prices surprised higher too, led by services, yet futures markets still largely expect a cut in September.
Net for CFOs: pricing pressure is real, but the path to lower rates is still on the table.
--
Economists to the Fed: tariffs are a one-time bump
A broad survey says the latest tariff wave is more sugar rush than new trend, and most forecasters still pencil in a September cut.
If your pricing model assumed a multi-quarter spiral, consider a lighter touch.
--
Cloud taxes are multiplying
States are expanding taxes on IT and cloud services to fill budgets, adding compliance hair for distributed teams. Maryland’s new 3% tax on certain IT services is one example of the direction of travel.
Review nexus, scoping and pass-through strategy before your year-end surprises you.
--
“Deterministic” AI is the new buzzword in FP&A land
OneStream’s CEO is pushing a more rules-based, auditable flavor of AI so finance teams can trust outputs without playing guess-the-black-box. If you pilot AI in forecasting, bake model explainability into your vendor scorecard.
--
NEWS ON TURBO MODE
-
Study hall: MIT–Stanford researchers say AI adoption in accounting improved productivity, task mix and reporting quality. Skim now, budget later.
Price vibes: Core inflation hovering near low-3s while services reheat; markets keep a cut in view.
Policy pulse: Survey crowd expects tariffs to give prices a one-time spur rather than a regime change.
Vendor watch: OneStream is leaning into deterministic AI to keep auditors calm and CFOs confident.
Compliance creep: Cloud and IT services are showing up in more tax bases, as Maryland demonstrates. Map exposure before renewals.
--
CFO-APPROVED WATCHLIST
-
Read: Eli Lilly’s $1.3B pact with Superluminal to apply AI to obesity drugs. Pharma’s AI capex is your demand signal for 2026 budgets. (Fast Company)
Read: To sell Fannie and Freddie, Trump must answer a $7 trillion question. Housing finance risk is macro risk. (Inc.com)
Read: Why Wall Street flipped on crypto so fast. Useful context for treasury policy and custody. (Reuters)
Read: AI veterans warn the US grid may be the new bottleneck. Datacenter plans meet transformer reality. (AOL)
MORNING HACKS
Close-time autopsy: list every task in your monthly close, tag for “AIable,” and trial one automation per cycle. Track cycle time, rework rate and reviewer comments. Start small, ship fast.
Cloud tax sanity check: pull your top 25 SaaS and IaaS invoices, flag jurisdictions, and pressure-test your sales tax and use tax assumptions with current rules.
These Companies Are Looking For a CFO Now
--
Aspire: Chief Financial Officer (remote options across US, UK, Singapore). (Greenhouse)
Unimacts: Global Chief Financial Officer (remote). Apply here.
Monge & Associates: Chief Financial Officer (Atlanta, GA hybrid). (ADP Workforce Now)
Arkansas Foodbank: Chief Financial Officer (Little Rock, AR). Apply here. (Paylocity)
Written by the caffeine-fueled finance nerds behind Good Morning, CFO. Forward to a CFO who still reads line items for sport.
Brought to you by...
Still a corporate CFO? Why?
Learn how to ditch the grind and build a profitable fractional practice with “CFO to Fractional CFO.” No BS, just everything you need to peace out and cash in.