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Oracle CFO Leaves after Four Months of Service

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the hot-seat-too-hot dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Oracle's CFO and Co-President Greg Maffei has quit. He will be succeeded by Safra Catz, who has been with Oracle for a while, and it will be interesting to see how long she lasts. Before Maffei, Harry You was CFO for 9 months, and before him was Jeff Henley. What's with the CFO shuffle at Oracle?"

11 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. CFO Leaving is bad news. by catwh0re · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When the CFO leaves, it's usually because they think they're in a sinking ship.

    1. Re:CFO Leaving is bad news. by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      well, if they are trying to create deceptive profit reports, that would be a good reason a CFO would leave. It would also indicate a problem with the company.

      Not saying they are sinking, but don't just assume there not having issues. Everyone thought Enron was in good shape, until the very last minute.

      Now we have Sarbanes Oxley, a good reason for CFO to not look the other way.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    2. Re:CFO Leaving is bad news. by Dwonis · · Score: 3, Insightful

      MSFT is a sinking ship, but it's a vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big ship that will take an equally long time to sink -- long enough that it might end up being repaired before it's too late. :P

    3. Re:CFO Leaving is bad news. by marktoml · · Score: 3, Insightful

      More to the point he is not one to turn over control or let go of the rudder--even slightly. I rather doubt the CFO was allowed to do much and thus felt they couldn't be fully effective. Until he finds one that suits him the way Henley did (i.e. one he will let do the job) the shuffle will undoutedly continue.

    4. Re:CFO Leaving is bad news. by einhverfr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      well, if they are trying to create deceptive profit reports, that would be a good reason a CFO would leave. It would also indicate a problem with the company.

      Yeah, I my first thought was "Securities Fraud" but I don't know what is going on there well enough to know.

      Now, it doesn't mean that the company is sinking, but I have absolutely no intention of purchasing any Oracle stock in the reasonable future.

      Regarding Enron, a good part of the issue was Fastow, who was siphoning off all of Enron's solid investments, leaving them with the crap, and cooking the books to cover his trail. The more I have looked into Enron, the more I have become convinced that embezzlement was one of two root cause of the collapse (the other was energy market manipulation which would have likely brought them down as well). In Enron's case, the books were not cooked to keep the stock price up. They were cooked to cover other illegal activity.

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    5. Re:CFO Leaving is bad news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      My assumption is that the CFO would report directly to Larry Ellison.

      If you've ever met Larry, and if you've ever met a typical CPA/Accountant/CFO,
      you'll know why there's a CFO shuffle at Oracle. Larry's an impractical, ego-centric, implusive maniac. CFO types are usually humble and methodical.

  2. Not a good sign... by csmacd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    CFOs depart quickly because they see tyranical leadership, bad financial situation, or both. Sounds like there are some serious problems in Oracle's financial sector.

    --
    Don't pick up the pho*(@)$*@&@!@ NO CARRIER
  3. Up close and personal with Biker Spike by wintermute42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's with the CFO shuffle at Oracle?

    Oh, nothing more than fear of doing jail time.

    Seriously, after Tyco, WorldCom and Enron, a CFO that is asked to support accounting that might be considered questionable bears some serious risks (as they should). The compensation just does not justify the risk of jail time. At least not for your typical CFO.

  4. Re:Guilt by geekoid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    except MSs product is not in the same league as Oracle.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  5. Measuring The Depth Of The Muck In Months. by Phat_Tony · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Who knows, maybe they've just had an unfortunate series of personal crises or similar unrelated coincidences that don't reflect poorly on the company.

    Or, maybe it takes from four to nine months to shovel to the bottom of the accounting muck at Oracle. At that point, a CFO reaches the inescapable conclusion that they must either:
    1. Issue a radical restatement of earnings for one or more previous quarters in their next financial report.
    2. Commit perjury.
    If the CEO and board disagree with the necessity of revising past financial statements, and the CFO doesn't feel like taking his chances with committing fraud (especially in the current post-scandel atmosphere), then it's time to shop for a new CFO. At the least, it will give the higher-ups a few more months to inconspicuously sell some stock while the next CFO's still busy shoveling.

    --
    Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
  6. Re:Money by DurendalMac · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Or maybe it's because Larry Ellison is an even bigger asshole than Steve Jobs...