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The Morning Ledger: AI’s Cost-Savings Promise Hampered by Lack of Skills |
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Kion Group, a manufacturer of forklifts and industrial trucks, is running pilot projects to assess how to best use robotic automation and artificial intelligence. PHOTO: ARNE DEDERT/ZUMA PRESS
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Good day. Companies aren’t getting the full benefits and cost-savings promised by artificial intelligence because finance teams lack the technical skills and understanding of these advanced technologies.
Skills shortage: Just 10% of senior finance leaders said their teams have the skills to support the company’s overall digital ambitions, according to a report released last week by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and Oracle Corp.
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Side by side: AI can quickly crunch data to identify patterns, expedite repetitive work such as validating payments and flagging collections and reduce errors. But accountants must be able to check whether algorithms are functioning correctly, evaluate potential weaknesses of the results and communicate them in the context of the business.
Building up: Kion Group AG, a Frankfurt-based manufacturer of forklifts and industrial trucks, is running pilot projects to assess how best to use robotic process automation and artificial intelligence. “It will be a shift,” said Chief Financial Officer Anke Groth. “I will assign more-valued tasks to my employees.”
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The World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos, Switzerland, bringing together around 2,500 leaders from business, politics and civil society.
The National Association of Realtors will release the existing-home sales report for December. Economists estimate that U.S. sales fell 1.3% from a month earlier.
Capital One Financial Corp., Halliburton Co., Navient Corp. and Stanley Black & Decker Inc. are among the companies slated to report earnings Tuesday.
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On Thursday, officials at the European Central Bank conclude their first meeting of the year, with no significant changes in policy expected. Also on Thursday, data provider Markit releases composite reports on manufacturing and services in the eurozone.
On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department will provide a snapshot on the manufacturing sector with a report on durable-goods orders for December. Economists project orders rose 1% from a month earlier.
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Foxconn, a Taiwan-based company formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, was founded by billionaire Terry Gou. PHOTO: TYRONE SIU/REUTERS
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Apple Inc.’s largest iPhone assembler, Foxconn Technology Group, is considering producing the devices in India, people familiar with the matter said, a move that could reduce Apple’s dependence on China for manufacturing and potentially for sales.
BHP Group Ltd. recorded weaker quarterly production of commodities including iron ore and petroleum and forecast a first-half productivity hit totaling US$600 million because of disruptions to operations, MarketWatch reports.
Private-equity giant Apollo Global Management LLC is in advanced talks to acquire RPC Group PLC, one of Europe’s biggest packaging companies, for more than $3.8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The monthlong government shutdown is forcing some U.S. companies to seek alternate routes to go public because the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is unable to green-light IPOs.
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HK9.70 |
Xiaomi Corp. shares hit a record low last week. The Chinese company has lost more than $20 billion in market value since its IPO in July. The firm's management is now buying back stock to reassure investors.
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Google’s logo is on display at a startup and technology summit in Paris last May. PHOTO: CHARLES PLATIAU/REUTERS
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A French regulator fined Alphabet Inc.’s Google €50 million ($57 million)—the biggest penalty so far under a new European privacy law—alleging the search-engine giant didn’t go far enough getting valid user consent to gather data for targeted advertising.
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The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday again rejected Carlos Ghosn’s request for release on bail, despite his pledge to abide by strict bail terms, including wearing an ankle bracelet.
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Germany’s government banned Mahan Air, an Iranian airline, from operating in the country following U.S. allegations that its aircraft transported weapons and fighters to war-torn Syria.
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Russia launched administrative action against Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. on Monday for failing to comply with its data laws, a move that comes just days after Facebook removed the accounts of what it said were two misinformation campaigns based in the country.
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Germany’s Kion Group AG plans to expand its factory in Summerville, S.C., in a move to escape a 25% tariff the U.S. levied on forklifts imported from China.
About half of the 3,000 vehicles that the Frankfurt-based company sells in the U.S. each year come from China, where Kion operates two forklift manufacturing facilities, Chief Financial Officer Anke Groth said Friday in an interview with CFO Journal.
“It is worth exploring ways to expand our production in the U.S. to avoid tariffs,” Ms. Groth said. The company is searching for additional U.S.-based suppliers that could provide its factory in Summerville with parts, she added.
Foreign companies ranging from auto makers to solar panel manufacturers have sketched out plans to expand their U.S. manufacturing footprints in response to trade tensions between the U.S. and China. The U.S. levied two rounds of duties on Chinese imports last year, in July and September, which now affect roughly $250 billion worth of goods.
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Containers are loaded onto a ship at the Port of Savannah in Georgia, U.S. PHOTO: STEPHEN B. MORTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Corporate overseas investment will likely rebound this year as U.S. companies repatriate less profits, but will nonetheless continue to be weak by precrisis standards in the face of a darkening economic outlook and uncertainties about trade rules, the United Nations said Monday.
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Two influential U.S. business groups have issued a report detailing how China is moving ahead with a technology policy set to be a key point of contention in the U.S.-China trade talks that resume next week in Washington.
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Startup investors and company founders warn that the unchecked growth of the past several years could be hitting a limit. A rout of publicly traded tech companies is fostering newfound restraint.
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Shuttered government offices are stalling the approval of new loans, initial public offerings, the processing of tax documents, the approval of new products and other substantial business across the U.S.
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Young & Co.'s Brewery PLC, a U.K.-based brewery chain, has appointed Daniel Quint as interim finance chief, following the departure of its Chief Financial Officer Steve Robinson in December.
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Mr. Quint was CFO at SPIE UK Ltd., an energy, safety and environmental solutions provider, until 2018 and prior to that finance director at Robert Walters PLC, a recruitment consultancy. The company's board is searching for a permanent replacement for Mr. Quint. Compensation details were not available.
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