The WSJ Leadership Institute’s Mark Maurer has been tracking Amazon.com for CFO Journal readers and what the company is pushing for from the FASB. Mark writes for today's newsletter:

Amazon wants the standard-setter FASB to change how it requires companies to account for electricity contracts, including those that allow them to fuel their AI ambitions.

The tech giant last year asked FASB to allow companies to account for purchase power agreements as purchase commitments, not as derivatives, as is required in certain cases. Recording the contracts as derivatives creates a disparity between reported earnings and cash flows, making it more likely that investors will misinterpret accounting results, according to Amazon’s August letter.

“This is an immediate and pressing industry-wide issue,” Shelley Reynolds, Amazon’s worldwide controller and principal accounting officer, wrote at the time.

The move comes as Amazon and other large tech companies lock in massive amounts of power to run their AI data centers. The companies are just beginning to share financial details on these agreements, though investors want more disclosure—and in some cases, new accounting and disclosure requirements, as we reported last week.

What’s next? The FASB doesn’t have a project around data-center arrangements on its agenda. But a task force convened by the FASB focused on emerging issues is evaluating whether long-term electricity contracts should be derivatives or financial commitments known as executory contracts. The task force is set to discuss the issue at a June meeting, which could eventually result in a recommendation that the FASB add the issue to its agenda. Amazon also submitted a letter to the task force in October.

“Long-term electricity supply contracts can take very different forms that result in different accounting for different parties,” FASB Chair Rich Jones told Mark in an interview.

The FASB hasn’t received formal requests to expand disclosure requirements around leases and consolidation through variable interest entities, or VIEs, specific to data centers, a spokeswoman said.

—Mark Maurer

📆 Earnings

• Campbell’s
• UiPath

📈 Economic Indicators

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the consumer price index for February.

🎢 Wild ride for oil. The Group of Seven of the world’s biggest economies has asked the International Energy Agency to prepare plans to release oil from reserves, leading to recent price declines. Meanwhile, advisers to President Trump are urging him to find a way to exit the Iran war.

• For a look at what CFOs are saying about oil prices, check out Kristin Broughton’s newsletter write-up here as these leaders shift into scenario-planning mode.

Anthropic’s standoff. Anthropic lost the U.S. government as a customer but Meghan Bobrowsky reports that it has brought a momentary advantage in the ferocious talent war between rival artificial intelligence labs. Here are the details.

Geopolitical risk. “We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated, but we do so on our time line and at our choosing,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said about Iran. Meanwhile, the Iran conflict is triggering losses for big-name hedge funds like Citadel, Millennium and Point72.

🍿Bonus read: The movie buffs who are closely watching film profits. A look at the hobbyist number crunchers who might actually be reaching Hollywood power brokers, via Mark Maurer.

Earlier this year my colleague, Laura Kreutzer, the bureau chief of WSJ Pro Private Equity, and I caught up on financial developments shaping corporate decision-making, including emerging trends in PE markets and private credit markets, which we identified as key areas to watch this year.

Telis Demos points out that the giant fund managers Blackstone and Blackrock both reported that they faced jumps in first-quarter redemption requests from their flagship nontraded private-credit funds, which cater to wealthy individual investors. He writes:

“There may be little that Blackstone or BlackRock can do to stop the runaway train of negativity about private credit. Yet investors should keep in mind that private credit is hardly their only business.”

Here's his full Heard on the Street column, which touches on why having diverse businesses is so important.

📰 Other headlines

• Boeing Says Wiring Flaws Will Slow Some 737 MAX Deliveries
• Bill Ackman Details Plan to Take Hedge-Fund Firm, New Fund Public Simultaneously
• Meta to Acquire AI-Only Social Media Platform Moltbook
• BlackRock Donates $100 Million to Trade-Worker Training in Infrastructure-Investing Push
• Exclusive: Australian Plastics Recycling Company Targets Critical Minerals
• European Space Merger Faces Pushback From Local Competitors
• February Home Sales Rose After Mortgage Rates Eased
• Democratic Senators Hatch Plan to End Income Taxes for Millions of Americans
• Ireland’s Gift to Trump: Shamrocks and a $6.1 Billion Investment Pledge

📈 Earnings wrapup

• Oracle Raises 2027 Sales Outlook Amid AI Demand, Restructuring
• United Natural Foods Boosts Profit Outlook, Lowers Sales Guidance
• Kohl’s Turnaround Stalls in Fourth Quarter, But CEO Remains Upbeat on Progress
• AeroVironment Cuts Guidance, Says Government Shutdown Delayed Orders in Third Quarter

For more earnings news, click here.

Equinix, the Redwood City, Calif.-based digital infrastructure company, has hired Olivier Leonetti as its new CFO, effective March 16. Leonetti joins the company from power-management company Eaton, where he has been finance chief since February 2024. Eaton last year announced that Leonetti would be leaving as part of a planned transition, and the company earlier this month said his last day would be March 13. Equinix said Leonetti, 61 years old, will receive an initial annual base salary of $700,000 and an annual bonus with a target of 100% of his base pay.

—Colin Kellaher contributed to today’s Ledger.

This March 23–24, financial leaders will gather in Palo Alto for The WSJ CFO Council Summit to examine how CFOs are navigating market volatility, evolving trade and regulatory policy and the growing impact of AI on the future of the enterprise. Join the CFO Council and be part of the conversations shaping the future of finance and corporate leadership.

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The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax, accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team comprises reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

You can reach us by replying to any newsletter, or email Walden at walden.siew@wsj.com.