Latest news with #RobinWashington
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Salesforce merges CFO, COO roles as leaders embrace AI strategically
Earlier this year, when global software major Salesforce set out to appoint a new chief financial officer (CFO), the role came with an addition. Instead of hiring solely a CFO, the company wanted someone to also play a key role in operations. That is why, four months ago, when Robin Washington was appointed CFO, she was also given the title of chief operating officer (COO). Asked if this was the first time Salesforce had merged the two positions, she said: 'I joined Salesforce only four months back as a COFO. This is the first time we have looked at the chief operating officer and the financial officer role as one. I think this allows us to break down silos. This also makes the COFO organisation a much more effective business partner.' Salesforce's latest research shows that CFOs are taking bigger, more strategic bets with artificial intelligence (AI). Over the past five years, CFOs have shifted from a largely conservative stance on AI to fully embracing its potential, driven by expected opportunities for revenue growth. In 2020, 63 per cent of CFOs in Asia-Pacific (APAC) reported having a conservative AI strategy. By 2023, that number had dropped to 33 per cent, and today it stands at just 3 per cent. The transformation highlights a growing recognition among financial leaders that AI is no longer an emerging technology but a crucial tool for enhancing efficiency, optimising operations, and driving long-term growth. 'CFOs today have to truly be strategic business partners. They are not only looking at resource allocation reporting but also at how you define and allocate resources. It is so much more than financial expertise. That is why we are seeing more roles like ours where we are combining finance and operations to unlock insights and efficiencies that directly impact execution on the business,' said Washington, president and chief operational and financial officer at Salesforce, during a virtual media briefing on the changing role of CFOs in the AI era. According to the study, 50 per cent of CFOs in APAC say AI agents are changing how they evaluate return on investment (ROI), moving beyond traditional metrics to encompass broader business outcomes. Last year, 65 per cent of CFOs faced pressure to accelerate tech investment ROI. Today, they recognise that AI's value is not just in short-term cost-cutting but also in long-term outcomes such as revenue generation, productivity gains, and improved decision-making.
Forbes
7 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
How CFOs Can Navigate Stricter Transfer Pricing Tax Enforcement
CFOs are all in on AI. According to new research from Salesforce, only 4% of CFOs surveyed say they have a conservative approach to the technology—a precipitous drop from the 70% who were careful about it in 2020, and the 34% who were slowly approaching it in 2023. According to Salesforce, nearly four out of five CFOs are leveraging AI to inform business decisions. Across industries and throughout enterprises, CFOs are realizing the power AI can give them to more quickly and efficiently analyze, prepare and streamline work tasks. In a discussion of the survey results last week, Salesforce Chief Operating and Financial Officer Robin Washington said that AI is more than just technology. 'I always think about people, process and technology,' Washington said. 'AI revolution is all of those things. It's cultural, it's operational, it's organizational. And when you think about AI agents, my boss always says we're probably the last set of managers to just manage humans. We're going to have AI autonomously working side by side, helping us make decisions, being part of our decision-making teams in ways that are going to transform our businesses for the positive.' The survey found that CFOs are, on average, dedicating a quarter of their AI budgets to agents. About three-quarters say they feel AI agents, performing more mundane tasks and providing digital labor, will both cut costs and drive revenue. The top tasks they're delegating to AI agents include risk assessments, financial forecasting and expense management. PayPal Chief Finance and Operations Officer Jamie Miller joined Washington at Salesforce's virtual event last week to discuss the survey results and how they apply to the CFO's role. She said she sees the AI revolution being all about velocity and productivity—being able to do more things faster, with the same number of people. Finance jobs, she said, have traditionally been an 80-20 split: 80% of time is spent manipulating data, and 20% doing insightful analysis. 'AI is going to be the thing that can finally really help flip that to be 80-20 the other direction: More time really having an impact and really leaning into the business in ways that can drive important change,' Miller said. One area where the finance department of multinational companies should pay closer attention is transfer pricing—the method used to set prices of international goods and services —for taxation purposes. President Donald Trump has indicated this might be an area that sees more enforcement, though the number of people to enforce it at the IRS is diminished. I talked to Mimi Song, a transfer pricing expert and COO of financial software company Exactera, about what to do. