Corporate acquisitions that failed to deliver cost US corporations $25.7 billion last year
$25.7 billion in goodwill write-down for 2014 (Wall Street Journal)
Corporate acquisitions that failed to deliver cost US corporations $25.7 billion in 2014.
US-based public companies recorded those charges in "goodwill impairments, or write-downs, last year, according to a study of more than 8,700 firms from corporate financial adviser Duff & Phelps," The Wall Street Journal says.
In 2013, company's in the United States reported $21.7 billion for the same type of impairments.
Despite the increase, impairment charges were still far below 2012 numbers when they exceeded $50 billion.
"The biggest number of companies in at least five years took hits to goodwill, or intangible assets, in 2014, with 341 companies reporting write-downs, up from 274 in 2013," The Journal reports.
Here's how 170-year-old beer maker Pabst is using predictive analytics to reinvent itself (Business Insider)
Pabst Brewing Company CFO Cordell Sweeney implemented IBM's predictive analytics software to track a three-tiered system that includes selling to distributors who then distribute the company's products to more than 600,000 retailers.
The new technology implementation "allows mid-course corrections and better decision-making," Sweeney says. "We have also integrated our monthly volume forecasts with a weekly forecast that is being used to support the near-term demand planning/inventory planning processes."
Using modern technology has allowed Pabst Brewing to reduce cycle time for the accounting process to just five business days.
Sweeney says the time savings provided to the company's core business has enabled teams to spend more time and focus on innovation pipeline forecasting and other critical growth drivers for the business.