What CFOs Need Before An IPO |
After some slow years for public debuts, 2026 is a banner year for IPOs. This year has seen the biggest-ever IPO, with SpaceX’s blockbuster market debut in June. But smaller companies, including Jersey Mike’s, Once Upon a Farm and Blossom Hill Therapeutics, have also gone public. And the year has more big IPOs in store—most notably planned debuts of AI titans OpenAI and Anthropic, but smart ring maker Oura and Dunkin’ owner Inspire Brands are also on deck to IPO, the Wall Street Journal reports.
As Wall Street heats up, it may be the right time for your company to join the ranks of the publicly traded. And while going public has its benefits, it requires long-term planning and meticulous record-keeping well before an IPO is on the calendar. I spoke with Wendy Beck, a partner at accounting and business consulting firm Armanino, about how CFOs can get their companies on track for an IPO in the near future. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.
This is the published version of Forbes' CFO newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief finance officers and other leaders focused on the budget. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.
In the last week, the economy has seen highs and lows—but these highs aren’t the type that anyone really wanted to see. Last week, the national debt hit a new milestone of $40 trillion—and there are currently no major plans underway to reduce it. The debt has more than doubled in the last decade as domestic spending has outstripped revenues, CBS News reports. The milestone caused drops on Wall Street, and big changes in the bond market as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged to double the planned buyback of long-term Treasury securities to head off borrowing costs—though Forbes senior contributor Howard Gleckman writes this can’t fix the debt problem.
What this is likely to mean, according to the Washington Post, is that Washington may impose tax increases or make spending cuts in the near future. In the meantime, gold, silver and cryptocurrency prices have been rallying.
But—as has been the case since President Donald Trump’s second term began—tariffs are also at the center of economic upheaval. After negotiations between the U.S. and Canada went awry over the weekend, new 50% tariffs on several Canadian products took effect on Saturday. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., which were detailed on Tuesday, will take effect next month. And while the new tariffs only apply to about 5% of the........