When it comes to the valuable commodity of time, most Finance workers simply don't have enough. But for A/P pros in particular, that shortage is getting expensive. The average Accounts Payable department spends 84% of its time on transaction processing, according to the Institute of Financial Management (IOFM). That leaves just 16% of their day for analysis work, which knocks A/P right back to...

U.S. manufacturing production just had its best year since 2011, yet some argue that 2017 was as good as it will get and that a slowdown is ahead. We think the opposite is more likely: Factory output is poised to speed up. Investors worried that the equity market is stretched should take heart. Stronger growth in factory output is a good reason to remain cyclically oriented, especially in U.S. industrial stocks. Trade, one of the biggest engines of the sector in 2017, is likely to...

Let's talk a bit about sales pipelines. According to the classic definition, sales prospects (people or companies that haven't bought from you) go into one end of the pipe and customers (people or companies that are now buying from you) come out the other end of the pipe. The problem with the pipeline analogy is that it encourages linear thinking: If...

Apple on Wednesday announced plans to open a new campus this year as part of an effort to hire 20,000 new workers over the next five years. The company said in a statement that it would "establish an Apple campus in a new location," which it would announce "later in the year," that "will initially house technical support for customers."

After Amazon announced late last year that it plans to build a second headquarters in an undetermined location, it received 238 bids from cities, states, and regions across North America. Each proposal detailed why that place should be chosen for Amazon's new second home. On Thursday, the company announced...

U.S. manufacturers are upbeat about the industry and forecast strong growth headed into 2018. The 2017 Fourth Quarter Manufacturers' Outlook Survey by the National Association of Manufacturers found more than 90 percent of respondents had a positive outlook for their own company. Manufacturers also said they expect an average production growth rate of 5 percent over the next 12 months. Data indicated...