Good afternoon,

There's good news this week about the yearslong shortage of finance staff. While staffing and hiring may remain challenging, there are fewer reports of severe staffing shortages in the industry. More than half of respondents to a recent survey said they're experiencing no staffing shortage. "These results suggest a cooling labor market and possibly a rebalancing between employer expectations and candidate availability," said a report from the Controllers Council.

Also in this issue:

• Fed minutes show inflation, employment risks ⚖️
• Years of inflation squeeze packaged food firms 🚨
• CFO turnover hits 7-year high 📊
• Private valuations soar past IPO records 🚀

Only about 10% of corporate finance and accounting executives face significant talent shortages, while 33% report minor shortages and 53% report no shortages, according to a Controllers Council survey of 300 executive-level finance and accounting leaders. The survey indicates a shift toward a more employer-friendly labor market, with most companies maintaining current staffing levels amid economic uncertainty. Controllers and assistant controllers remain the most challenging roles to fill.

Federal Reserve officials expressed concerns about inflation and the labor market during their most recent policy meeting, although they ultimately opted to keep interest rates unchanged, according to minutes from the gathering. "Participants generally pointed to risks to both sides of the Committee's dual mandate, emphasizing upside risk to inflation and downside risk to employment," the minutes show. Two officials dissented from the decision to leave rates unchanged.

US companies are planning to slow hiring in the second half of 2025, with 20% of employers indicating a hiring slowdown, nearly double the rate from last year, according to a Conference Board survey. Companies such as Novo Nordisk, Meta Platforms and Paycom are pausing hiring or reconsidering backfilling positions, citing economic and policy uncertainty.

Packaged-food companies are grappling with persistent inflationary pressures and tariffs, facing soaring input costs and declining comparable sales. For the sixth consecutive year, inflation has exceeded historical averages, forcing companies to absorb more of these costs rather than pass them on to consumers. Kraft Heinz said inflation is likely to boost costs 5-7% this year, but it plans to raise consumer prices by just 1%, putting further pressure on profit margins.

Companies are placing less emphasis on executive retention when making decisions about benefits, according to a study from NFP. While 84% of companies considered retention a major driver two years ago, that number dropped to 71% last year and just 58% in 2025. Despite 85% of surveyed executives stressing the importance of keeping top talent, organizations are increasingly shifting focus away from retention and focusing instead on financials.

OpenAI has reported its first $1 billion revenue month, and CFO Sarah Friar notes the company's biggest challenge is meeting the "voracious" demand for computing power driven by AI. OpenAI, which just launched ChatGPT-5, expects to triple revenue this year to $12.7 billion and spend heavily on data centers to keep up with demand. CFO Sarah Friar said the AI boom is still in its early stages, and though the firm is concentrating on computing capacity today, it could offer infrastructure services to other businesses in the future.

The IRS and Treasury Department have announced plans to issue proposed regulations to simplify the transfer of US real property interests, particularly for foreign-traded public companies seeking to move to the country. The new rules, detailed in Notice 2025-45, will address inbound asset reorganizations and clarify the treatment of certain stock dispositions in these transactions.

Global CFO turnover has reached a seven-year high, with 173 public company CFOs appointed in the first half of the year, according to Russell Reynolds Associates. Higher retirement rates among CFOs and record CEO turnover are fueling the record number of moves.

Half of Gen Z interns anticipate that 20% of their future job responsibilities will be automated by AI when they enter the workforce, according to a KPMG survey. Despite widespread discussion about AI replacing workers, these young professionals see AI as a tool to enhance efficiency rather than a threat to job stability. Their primary concern is becoming too dependent on AI rather than being replaced by it.

Create aligned autonomy within your teams by combining transparency, alignment to shared goals and iterative feedback, so they can make decisions confidently while staying coordinated with organizational objectives, writes startup advisor Keith Lucas. "Competent leaders of intrinsically motivated teams build systems optimized for team-based creativity, innovation and problem-solving -- systems defined by practices, principles and feedback loops," Lucas writes.

Private tech companies are raising money at valuations that surpass any previous US tech IPO market capitalizations. OpenAI's pending secondary transaction values the company at $500 billion, while SpaceX's recent secondary was at $400 billion and Anthropic and Databricks are raising funds at $170 billion and $100 billion valuations, respectively. Over the past 45 years, only five firms have had IPO market caps above $100 billion on an inflation-adjusted basis: the AT&T wireless spinoff, Facebook, Airbnb, Coupang and Palm.

Watch Henry Winkler talk about himself as Fonzie doing a literal interpretation of the Hein idiom.