Good morning, CFOs. Winnebago Industries is facing a challenge with its financial forecasting, telling investors that, in a historically cyclical industry, its plummeting sales are likely temporary—but, in a shaky economy, it isn’t sure when they will fully recover.

Winnebago, best known for making motor homes and camper vans, benefited from a surge in consumer spending on outdoor activities during the early days of the pandemic. But sales to retailers plummeted as concerns about Covid-19 waned and people spent more money on air travel and hotels. High interest rates have also made purchases unaffordable for some buyers. During the quarter ended Feb. 24, net revenue at the company fell 19% from a year earlier, to $703.6 million.

Recreational-vehicle sales typically rise and fall with the economy. Winnebago’s business model is built to weather such downturns, even after RV shipments to retailers sank to the lowest point since 2012. Roughly 85% of the company’s costs are variable, meaning they can be quickly cut, Chief Financial Officer Bryan Hughes said. Over the past year, Winnebago cut its expenses by operating its production lines fewer than five days a week.

Equity and fixed-income markets are closed in observance of Good Friday.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis releases the personal-consumption expenditures price index for February.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board fined PricewaterhouseCoopers' Australia unit, saying it failed to disclose details about an investigation of the firm by the Australian Tax Practitioners Board in a timely fashion.

The Big Four accounting firm has been dealing with fallout from a tax scandal in Australia, where the local unit admitted to repeated failures of leadership and agreed to governance reforms after its staff leaked confidential government tax information to multinational clients. Last year, the Australian Tax Practitioners Board said it found that PwC Australia breached rules around tax advisory work and ordered it to provide compliance training.

PwC Australia on Thursday was ordered to pay $600,000 and take measures to strengthen its compliance with PCAOB requirements. It didn't admit or deny the PCAOB's claims.

Under PCAOB rules, audit firms are required to file a form to disclose significant events such as the start or end of disciplinary proceedings up to 30 days after they occur. PwC Australia didn't provide this disclosure in time or adequately ensure its compliance with related controls, the PCAOB said.

PwC Australia apologizes for its initial failure to report the incident, a spokesman said. "The firm has cooperated with the PCAOB during this process and has taken a number of steps to improve our policies and procedures related to the reporting requirements," the spokesman said. The firm also said it regrets the "sharing of confidential Treasury information and the associated governance and cultural shortfalls under past leadership."

—Mark Maurer

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board fined PricewaterhouseCoopers' U.S. unit $2.75 million, saying it violated rules around controls for maintaining auditor independence.

PwC failed to adequately ensure that its U.S. personnel would research certain complex or unusual independence issues, the audit regulator said. In 2018, the firm considered ending its audit relationship with a client to allow them to enter a joint venture, but several leaders and partners didn't consult with the firm's independence office or conduct an analysis in evaluating such a move, the PCAOB said.

In addition to agreeing to pay the fine, PwC's U.S. unit said it would review its independence-related quality control policies. The firm neither admitted nor denied the PCAOB's claims. The PCAOB didn't claim that the firm's independence was impaired.

PwC remains committed to a process of continuous improvement, a U.S. spokeswoman said. "PwC recognizes that maintaining our independence is key to our important role in the capital markets," she said.

—Mark Maurer

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for fraud tied to the collapse of his digital exchange, capping the onetime crypto king’s meteoric rise and fall.

Other high-profile, white-collar criminals have received shorter sentences. For instance, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to about 11 years in 2022 for running a yearslong fraud and former Enron chief Jeffrey Skilling received a sentence of 14 years for lying to investors about the firm’s financial health.

• The Crypto Reboot That Wasn’t: Why ‘FTX 2.0’ Floundered
• Life After FTX: Bankman-Fried’s Employees Struggle to Move On

• The S&P 500 gained 10% in the first quarter, its best start to the year since 2019.
• Chief Executive Bob Iger and activist investor Nelson Peltz have spent months of their proxy fight detailing their vision of Disney’s future. For some investors, the deciding factor will be the company’s past.
• UBS gave Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti a $13.6 million bonus, hailing his "excellent performance in a defining year" for Switzerland’s largest bank by assets.

📰 Other headlines

• Home Depot Buys Roofing Distributor in Deal Valued at $18 Billion
• Why Gasoline Prices Are Rising Faster Than Usual This Year
• First Medicare Health Plans to Start Paying for Weight-Loss Drug
• Trafigura to Pay $127 Million to Settle U.S. Bribery Charges
• Ericsson Says Monitor Has OK’d Its Anticorruption Program
• Giant Merger Deals Stage a Comeback
• The Audacious MGM Hack That Brought Chaos to Las Vegas
• Gold Is Rallying. It Isn’t About Inflation This Time.

• Ocean carriers and importers are scrambling to contain the business fallout after the shutdown of a major trade corridor through Baltimore following this week’s deadly bridge collapse.
• Consumers continue spending on experiences, defying the expectations of many and leaving finance chiefs to wonder where shoppers will spend their money.
• Bitcoin’s recent rise has meant startups are having an easier time tapping venture firms that were previously on the fence about deals.
• More private-equity firms have jumped into the carbon-credit market, where skeptics abound but new SEC rules are expected to bring greater transparency and reliability.

Every weekend we select articles that peel back the layers on a compelling business story or make us look at business in a different light.

• With growth slowing, consulting firms like McKinsey need some counsel of their own, according to The Economist.
• Tesla has a plan to fend off cheaper competition from China with a $25,000 electric car. But first it has to overhaul a 100-year-old manufacturing process pioneered by Henry Ford, reports Bloomberg.
• Here are the ‘winners and losers’ as the $20 fast-food wage nears in California, according to the New York Times.

SharkNinja, the Needham, Mass.-based maker of vacuums and blenders, said Patraic Reagan, the financial chief for Nike's Asian and Latin American business, has been appointed CFO, effective April 22. The company said Reagan comes after more than a decade at Nike, where has held several leadership roles, including his last two years as CFO of the company's Asia, Pacific and Latin America segment. Larry Flynn, who has served as interim CFO since June, will return to his role as chief accounting officer.

—Dean Seal contributed to this newsletter.

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.