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter. This is the published version of Forbes' CFO newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief finance officers and other leaders focused on the budget. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Tuesday. ECONOMIC INDICATORS A shopper looks at a dairy case at a Brooklyn, New York grocery prices rose less than expected last month—2.7%, as opposed to the expected 2.8%—buoying the stock market and igniting more hope that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at their next policymaking meeting in September. Core consumer prices—without the volatile food and energy categories—were up 3.1% year-over-year. The slight increase is still above the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target rate, but a slower-than-expected job report last month could be a formula for rate cuts. After opting not to cut interest rates last month, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the U.S. economy was in a 'solid position,' but the economic effects of tariffs are yet to be seen. Many of President Trump's new tariffs went into effect last week, though there are still some ongoing negotiations and new agreements coming forward. This week, Trump paused the previously enacted 145% tariffs on Chinese goods for 90 days, until Nov. 9, presumably to allow for additional negotiations. Outside of national tariffs, U.S. AI chip makers Nvidia and AMD agreed to pay 15% of all revenues from Chinese sales to the federal government. A Financial Times report indicated this deal was a necessary condition for the Chinese export licenses granted to the companies. TAXES Former IRS Commissioner Billy Long at his Senate confirmation hearing in IRS now has another new leader, as President Donald Trump's Senate-confirmed choice Billy Long was pushed out late last week, writes Forbes' Kelly Phillips Erb. The tax agency's temporary new leader is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is the seventh person to lead the tax agency this year. A new IRS commissioner nominee has not yet been named, and Long is expected to be nominated as an ambassador. Long, a former Missouri congressman who spent his pre-government career as an auctioneer, was sworn in as IRS commissioner on June 16 after being confirmed on a 53-44 party-line vote. He does not have a college degree or formal tax, finance or accounting training. He did not serve on any tax or finance committees while serving in Congress, though during the 12 years he was in office, he sponsored and co-sponsored legislation to eliminate the tax code, institute a flat tax, abolish the IRS, repeal the estate tax and enact a national sales tax. He is a strong Trump ally and worked as a consultant to help companies get tax credits after leaving Congress. The reasons behind Long's hasty removal aren't clear. Erb writes that he told a crowd at the 2025 Tax Summit of the National Association of Enrolled Agents last month that the 2026 tax filing season wouldn't start in January, but would begin in mid-February, close to Presidents Day, because the agency needs more time. Other outlets reported Long refused to provide the Department of Homeland Security with information about specific undocumented immigrants who paid federal taxes through individual taxpayer identification numbers. A Washington Post report citing people familiar with the decision said Long previously told Homeland Security executives that his agency wouldn't provide confidential taxpayer information outside of a pre-existing agreement. RETIREMENT + BENEFITSPresident Trump signed an executive order last week that opens the door for 401(k) providers to add private equity investments to their offerings. Forbes ' Hank Tucker writes that private equity has been off limits for plan providers because they feared they could face lawsuits for investing in these alternative assets. Trump's executive order asks Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to review and consider rescinding Biden Administration guidance that seemed to discourage private assets in 401(k)s, also covering other alternative assets, including real estate and cryptocurrency. Chavez-DeRemer was given 180 days to clarify the guidance, but has already shown which way she is likely to rule. 'The federal government should not be making retirement investment decisions for hardworking Americans, including decisions regarding alternative assets,' she said in a statement shortly after the executive order was signed, adding that the order supports efforts to 'eliminate unfair one-size-fits-all approaches' to retirement investing. Private equity funds are excited about the prospects of the 401(k) market, but some analysts are asking for caution—especially because illiquid assets will be difficult to blend with traditional liquid target date funds. Marc Pinto, global head of private credit at Moody's, told Tucker he cautions that 'if these new investments don't live up to their promise, asset managers could face lawsuits and regulatory heat.' OFF THE LEDGER How To Work Through Changes In Transfer Pricing Enforcement With A Smaller IRS Exactera COO Mimi Song. Exactera, Getty The IRS has cut more than a quarter of its workforce since President Trump took office. Still, the