Good morning. As CFO responsibilities have expanded in recent years, turnover among finance chiefs has also increased, prompting companies to raise pay.

For example, CFO salary increases remain steady at public companies: In 2024, the median base salary increase for CFOs was 4%, while CEOs saw no uptick, matching trends from 2023, according to Compensation Advisory Partners. In 2022, median base salary increases were 3.8% for CFOs and 2.9% for CEOs.

However, a study titled “Delegation and CFO Retention: Evidence from Chief Accounting Officers on the Executive Team” suggests that workload—specifically related to accounting—is also a driver of CFO turnover, indicating that companies should look beyond pay to attract and retain finance chiefs. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Arizona, the University of North Florida, and the University of Iowa.

The researchers focused specifically on the delegation of accounting. They argue that, unlike other responsibilities a CFO may have, such as digital security or risk management, accounting remains a significant task for all public company CFOs given their requirement to certify financial statements.

The study examined data from U.S. public companies between 2004 and 2019, focusing on instances where the CFO delegated accounting duties to a chief accounting officer (CAO) or controller who is recognized as an executive officer.

The key finding: Companies where CFOs delegate accounting responsibilities experience at least an 18% reduction in CFO departures. Delegating accounting enables CFOs to devote more time to higher-level priorities like corporate strategy, digital transformation, and human resources. In contrast, CFOs who manage both detailed accounting and broader strategic duties are more likely to suffer burnout and leave their roles.

This research aligns with the trend of the CAO role emerging as an elevated, strategic leadership position. More companies today seek CAOs who are not just technical accounting experts but also key business partners and infrastructure builders, according to Spencer Stuart. As the CFO role evolves, accounting leaders increasingly take on expanded responsibilities, including tax and operational improvements across the business, the firm notes.

Overall, the “Delegation and CFO Retention” study points to the value of delegation—not only for retaining CFOs, but also for building leadership depth and strengthening companies over time. And I think AI is also poised to help share this workload.

Sheryl Estrada
[email protected]

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Good morning. Accurate, timely data is essential for strong decision-making and business growth. When data quality suffers, organizations risk losing their strategic edge, and recent changes to U.S. statistical agencies have raised red flags among top economists.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may have completed much of its cost-cutting agenda, but its ripple effects are still being felt. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, flags deeper risks stemming from DOGE’s workforce reductions: slashing jobs at federal statistical agencies is already eroding the quality of government data—a sign of more far-reaching consequences for public services.

“Government workers have important jobs that are critical to providing important services to taxpayers,” Zandi told me. “If jobs are cut and those services aren’t provided or aren’t provided in a timely and competent way, there can be significant negative fallout.”

Regarding the quality of data, the release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics'(BLS) report last week resulted in intense scrutiny. President Trump on Aug. 1 ordered the firing of Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the BLS.

According to the BLS, July’s employment report showed only 73,000 new jobs, while job gains from May and June were sharply revised downward by a combined 258,000. This brought the three-month average monthly payroll growth down to just 35,000, compared to 123,000 a year earlier.

However, Zandi points to DOGE’s cuts as a key driver of these revisions: Workforce reductions mean payroll data from agencies often arrives late, leading to large, after-the-fact corrections. 

“This didn’t matter much when government employment was stable, but now that government jobs are declining, the cuts are being picked up in the revisions,” Zandi said. 

The impact extends to the statistical agencies themselves; understaffed teams struggle to process employment data promptly, which in turn causes even bigger subsequent revisions, he said. Investing in reliable data and the people who collect it is a foundation for smart decisions and economic resilience, according to Zandi.

In times of uncertainty, the value of good data cannot be overstated: It is an indispensable compass for leaders.

Sheryl Estrada
[email protected]

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Elon Musk’s DOGE may have completed much of its work in the federal bureaucracy, but the trickle-down effect from Musk’s chain saw contributed to the downward employment revisions that drew President Trump’s ire and led to the now-infamous firing of the labor statistics commissioner.

DOGE’s cuts to government jobs are contributing to downward employment revisions because the government typically reports its payrolls to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) late, and increasingly later reports often lead to bigger revisions, Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told Fortune. He noted that the government does not report in time for the initial employment estimate provided by the BLS.

