Ask any CFO for predictions about the 2024 economy (and trust us, we did), and they’ll often preface with a cautious stipulation: Sure, this is our best guess—but no one has a crystal ball.

But one CFO does have an especially unique lens that amounts to something like a crystal ball for the hiring sector: Erica Gessert, CFO of freelancing and hiring network Upwork.

Gessert and her team have access to both big-picture and granular data about the state of hiring. If she notices a trend, that’s because it’s likely happening.

To that end, the fastest-growing job category right now isn’t a surprise—rhymes with schm-artificial schm-intelligence—but Gessert’s insight helps clarify how industries will react to AI disruption.

Click here to read more on how AI is impacting hiring.—NP

If you’re a finance pro ready for your next career move, you’re in luck—the climate has never been better for finance chiefs to make the leap to CEO.

To help ya make moves, Oracle NetSuite’s new guide digs into five core insights from top C-level search consultants and a CFO who made the switch.

The most highly sought-after CFOs are forward-thinkers, partner cross-functionally, and have a broad base of business knowledge. Combining fiscal expertise with operational knowledge is key for CFOs-turned-CEOs.

Oracle NetSuite’s crash-course guide covers:

• what boards value in the hiring process
• how to leverage a planned CEO exit
• winning recommendations

Get the scoop in the full guide.

Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on much these days—but many of them see eye to eye on a bill that would give businesses some welcome tax relief.

On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee announced the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, a proposed bipartisan tax package incorporating both individual and business tax provisions. It would temporarily reverse the “Big Three” tax code changes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 made, by:

• Allowing US companies to deduct research and development expenditures immediately, instead of amortizing them over five years.
• Enabling companies to take 100% bonus depreciation for qualified property (such as software, hardware, office furniture, and certain vehicles) through 2025. Currently companies are only allowed to take 100% bonus depreciation for the first year they put the qualified property into use, and then must phase the depreciation down by 20% each subsequent year.
• Allowing companies to use EBITDA, rather than EBIT, when calculating adjusted taxable income.

Click here for more details on the proposed legislation.—CV

Judging by earnings calls, the big banks had a rough fourth quarter. Citigroup posted a net loss of $1.8 billion for the quarter, for instance, and its revenue was down 3% year over year. The bank also announced it would lay off 20,000 people, or about 8% of its workforce, over the next two years. JPMorgan Chase’s net income was down 29% from the previous quarter. Bank of America’s net income dropped more than 50% YoY, from $7.1 billion in Q4 2022 to $3.1 billion, and Wells Fargo’s NII decreased 5% YoY.

But don’t start dusting off those recession predictions just yet: This quarter was an outlier. The four banks, collectively, had to pay fees of nearly $9 billion to the FDIC tied to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. These fees, along with other one-time charges, clouded an otherwise positive quarter.

Without the fees, at least three of the four major banks would have beaten analysts’ estimates for earnings per share (EPS), instead of falling below them, CNN reported. Citigroup’s EPS would have been $0.84, rather than -$1.16; Bank of America’s would have been $0.70, instead of $0.35, and JPMorgan Chase’s would have been $3.97, not $3.04.

For more on the big bank earnings, click here.—CV

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: 187,000. That’s how many first time unemployment claims were filed last week, a surprise decline and the lowest since September 2022. The resilient labor market is continuing to chug along as companies continue to hold on to the workers they have. (CNBC)

Quote: “We have ambitious goals and will be investing in our big priorities this year. The reality is that to create the capacity for this investment, we have to make tough choices.”—Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in an internal memo. The search giant is going in big on AI this year and is shedding jobs to free up resources to fuel the push. (The Verge)

Read: A dream we’ve been chasing for decades: getting rid of all those pesky electronic notifications. 📵 (the Washington Post)

CFO = MVP: Ready to go from CFO to CEO? Oracle NetSuite’s guide digs into how fiscal insight and operational knowledge are a CFO’s secret weapons in the CEO role. Read it.*

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