Struggling to hire accounting talent? It may be time to look overseas.

Though the US is experiencing an accounting shortage, other countries have a surfeit of accounting talent, the AICPA’s longtime CEO, Barry Melancon, told CFO Brew in an August interview. And many of these accountants-from-abroad are highly proficient and capable of far more than back-office-type tasks. The key is knowing how to tap into this talent.

There’s “a general hesitation around working remotely with international talent,” Aman Puri, cofounder of global accounting talent marketplace Mavi, told us. Often, he said, companies equate offshore accounting with low-cost outsourcing of lower-level, “mundane” work.

Senior-level talent available: But in fact, as Puri and Mavi’s other founder, Molly Liu, told CFO Brew, many overseas accountants are highly skilled. They have accounting backgrounds and credentials, have worked at multinational corporations or Big Four firms, are fluent in English, and are knowledgeable about US GAAP.

Naturally, hiring accountants from overseas comes with challenges, as well—such as working across different time zones. On one hand, the time differential can bring you “round-the-clock service,” Sunil Deshmukh, global board chair of IMA, told CFO Brew. On the other hand, it can make it difficult for coworkers and clients to get in touch. Liu recommends ensuring at least a 50% time zone overlap. Other concerns to be aware of include geopolitical risks, cultural mismatches, and currency fluctuations, according to Deshmukh, who has decades of experience working for multinational companies.

Click here for more on the benefits and challenges of outsourcing accounting roles.—CV

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Yellow’s feeling awfully light on green after a pension ruling didn’t fall its way last week, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The nearly 100-year-old, now-defunct trucking company pulled the Jake Brake on its operations last summer, laying off about 30,000 employees, according to CNN.

That was far from the end of the road for Yellow and its financial troubles. Eleven pension plans took the company to bankruptcy court, alleging that it owed $6.5 billion in withdrawal liability, according to court records.

Yellow argued it was off the hook from its liability because the pension plans received a collective $41.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. And what did the judge think of Yellow’s interpretation?

“The Court rejects that argument,” US Bankruptcy Judge Craig Goldblatt wrote in a ruling last week.

Yellow is slated to make more than $2.5 billion from the sale of its truck terminal network, which would have been enough to pay off both its secured and unsecured creditors, but now, “the judge’s ruling will severely dilute funds available for those payouts,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Click here to continue reading.—AZ

Well, at least one major group with “Fed” in its name got to report exciting news last week. FedEx? Not so much.

The link between the Federal Reserve and FedEx is more than name-deep, though. When the Fed(eral Reserve) cut rates last week, the central bank stressed the health of the US economy. But Fed(Ex), which can serve as a canary in the coal mine for the economy, is telling a different story.

“The magnitude of the Fed rate cuts yesterday signals the weakness of the current environment,” FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam said on the company’s earnings call.

FedEx’s Q1 report showed some weakness: The shipping giant reported a sharp drop in quarterly profit, citing reduced demand for its pricier delivery options. The company also lowered its full-year outlook.

FedEx posted net income of $790 million for the quarter, down from $1.1 billion in the same quarter last year. Revenue dipped to $21.6 billion, a 0.5% fall and a slight miss from analyst estimates, per the Wall Street Journal.

The company now expects per-share earnings between $17.90 and $18.90 in fiscal 2025, down from a previous prediction of $18.25 to $20.25. FedEx also updated its revenue growth projection, now expecting it to grow in the low single digits as opposed to a prior forecast of low- to mid-single-digit growth.

For more on FedEx’s earnings, click here.—NP

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The pressure on CFOs to act as strategic advisors, manage tech spend, and oversee operations only grows as responsibilities expand. With dwindling resources, how can these teams manage all these expectations? We sit down with finance leaders from Tropic to discuss how macroeconomic factors have impacted the office of the CFO and 2025 forecasting/planning. Join us virtually next week! Register now.