Good morning, CFOs. Kurt Hohl, who became the SEC’s chief accountant in July, talks about his plans for oversight; a look at the best-managed companies of 2025; plus, PepsiCo plans to cut costs and lower food prices.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's new top accountant has ambitious plans.

The SEC is evaluating whether to change rules around conflicts of interest for auditors and their clients, how its audit watchdog handles inspections of accounting firms and the cost for companies of complying with requirements, Mark Maurer reports from Washington, D.C.

Accounting standard setters need to more closely scrutinize the costs of disclosures for companies applying new rules, according to SEC Chief Accountant Kurt Hohl. “What we don’t want to happen is essentially a high compliance cost to dissuade companies from accessing the public market,” Hohl said Monday at a conference.

The chief accountant is involved in the SEC’s search for candidates for all five positions on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The PCAOB was spared from elimination in July when the Senate passed a tax bill that omitted the measure. The Senate parliamentarian determined that including the provision in the bill violated budget reconciliation rules.

Hohl discussed some of the key issues he’s watching during an interview with the WSJ Leadership Institute’s CFO Journal. His answers have been edited for length and clarity.

What do you want to see change with the SEC’s auditor independence rules? The regulator last eased these rules in 2020.

The independence rules are fairly clear. You can’t have direct business relationships with audit clients. Where it gets complex is where you basically are partnering with a nonaudit client and that nonaudit client uses an audit client as part of their service delivery. That’s what adds complications to the situation.

Is that a greater issue amid companies’ AI partnerships and private-equity money pouring into accounting firms?

There are complications that AI adds to the business development relationship required under the auditor independence rules. Also private equity is buying some of these smaller accounting firms and making the decision that we don’t want to serve in the public company market anymore because it’s too expensive for us to operate in that space. Auditor choice is a priority.

For the full details, read on here.

📆 Earnings

• AutoZone
• Campbell’s
• Casey’s General Stores
• GameStop

📈 Economic Indicators

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for both September and October.

The National Federation of Independent Business releases its Small Business Optimism Index for November.

And now, a look at PepsiCo's plans to cut costs and lower food prices…

PepsiCo struck an agreement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management, committing to cut costs across the company and lower prices in an effort to jump-start its slowing food business, Laura Cooper reports.

The maker of Pepsi-Cola, Lay’s and Doritos said it would reduce expenses in its food and beverages operations, while cutting the number of individual products by 20% across its U.S. businesses. PepsiCo also plans to lower prices for some food products in the New Year.

“There’s a big reset of affordability because we see the consumer struggling in the U.S. and in many Western countries,” said PepsiCo Chief Executive Ramon Laguarta in an interview.

📰 Other headlines

• Nvidia Takes Top Spot in the List of Best-Managed Companies of 2025
• Dow Falls as Investors Count Down to Fed Meeting
• Trump Unveils $12 Billion Bailout for Farmers
• Jamie Dimon Forms Adviser Supergroup for $1.5 Trillion American Resiliency Pledge
• Toll Brothers Cautious About 2026 as Housing Demand Remains Slow
• Berkshire’s Geico Boss Todd Combs Leaves for JPMorgan Ahead of Buffett Retirement
• Behind Paramount’s Relentless Campaign to Woo Warner Discovery and President Trump
• L’Oréal Doubles Stake in Swiss Skincare Company Galderma
• Now Cracker Barrel Diehards Think the Food Isn’t Up to Scratch, Either
• Sam Altman’s Sprint to Correct OpenAI’s Direction and Fend Off Google
• An Unusually Divided Fed Is Expected to Deliver a Rate Cut
• Consumer Loans Are Getting Harder to Tally—and the Risks Harder to Gauge
• China’s Manufacturing Is Booming Despite Trump’s Tariffs
• Ford and Renault Team Up in Europe to Compete Against Low-Price Chinese Cars

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ATI, the Dallas-based maker of specialty materials and components, named James Robert Foster as its finance chief. Foster, who has been with the company since 2012, will succeed Don Newman as senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer on Jan. 1, ATI said. Foster currently serves as ATI's vice president of financial and operating strategies. ATI in September said Newman, who joined as finance chief in 2020, plans to retire early next year. He will depart on March 1 and serve in an advisory capacity for a continued period to assist with the transition.

—Colin Kellaher contributed to today’s Ledger.

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.