Published:
Nov 30, 2024
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
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Turkeys aren’t the only ones at risk of being overstuffed this week, as an accounting investigation led Macy’s to uncover $154m in delivery expenses hidden by an employee over the past few years. While Macy’s reassures us this won’t ruin the feast—cash flow and vendor payments remain untouched—investors are understandably ill at ease. As Macy’s works to restore confidence as we enter the critical holiday shopping season, the retailer’s stock remains in the leftovers pile, down 21% for the year.
The Thanksgiving accounting drama also serves up some food for thought as generative AI increasingly steps into the CFO stack to offer real-time insights, spend analysis, anomaly detection, and predictive analytics. It’s hard to imagine that an AI agent with a sharp sense for error reduction across accounting, tax, and reporting would not have flagged those hidden delivery expenses long before they piled up.
This holiday season may be the opportune time to not only re-gift, but re-prioritize a robust AI-driven financial monitoring system offering the promise of both a streamlined cleanup and revamped growth. In an era in which AI is reshaping industries, Macy’s CFO Suite may be overdue to upgrade AI’s seat at the table.
Portfolio News
Construction fintech company Constrafor gets $14m Series A - Congratulations to portfolio company Constrafor on the announcement of their $14m Series A round of financing, led by NFX. The company also raised a $250m credit facility from Wafra and Crestline. Constrafor had its start with software focusing on contractors. With the new capital, it plans to launch financial software for subcontractors — which have larger labor forces than general contractors and buy material. Read more
MoneyLion announces successful completion of senior debt refinancing - Although MoneyLion’s existing senior debt was not set to mature until 2026, the Company’s strong financial standing created an opportunity to secure refinancing on substantially improved terms through a premier banking partner. Read more
Earnings On Parade
Macy’s worker hid millions in expenses, prompting earnings delay - The worker “intentionally” hid $132m to $154m of delivery expenses through false accounting entries from the end of 2021 through Nov. 2 of this year, the company said. The retailer said it discovered the issue while preparing its recent quarterly financial statements, prompting an independent investigation into the person. Read more
Accountants view AI as an ally, not a competitor - Partly due to staffing challenges, the accounting industry has embraced AI on a large scale—98% of respondents reporting that they actively use the technology to enhance client service. Additionally, nearly as many (95%) said that adopting new technology is just as important as traditional accounting skills to succeed as an accountant today. Read more
Industry News
Scott Bessent sees a coming ‘global economic reordering.’ He wants to be part of it - Scott Bessent spent the past 40 years studying economic history. Now, as Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Treasury Department, he has the chance to make his mark on it. He was motivated to step out from behind his desk and get involved with Trump’s campaign in part because of a view that time is running out for the U.S. economy to grow its way out of excessive budget deficits and indebtedness. Read more
How Morgan Stanley courted dodgy customers to build a wealth-management empire - Internal company documents describe the bank’s weak anti-money-laundering controls and failure to complete due-diligence reviews as staff expressed alarm: ‘We need to kill this’. Read more
Revolut to launch mortgages, smart ATMs, and business credit products - Revolut, the London-based fintech unicorn, shared a few items on the company’s 2025 roadmap at a corporate event in London on Friday. One of its main focuses for next year will be the introduction of an AI-enabled assistant to help its 50m customers navigate the financial app, manage their money, and customize the software. Read more
Howard Lutnick’s other top client: crypto giant Tether - Cantor, which is majority-owned by Lutnick, holds most of Tether’s $134b in assets, largely U.S. Treasury bills, in exchange for tens of millions of dollars of fees each year, according to people familiar with Cantor’s business. Cantor’s relationship with Tether deepened when the trading firm struck a deal to invest in the crypto giant. Under the agreement, which was made in the past year, Cantor stood to receive about a 5% ownership interest in Tether. Read more
Britain’s finance watchdog sets out plan to implement crypto regulation regime by 2026 - The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which oversees banking and investment products in the U.K., unveiled a timeline detailing key dates and milestones it’s working toward on its regulatory roadmap for crypto. In the fourth quarter, the regulator will launch discussion papers on the rules governing the issuance and custody of stablecoins, as well as admission and disclosure processes and how to tackle market abuse. Read more
A very ChatGPT Christmas: Savvy Black Friday shoppers use AI to find deals - Scoring the best Black Friday deals once meant camping for hours outside Best Buy or Walmart, then rushing in at dawn with the crowds. Today, savvy shoppers use ChatGPT and other AI tools to snag the bargains online. Read more
Total stablecoin value tops Terra-Era peak to near $200b - The stablecoin market has hit a record $190b, driven by Tether’s growth, Stripe’s $1.1b acquisition, and broader adoption for cross-border payments amid a crypto market rally post-election. Read more
Select Financings
Boosted.ai - Toronto based financial analysis and workflow platform for investment managers raised $15m in Series C funding led by Royal Bank of Canada, HarbourVest Partners and Ten Coves Capital. Read more
Capitolis - Israel based fintech company for banks raised $20m in new funding led by Citi. Read more
Cardless - San Francisco based co-branded credit card startup raised $30m in Series C funding led by Activant Capital. Read more
Fondo - San Francisco based AI-driven bookkeeping startup raised $7m in Seed funding led by Money Forward. Read more
Norbr - Netherlands based payment infrastructure as a service provider raised €3m in new funding led by Alstin Capital. Read more
OpenTrade - London based real world asset-backed stablecoin yield products platform raised $4m in Seed extension funding led by Albion VC. Read more
OpenYield - New York based bond marketplace raised $7m in new funding led by Canapi Ventures. Read more
Pi-xcels - Singapore based digital receipt startup raised $2.7m in Seed funding led by Headline. Read more
Range - Virginia based flat-fee wealth management startup raised $28m in Series B funding led by Cathay Innovation. Read more
StoreCash - San Jose mobile cash-back rewards app raised $3.7m in Seed funding led by Black Ops Ventures. Read more
Volta - Italy based "Shopify for B2B sales" raised €6m in pre-Seed funding led by Emblem. Read more
Zopper - India based personalized insurance maker raised $25m in Series D funding led by Elevation Capital and Dharana Capital. Read more
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