administration is also eyeing more enforcement of transfer pricing rules—the way multinational companies set costs for goods and services in other countries for taxation. I spoke with Mimi Song, COO of tax software company Exactera, about what all of this means for the finance department, and what CFOs should do to prepare. This conversation has been edited for length, clarity and continuity. From what you have seen and heard, is the current administration looking at transfer pricing audits any differently than the previous one? Song: Everybody's talking about the GLAM that came out, which is a generic legal advice memorandum, where it is very clear that there is a lot of scrutiny as it relates to related party transactions, and this notion of giving a lot of authority back to the IRS to apply periodic adjustments. You can tell based on that issuance that there is a lot more scrutiny, and asserting the right to apply these periodic adjustments. That statute or that regulation always exists and they had that level of power, but now it's putting that out onto the table to explicitly give everybody the perspective of, 'Hey, we're actually going to exert this authority.' The large budgetary and personnel cuts at the IRS have reduced the staffing to do transfer pricing audits. Presumably, CFOs and finance teams were already holding onto records for as many years as they were within the audit statute of limitations. Should they be doing anything differently now than two years ago? Presumably they were keeping books and records. However, many companies don't always document a business rationale for the decisions that are being made, and they may not be keeping the records organized to make it audit-ready for transfer pricing purposes. What you tend to find is that getting the information or isolating it to the inter-company transactions is not always as easy as applying a filter in an Excel spreadsheet. It is an important exercise to make sure that you're able to isolate those intercompany transactions and invoices, or treating them as if they are unrelated parties so that you have sufficient documentation to prove arm's-length dealings at the end of the day. There needs to be a lot more rigor, especially in times where people feel like there may not be as much attention to this area. Remember, the statute of limitation is seven years. Your number can be called within a very broad time span. Companies who haven't been under audit may not fully appreciate the level of detail and complexity that an audit can create. Finding that information seven years later when the audit is happening is so difficult. People don't stay at companies for that length of time, at least not in this generation. Institutional knowledge, all of that gets lost in the mix if you don't have the right level of documentation in place, or the story fleshed out within the documentation, the analysis of the data, and the work papers to support that. What advice would you give CFOs and finance teams dealing with transfer pricing documentation now? The documentation is more important than you think. It is such an interesting dynamic because a lot of people might have considered transfer pricing [like] a piece of insurance because you don't have to file it right away although it's supposed to be contemporaneous. Going through the exercise of a transfer pricing analysis tells you so much about the business in and of itself. That document, that story, it's more than just protection against audit risk. It really is an internal risk assessment for you to truly appreciate how the intercompany policies are, whether or not they can withstand scrutiny and does it make sense. It gives you an opportunity to understand that business, and then compare it to other competitors in the market, or similar companies. It gives you a lot of insight, so I do think it shouldn't be underplayed. We have tariffs that are applied now on a country-by-country basis, which could impact the profitability of companies. We're going to see more volatility as it relates to the results of comparable companies. And so benchmarking exercises are important: understanding where you fall out, where things are shaking out, how the market is reacting. All of that is very important to think about over the next few years. COMINGS + GOINGS Biotech and science conglomerate the Danaher Corporation promoted Matthew Gugino as its next chief financial officer, effective February 28, 2026. Gugino joined the firm in 2013 and is currently group chief financial officer of the company's Life Sciences Innovations Group as well as vice president of Financial Planning & Analysis. He will succeed Matthew McGrew, who is transitioning to an executive vice president role. promoted as its next chief financial officer, effective February 28, 2026. Gugino joined the firm in 2013 and is currently group chief financial officer of the company's Life Sciences Innovations Group as well as vice president of Financial Planning & Analysis. He will succeed Matthew McGrew, who is transitioning to an executive vice president role. Enterprise communications provider RingCentral appointed Vaibhav Agarwal as its new chief financial officer, effective August 5. Agarwal has been with the company since 2016, and he succeeds Abhey Lamba, who will continue to serve as an executive advisor