“This didn’t matter much when government employment was stable, but now that government jobs are declining, the cuts are being picked up in the revisions,” Zandi said. He added that DOGE’s impact also extends to the statistical agencies themselves, including the BLS, where staff reductions slow the processing of employment records and lead to larger subsequent revisions.

According to the BLS, July’s employment report (released Aug. 1) showed a modest addition of 73,000 jobs. More strikingly, job gains from May and June were sharply revised downward by a combined 258,000. With employment rising by only 19,000 in May and 14,000 in June, the three-month average payroll growth dropped to just 35,000—down from 123,000 a year earlier.

Amid intensifying scrutiny over deteriorating employment figures, President Trump on Aug. 1 ordered the firing of Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the BLS.

Regarding the economy, Pantheon Macroeconomics found that DOGE cuts knocked approximately 0.3 percentage points from U.S. GDP growth in Q2, primarily due to an 11.2% drop in federal nondefense spending—a direct result of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) reductions. Analysts believe government spending will remain roughly flat in Q3, as small gains in state, local, and defense spending are offset by a further 5%-to-10% drop in the federal nondefense component.

Zandi believes sustained DOGE cuts increase the odds of a recession. “The DOGE cuts likely act more like a corrosive on the economy than a cliff event, resulting in recession,” he said. Meanwhile, policies like higher tariffs or restrictive immigration rules would likely have a much more sudden and damaging impact on the economy, potentially causing a recession directly, Zandi said.

Beyond the numbers, Zandi flagged deeper risks stemming from DOGE’s workforce reductions. He warned that slashing jobs at statistical agencies is already degrading the quality of federal data—a symptom of wider unintended consequences for government services.

“Government workers have important jobs that are critical to providing important services to taxpayers,” Zandi said. “If jobs are cut and those services aren’t provided or aren’t provided in a timely and competent way, there can be significant negative fallout.”

He cited examples ranging from weather reporting vital to disaster response to food-safety inspections that safeguard the national food supply.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Good morning. What would make a veteran technology investor take on the role of finance chief for the first time? For Alex Melamud, it’s a deep conviction in the company and its leadership.

Melamud is the new CFO of Denver-based Engine, a travel technology startup backed by Telescope Partners, Blackstone, Elefund, and Permira. He’s leaving the investor seat to join the executive team full time at Engine, which serves over 1 million business travelers, according to the company. It surpassed 1,000 employees—up from 700 at the start of 2024—and is expanding rapidly while strategically using AI to fuel growth.

Melamud’s first connection with Engine was at the board level. In 2024, while a managing director at Permira, a global investment firm specializing in private equity and credit, he decided to join Engine’s board. “In my 16 years of investing, I had never come across such an enormous TAM (total addressable market) of greenfield opportunity,” he said, referring to the many small and midsize businesses with unmanaged travel booking—those handling it themselves instead of using a third party.

Melamud led Engine’s Series C financing, with a $140 million Permira investment that pushed Engine’s valuation to $2.1 billion in September 2024.

Engine is a modern travel platform designed for small and midsize businesses, as well as groups. Its standout feature is offering both publicly available hotel rates and a wide range of exclusive, proprietary corporate rates (“closed rates”) that aren’t accessible to the general public, Melamud explained. These negotiated rates, with average savings of 26%, are sourced through Engine’s marketplace, partnerships and wholesalers, he said. Businesses log in to access this closed ecosystem, keeping these exclusive prices confidential and separate from public hotel pricing.

The platform is free to use, with no contracts, minimums, or fees. Melamud also points to Engine’s Direct Bill feature, which extends companies a line of credit for one to two weeks. This lets businesses with frequent travelers settle payments twice a month, much like a biweekly paycheck cycle, he said.

Before becoming a prolific investor, Melamud began his career nearly 20 years ago as an investment banking analyst at Lehman Brothers and Barclays. Taking on the CFO role at Engine, he said, was “purely serendipitous.”

“I didn’t come into this year thinking I would become a CFO in the middle of the year,” he noted.

