GOVERNANCE

Sean Anthony Eddy/Getty Images

In volatile times, boards of directors could use more from CFOs than just last quarter or last month’s financial data.

That was one of the findings of the National Association of Corporate Directors’ 2026 Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) report. This year’s edition, authored by a cohort of 23 experienced corporate directors and other experts, focused on executing strategy.

The “convergence of forces” such as technological change and geopolitical upheaval means strategies can quickly become outdated, BRC co-chair Dorlisa Flur, a board member at Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, Sally Beauty Holdings, and other companies, said during an NACD Directors Summit panel session on October 12. “The facts that you may build your strategy on can change before the plan’s even halfway done,” she noted.

“Events once considered isolated shocks are now continuous, interconnected, and harder to control,” the report’s authors wrote. “Many disruptions should not be viewed as isolated events with a clear disruption and recovery period,” they noted, “but as signs that the assumptions underlying the strategy may be changing and need to be tested.”

Why outdated budgets are a problem.—CV

      

Sponsored By Anrok

Thanks to le new e-invoicing mandate that hit its first phase on Sept. 1, every business established in France must be able to receive structured e-invoices, and large enterprises and midsize companies must additionally issue e-invoices and transmit e-reporting data.

They’re not the only ones either. The same rule is now active in more than 80 countries, so data must be structured and sent to a government platform or the buyer’s own system. In some countries, one missing field on an invoice can hold up a deal from closing or delay when revenue gets recognized.

To help CFOs get ahead of it, Anrok put together six questions worth answering now, before a mandate, an audit, or a diligence process does it for you. Read the full breakdown here.

BUSINESS MODELS

Urfinguss/Getty Images

One of the biggest challenges in a CFO’s toolbox is visibility into everything going on inside the organization. CFO Matt Sudran helps Hubble customers achieve better visibility in a more literal sense: The company sells direct-to-consumer eye-care, glasses, and contacts.

Operating via a subscription business model also gives Hubble’s C-suite better vision on another level: “greater visibility into expected purchase timing,” Sudran said, “enabl[ing] more informed decisions about inventory, fulfillment capacity, marketing investment, and cash management.”

Sour on subs. But what about the customer? Americans are feeling monthly subscription fatigue lately, as inflation forces them to cut back on unnecessary spending.

Sudran thinks Hubble stands out among other subscription-model companies because of how it fits into customers’ daily lives and needs—but it’s still something Hubble executives regularly talk about, he told CFO Brew.

Tracking customer engagement and retention is vital.—DL

      

AI IPOs

Illustration: Shannon May, Photos: Adobe Stock, Getty Images

It looks like America’s next generation of investors will be building portfolios while holding pacifiers.

Anthropic announced this weekend that it will put 5% of its shares into a new Public Benefit Fund to support nonprofits, make direct payments to population groups, and help address AI’s impact on the labor market. If the Claude developer eventually goes public at a valuation between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion as estimated, that stake alone could be worth up to $100 billion for the public.

On the heels of the news, Elon Musk argued that Anthropic should just give shares directly to people—and added that he’ll give every American child one SpaceX share next year. At roughly $150 a share for 72 million children, the gift would total about $10.8 billion. (Take that with a few billion grains of salt: Musk hasn’t provided any details on how the giveaway would work.)

The ideas come shortly after the government launched Trump Accounts for children, which save kids money for retirement well before they start working. Suddenly, some of tech’s wealthiest are talking about spreading the money around. The smart question to ask is: Why now?

Brew Markets reports on the signals Anthropic and SpaceX are sending to investors with these moves.—HC

      

Sponsored By Sage

Smarter financial management in 20 minutes flat. See Sage Intacct in action for a quick look at how the platform can help simplify multi-entity management, surface real-time financial insights, automate key processes with AI, and connect with the tools your business already uses. Book a demo any time that works for you.

market forces

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: 58%. That’s the premium that Salesforce paid as part of its $5.66b to acquire customer-engagement platform Braze, based on the target’s closing price of $30.04 on Monday. (Wall Street Journal)

Quote: “The housing market is about to go into a deep sleep unless Washington can do a 180 on its policies and make the cost of a new home more affordable.”—Chris Rupkey, chief economist at Fwdbonds (CNBC)

Read: A retired hockey billionaire’s path to what could be Canada’s biggest take-private deal ever. (Bloomberg)

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

EVENT

Morning Brew Inc.

Soon, every finance team will have roughly the same AI tools. What will set them apart is the people using them. Gusto CFO Mike Taylor and AvidXchange CFO and Head of Talent Cameron White join CFO Brew on Thursday to talk governance, judgment, and leading teams through the hype. Register for the virtual conversation.