Business risks under Harris vs. Trump administrations; Q&A with UiPath's CFO; Intuit's ad woes; lunchflation

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Both Harris and Trump would pose risks for business: report

Among 709 executives who participated in 普华永道 ’s Pulse Survey, 75% agreed or strongly agreed that Donald Trump’s proposed 10% universal tax on imports would significantly hinder their growth.

At the same time, 75% of the participants agreed strongly that if the corporate tax rate were raised to 28%, as proposed by Kamala Harris, they would significantly reduce their domestic investments.

Read the full story here.

78% of employees have felt the effects of “lunchflation”

According to new data from ezCater , inflation’s impact on the price of lunch, a metric that surveyors refer to as “lunchflation,” has resulted in lunch being something employees, especially those working in offices, must plan more frequently. Over three-quarters (78%) of respondents said inflation has changed their lunch habits, but remedies to swallow lunchflation have varied.

Could this provide an opportunity for companies looking to get employees to return to the office?

Read the full story here.

From Fortune 500 to a growing AI company: UiPath CFO Ashim Gupta

Ashim Gupta , CFO and COO of UiPath , didn’t know how he’d fare at a startup after nearly 20 years at?General Electric, but six years later, his career and the organization are?thriving.

"This was my first customer-facing role, and I accepted the offer for two reasons,: said Gupta. "First, the company’s metrics were impressive, and I really loved the organization. Just as importantly, though, I was following well-known advice from GE’s former vice chairman, John Rice. He said that to grow, you have to go where you feel most insecure, because that’s where you’ll learn the most."

Read the full story here.

Do CFOs take investor activism seriously enough?

As 贝恩公司 noted in its report, size is no protection against being targeted. Among the surveyed companies that were targeted last year, half had a market cap greater than $10 billion. Bain also noted there are now 70 times more activist campaigns compared with 20 years ago.

Read the full story here.

Intuit’s TurboTax ad pull fuels tension within the accounting community

Intuit 's recent TurboTax ad campaign directing people to "break up" with their accountants has received a considerable amount of backlash and resulted in the company pulling the ad. Now, the decision to acknowledge the ad's poor taste has fueled more tension within the accounting industry.

Sandeep Aujla , CFO of Intuit , recently sat for a Q&A with CFO and talked extensively about the future of accounting and the narrative around it. But, as Blake Oliver, CPA pointed out on The Accounting Podcast , the industry's problems run much deeper.

Read the full story here.

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This edition of Preferred Shares was created by reporter Adam Zaki .