The capital budgeting process: What’s next after the ink is dry?

The capital budgeting process: What’s next after the ink is dry? You’re halfway through Q1. The capital budgeting process is complete, the plan is locked in and loaded into your system, and year-end reporting is wrapped up. Time to breathe a sigh of relief, right? Not so fast. Annual budgets are often outdated the moment they’re approved. If […]

Deep Dive: A Capital Planning Executive’s Perspective on Trends in the Food and Beverage Industry

Deep Dive: A Capital Planning Executive’s Perspectives on Trends in the Food and Beverage Industry Capex spending among food and beverage (F&B) companies rose sharply in the first half of 2023, and industry insiders expect the trend to continue for the remainder of the year. According to Food Processing, 33 of the largest publicly-traded F&B […]

Deep Dive: A Capital Planning Executive’s Perspective on Trends In the Building Materials Industry

Deep Dive: A Capital Planning Executive’s Perspective on Trends In the Building Materials Industry After several turbulent years, the building materials industry finally appears to be on steady ground. Supply chain snags have unsnarled, the economy is relatively stable, and the U.S. government has passed legislation supporting more domestic construction. Yet, a number of obstacles […]

Deep Dive: A Capital Planning Executive’s Perspective on Trends In the BioPharma Industry

Deep Dive: A Capital Planning Executive’s Perspective on Trends In the BioPharma Industry The biotech and pharmaceutical sectors flourished in 2021 due to a low-interest rate environment and strong pandemic-driven demand, achieving top-line growth of over 30%. However, 2022 proved to be quieter as financing waned and large companies shifted their focus to divesting non-core […]

Deep Dive: A Capital Finance Executive’s Perspective on Trends in the Utilities Industry

Deep Dive: A Capital Finance Executive’s Perspective on Trends in the Utilities Industry Whether it’s upgrading aging infrastructure, adapting to changing regulations, or protecting grids against outside threats, utilities have a range of challenges to navigate these days. In this deep dive, we’ll review the top issues facing the industry, and how capital planners can […]

Deep Dive: A Capital Planning Executive’s Perspective on Trends in the Chemicals Industry

Deep Dive: A Capital Planning Executive’s Perspective on Trends in the Chemicals Industry Strong demand and higher prices made 2022 a good year for the global chemicals industry overall, but results varied widely by region. In the U.S., the sector had “one of its best years in a decade,” while European companies struggled to navigate […]

California’s PG&E Crisis: Lessons Learned and the Capex Connection

Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) rise to becoming one of California’s most powerful energy providers was a success story for much of the 20th century. Yet in recent years, costly missteps ultimately sparked tragic wildfires and bankruptcy—marking an unfortunate end to its long reign in the Golden State.  So, what are some important takeaways from […]

Top 10 Capital Budgeting Best Practices

When it comes to capital budgeting, there’s no shortage of grievances against the process. And rightly so. A comprehensive capital plan, which takes months to put together, can become obsolete soon after the ink dries. Projects can take forever to make it through complex, manual approval workflows. And making comparisons to a prior year’s plan […]

For This CFO, Nothing’s More Important Than ROIC

Finario sat down with former ITT Corp CFO Tom Scalera to talk about critical issues facing the CFO, including managing ROIC amid shorter tenures. Watch the full interview here. Tom Scalera knows a thing or two about capital planning. As CFO of ITT Corporation for nearly a decade, he oversaw the firm’s vast industrial portfolio, […]

2023 Trends for Capital Planners

When it comes to predicting future trends in capital spending, and finance more broadly, there’s no shortage of opinions. So we’ve cut through the noise to consolidate the predictions and viewpoints that have reached broad consensus.  In short, workforce challenges are top of mind for most CFOs, followed by recession worries and a focus on […]