through the end of the year. appointed as its new chief financial officer, effective August 5. Agarwal has been with the company since 2016, and he succeeds Abhey Lamba, who will continue to serve as an executive advisor through the end of the year. Online dating firm Bumble hired Kevin D. Cook to be its new chief financial officer, effective August 12. Cook most recently worked as chief financial officer at Cloudera, and he succeeds Ronald J. Fior. STRATEGIES + ADVICE Leaders can show their companies who they are through impassioned talks at town hall meetings—or by taking actions that impact employees. As AI becomes central to how finance departments operate, a thoughtful tech transition can prove your leadership style. Being a leader means sometimes having difficult conversations. There is a way to use technology to practice them: Get an AI avatar to talk to. Here are some platforms designed for that kind of exercise. QUIZ Which retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week? A. Spencer's B. Gap C. Claire's D. Eddie Bauer See if you got the right answer here.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Salesforce Says AI Has Reduced Hiring of Engineers and Customer Service Workers
(Bloomberg) — Salesforce Inc. (CRM) said the use of artificial intelligence tools internally has allowed it to hire fewer workers, another example of a company changing its hiring plans due to the emerging technology. NYC Congestion Toll Brings In $216 Million in First Four Months NY Wins Order Against US Funding Freeze in Congestion Fight NY Congestion Pricing Is Likely to Stay Until Year End During Court Case 'We have reduced some of our hiring needs,' Chief Financial and Operations Officer Robin Washington said Wednesday on a call with analysts, citing the implementation of AI tools. For example, she said that 500 customer service workers would be redeployed to different roles within the company this year, saving $50 million. Tech companies are relying on AI to help with everything from customer service to software engineering. Job cuts at Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) earlier this month fell hardest on software engineers. Leaders of Microsoft and Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) say AI is producing about 30% of new code on some projects. For years, social networks have been offloading content moderation jobs to AI; this year Meta Platforms Inc. (META) will be relying on a class of AI-powered engineers to carry out basic bug fixes and product improvements at Meta, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has said. In an interview, Washington said Salesforce is hiring fewer engineers due to productivity gains from AI. 'We view these as assistants, but they are going to allow us to have to hire less and hopefully make our existing folks more productive.' Salesforce reported a workforce of about 76,500 employees as of Jan. 31. At the same time as i's slowing hiring in some roles, Salesforce is increasing the ranks of sales workers. The company now has 13,000 salespeople, a sum that is expected to expand 22% this year from a year earlier, Chief Revenue Officer Miguel Milano said on the call. Earlier this year, Salesforce planned to cut over 1,000 employees as it hired for AI-focused roles, particularly in sales. Mark Zuckerberg Loves MAGA Now. Will MAGA Ever Love Him Back? YouTube Is Swallowing TV Whole, and It's Coming for the Sitcom Millions of Americans Are Obsessed With This Japanese Barbecue Sauce Inside the First Stargate AI Data Center How Coach Handbags Became a Gen Z Status Symbol ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy
Time of India
30-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Salesforce's AI push slows hiring; piles pressure on engineers, customer service roles
Salesforce has acknowledged that its adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools has enabled the company to scale back on recruitment, according to a report by Bloomberg. During an analyst call, chief financial and operations officer Robin Washington said the company is reducing hiring, with 500 customer service staff to be moved into other roles—an adjustment expected to save $50 million. She attributed this to the implementation of AI. Meanwhile, in an interview, Washington also said that the company is recruiting fewer engineers thanks to AI-driven productivity boosts. 'We view these as assistants, but they are going to allow us to have to hire less and hopefully make our existing folks more productive.' As of January 31, Salesforce had a workforce of around 76,500. Despite the reduced hiring in technical roles, the company is ramping up its sales team. Chief revenue officer Miguel Milano stated that the salesforce now numbers 13,000 and is expected to grow by 22% over the coming year. In February, Salesforce announced plans to cut over 1,000 jobs, while simultaneously hiring staff to support the sale of its new AI products. Other major tech companies are also using AI to cut costs associated with staffing. Earlier this month, Microsoft laid off approximately 6,000 employees, with software engineers bearing the brunt of the cuts. At Meta's LlamaCon conference in April, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed that AI now writes between 20% and 30% of the code within the company's repositories.
