COST MANAGEMENT

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Energy, once a topic largely relegated to operations, is now becoming a concern for CFOs.

Commercial energy rates in the US grew at a median 9.7% YoY annually between 2020 and 2025, data from energy intelligence platform Arcadia shows. Almost all commercial facilities (98%) paid more for energy over that time period, and for 71% of them, the cost jumps outpaced inflation.

For some companies, energy cost increases can be substantial. Ohio brick manufacturer Belden Brick Company’s electricity costs jumped 90% last year, ballooning from a $1,600 monthly capacity charge to $12,000, Reuters reported.

Arcadia CEO and founder Kiran Bhatraju told CFO Brew that he’s been speaking with more CFOs and finance leaders lately. “Energy decisions used to live in an operations and building management sort of role,” he said. “It’s really sort of risen up the ranks to more of a C-suite level.”

In fact, a Wells Fargo analysis of S&P 500 earnings calls in Q3 2025 found that use of the words “power,” “electricity,” and “energy” had more than doubled since 2024.

Costs have also become harder to predict.

Some companies are going “behind the meter.”—CV

      

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ACCOUNTING

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When we last spoke with Baker Tilly chief executive Eric Miles, the contract ink on its acquisition of Moss Adams was still drying and he was the CEO in waiting. A year-plus later, we caught up with Miles to hear what’s kept him busy since then, and what kind of strategic course leadership has laid out for the sixth-largest US accounting firm.

Baker Tilly’s “North Star” is adapting to the increasingly complex needs of the middle-market businesses it serves, Miles told us. Baker Tilly’s January Mid-Market Report, a survey of 500 business leaders at US companies with $200 million to $2 billion in revenue, found that technology adoption, tariffs, and tax and regulatory changes topped respondents’ lists of concerns.

“The nature of what [middle market firms are] dealing with…is getting far more complex, so they need a broader scope of advisory services, they need a deeper bench of specialists, they need a broader national or international reach,” Miles told CFO Brew.

Baker Tilly’s strategy for that involves further expansion and a healthy dose of technology investments, especially in artificial intelligence.

The AI opportunity. In 2024, Baker Tilly sold a stake in the firm to private equity firms Hellman & Friedman and Valeas Capital Partners. Partnering with PE “has been valuable to us in terms of the sophistication of our thinking, specifically around technology,” Miles said.

Miles envisions AI making concentrated industry expertise available to more employees.—AZ

      

CYBERSECURITY

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For many employees, cybersecurity training is a quarterly video warning them not to click on mysterious links. For senior executives, though, helping defend against internal and external threats can involve simulations, tabletop exercises, and intensive group activities—which can take a lot of time.

But what happens when executives claim they’re too busy running the company to actually participate? How can IT teams ensure that leadership actually locks in for the big defensive plan?

Timing is key. Tim Rawlins, director and senior adviser at NCC Group, suggested the best time for busy executives’ cybersecurity training is in conjunction with board meetings and other big corporate events that place the C-suite in the same room.

“The fact that they are there to make strategic decisions, they are there to manage senior stakeholders, and they are there to approve communications, we drum that into them,” Rawlins said. “You get them in the room, you identify who is in the room…because you want to figure out, have you got the right people in the room?”

The real world. Ramy Rahman, a senior solutions engineer at ArmorCode, said some of the most impactful training programs for executives are war room exercises, where a company simulates an attack. Those exercises are paired with training for ways different people in the company can mitigate that risk.

In war room exercises, cybersecurity teams can act as attackers, IT Brew reports.—CN

      

market forces

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: 4,000. That’s how many employees Jaguar Land Rover is laying off—around 10% of its workforce—in an attempt to cut costs to contend with tariffs and competition from China. (Reuters)

Quote: “He asked to buy the shirt off my back. I didn’t think a shirtless walk to the plane was going to go well.”—JonnyPops CFO Connor Wray, recalling an offer from a TSA officer for a piece of clothing featuring the viral popsicle brand (Wall Street Journal)

Read: Sugar, sugar: Why the sweet commodity’s outpacing the stock market. 🍬 (CNBC)

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Carmen Chan

Carmen Chan just stepped into her first-ever CFO seat at ZipRecruiter. She talks through what the labor market looks like from her new vantage point and what surprised her most about the jump.