During a board meeting with Engine founder and CEO Elia Wallen, they discussed how the company didn’t have a CFO at the time. And Melamud has always enjoyed diving deep into challenges. Since joining Engine, he is no longer on the company’s board or with Permira.

Is an IPO next for Engine? “As long as we build a strong business tackling this market, we’ll have a couple of options,” Melamud said. “But right now, it’s not something we’re thinking about actively.”

On the risks and opportunities ahead, he said: “The current macro environment has much more volatility, which can challenge our customers’ ability to plan. But Engine’s opportunity is to alleviate that friction.”

And in his spare time, Melamud focuses on his family. “I have three young kids, and they’re at the ages where everything is still new,” he said.

Sheryl Estrada
[email protected]

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Good morning. We’re in the second half of 2025, and CFO turnover continues.

This time, it’s at embattled UnitedHealth Group—ranked No. 3 on the Fortune 500 and the largest U.S. health care company by revenue in 2024. John F. Rex, who joined the company in 2012 and has served as CFO since 2016, is being replaced—not by an internal candidate, but by an external hire. Rex will become a strategic advisor to the CEO, Stephen J. Hemsley. 

Wayne S. DeVeydt, most recently a managing director and operating partner at Bain Capital, will assume the CFO role effective Sept. 2. DeVeydt brings experience in operational improvement and growth acceleration—a skill set that will be valuable as UnitedHealth’s share price is down more than 50% over the past year. The leadership change comes on the heels of a troubling Q2 2025, in which UnitedHealth’s financial results fell far short of Wall Street expectations, further rattling investors.

The company shocked markets on July 29 by reporting unexpectedly weak quarterly results, according to Fortune’s Geoff Colvin.

As Colvin writes: “The crisis first manifested in April. UnitedHealth Group was emerging from the trauma of executive Brian Thompson’s high-profile murder in December when the company released first-quarter profits far below Wall Street’s expectations. The stock plunged, slashing over $100 billion from market value within hours. A month later, CEO Andrew Witty abruptly resigned for unspecified personal reasons, and former CEO Stephen Hemsley returned to the job. The stock plummeted again.” (You can read the complete report here.)

Managing risk and costs

Now, DeVeydt—also former chairman and CEO of Surgery Partners and former CFO at Anthem (now Elevance)—will need to play a significant role in steering UnitedHealth back on course. The company has four main segments: UnitedHealthcare (coverage), Optum Health (care delivery), Optum Insight (software and analytics), and Optum Rx (pharmacy benefits).

Industry analysts say the road ahead won’t be easy. I asked Julie Utterback, senior equity analyst for health care at Morningstar, for her assessment. “UnitedHealth—and, frankly, the entire managed care organization (MCO) industry—needs to figure out how to balance the current mismatch between rates and medical utilization in their risk-bearing operations,” she told me.

This problem spans the U.S. health care system: higher-than-anticipated medical costs with insufficient premium increases began in Medicare Advantage in late 2023, spread to Medicaid in mid-2024, and now pressure individual exchanges and at-risk employer plans, Utterback said.

In other words, rising health costs are outpacing premiums, which is hurting profits for insurers like UnitedHealth.

On average, the medical cost ratio (the percentage of revenue spent on patient care) among the six MCOs tracked by Morningstar is expected to be more than 450 basis points higher in 2025 than in the prior decade.

In addition, UnitedHealth also faces pressures within its Optum Health unit, where, in some arrangements, the firm not only delivers caregiving services but also assumes the risk of managing a patient’s overall health, she said.

For MCOs to return to target margins, they need to secure better compensation for the risk they assume across the U.S. health care system, she added.

Regarding DeVeydt’s priorities as CFO, Utterback said finance organizations will continue to emphasize cost controls. Further adoption of AI and other digital tools to improve back-office efficiency will remain a focus, although UnitedHealth has already prioritized such initiatives for several years, she noted.

DeVeydt steps into the CFO role next month with a formidable to-do list, and the future of UnitedHealth’s financial recovery on the line.

Sheryl Estrada
[email protected]

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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