Entrepreneur
29-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Salesforce Is Cutting Back on Hiring Engineers Thanks to AI
AI has enabled Salesforce to reduce hiring and save millions, but it's using the savings to hire in other areas. Salesforce has recently leveraged AI tools internally to hire fewer workers in certain divisions and more in others. "We have reduced some of our hiring needs," Salesforce's chief financial and operations officer Robin Washington said on Wednesday on a call with analysts, per Bloomberg. She credited the implementation of AI tools for the slowed hiring. According to Washington, AI has enabled Salesforce to reassign 500 customer service workers to other roles at the company this year, resulting in a cost savings of $50 million. The company is also hiring fewer software engineers as its current staff use AI to become more productive. Related: 'Amazing Momentum': Here's Why Salesforce Is Hiring 1,000 New Employees At the same time, Salesforce is ramping up its efforts to hire more salespeople to sell its AI products and other offerings. Chief revenue officer Miguel Milano said on the analyst call that the company now has around 13,000 salespeople and wants to expand the number by 22% this year. Salesforce currently has 76,453 total employees globally. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Photo by Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images Other tech companies are using AI to help with tasks ranging from engineering to reporting earnings. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated last month that engineers at the company are using AI to write about 30% of new code. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in the same month that the company was using AI to write more than 30% of new code, up from 25% in October. Meanwhile, Klarna, a company that has said its AI chatbot does the work of 700 customer service agents, reported earnings last week using an AI avatar of its CEO. Goldman Sachs predicts that 300 million jobs across the globe could be lost or downgraded due to AI by 2030. Salesforce isn't the only company to ramp up hiring in some areas and cut back in others, thanks to AI. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month that IBM had used AI to replace several hundred human resource employees. IBM's workforce ended up growing instead of shrinking, Krishna disclosed, because the company used the cost savings from the layoffs to hire more software engineers, marketers and salespeople. Related: IBM Replaced Hundreds of HR Workers With AI, According to Its CEO Salesforce's own technology could help other companies reduce their headcount. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in September that the company's AI agents would allow its clients to forgo hiring new employees or gig workers in busier periods of time. Earlier this week, Salesforce announced that it was acquiring cloud data management company Informatica for $8 billion to help advance its AI capabilities. The deal is one of Salesforce's largest since it bought Slack in 2021 for $27.7 billion and data firm Tableau in 2019 for $15.7 billion. Salesforce reported first-quarter earnings on Wednesday that beat estimates, with revenue up 8% to $9.83 billion. The company stated that its AI subscriptions more than doubled in its first quarter and expects sales in the second quarter to be $10.11 billion to $10.16 billion, more than the $10.02 billion analysts anticipated. "Sometimes you have a quarter when everything is going right for you," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in an earnings call, per The Wall Street Journal. Related: Can Anyone Beat Microsoft at AI? The CEO of Salesforce Thinks His Company Can. Still, Salesforce shares were down about 4% on Thursday at the time of writing due to investor concerns about the still-early stage of its AI offerings and the deal risk with Informatica.
