Sam Birchall

United Kingdom

Staff Finance Writer at Raconteur

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Articles

‘Choose the path of least resistance’: Qualtrics’ CFO on how to scale a global company - Raconteur

1 week ago | raconteur.net | Sam Birchall

Rachita Sundar never expected to build a career in finance. After earning a degree in electrical engineering, she began her career as a software developer at Wipro Technologies in 2003. Tasked with interviewing clients to understand how they’d use the systems her team was building, Sundar soon found herself more interested in their business operations than her company’s software products – a realisation that led her back to college to pursue an MBA in finance.
Three-minute explainer on… the vibecession

1 week ago | raconteur.net | Sam Birchall

Even before Trump’s tariffs sent shockwaves through global markets, a feeling of economic pessimism has been rife. Three-quarters of UK citizens (77%) think the economy is in a bad state at the moment, according to a recent YouGov poll. This sense of unease is spilling into buying habits, with consumer confidence plummeting. But there is a disconnect between people’s negative perceptions about the economy and the latest, relatively promising macroeconomic data.
In the eye of the tariff storm, CFOs tackle rising costs and uncertainty

1 week ago | raconteur.net | Sam Birchall

Little more than 12 hours after President Trump’s tariffs took effect, he paused them for 90 days. This may have triggered a surge among the battered global stock markets but the latest rebound looks more like brief respite than a long-term turning point. Many analysts caution against reading too much into the bounce. Kate Leaman, chief market analyst at Avatrade, warns that this is likely a temporary surge, rather than a lasting recovery.
Inside the mind of an activist investor

2 weeks ago | raconteur.net | Sam Birchall

Activist investors can be a persistent thorn in the side of management teams and boards. While their demands can result in improvements to the company and shareholder value, the experience can also be stressful and demoralising. It can derail a firm’s long-term strategy, divert leadership from their priorities and compromise value.
Three-minute explainer on...investor relations

2 weeks ago | raconteur.net | Sam Birchall

How well do you know your investors? More importantly, how well do they know you? Considering that a firm’s valuation relies almost entirely on consistent and honest communication with the market, there is a surprising level of disconnect from the investment community among businesses. According to a recent survey by Bain & Company, 40% of companies do not keep track of shareholders that are not invested in their stock. Nor do they link investor feedback to their overall business strategy.
The CFO role is reaching breaking point

2 weeks ago | raconteur.net | Sam Birchall

The social reformer John Ruskin said at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution: “In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: they must be fit for it, they must not do too much of it and they must have a sense of success in it.”Finance leaders, it appears, are failing to meet any of these criteria: they are stressed out, overworked and fed up. That’s according to a recent poll of more than 1,000 UK finance decision-makers by Iplicit, a software firm.
Three things to expect from an explosive AGM season

3 weeks ago | raconteur.net | Sam Birchall

Major listed UK companies will be gearing up to host their annual general meetings between April and May. During these events shareholders are given a chance to question the board of directors over financial results and future strategy. In recent years, shareholders and activists have used AGMs to voice dissent, vote against management decisions or push for drastic overhauls in how the company is run. Between the free buffet and disruptions from demonstrators, discussions can get heated.
Half of CFOs have no defence plan for shareholder attacks - Raconteur

3 weeks ago | raconteur.net | Sam Birchall

In 1926, Benjamin Graham wrote a letter to board members at Northern Pipeline, in which he owned a small stake, requesting they pay more dividends to shareholders. At the time there were no regulations mandating the sharing of financial reports so shareholders were kept largely in the dark about the true value of their investment. However, Graham astutely observed that Northern Pipeline held so many securities that, if liquidated, it could distribute $90 (£69) per share to its investors.
Spring statement 2025: what it means for British businesses

4 weeks ago | raconteur.net | Sam Forsdick |Tamlin Magee |Sam Birchall

No new tax rises were announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves in Wednesday’s spring statement. Instead, the government announced plans to cut welfare and benefits to plug holes in the public finances. Reeves came to office promising only one major fiscal event per year, the autumn budget, with the spring statement being relegated to a financial update, meaning new taxes or major spending commitments were always unlikely.
Is this the end of DEI in the UK's finance sector?

1 month ago | raconteur.net | Sam Birchall

Last week, the UK’s financial regulators abandoned their plan to introduce diversity and inclusion rules that would have required finance firms to report on diversity metrics and set annual targets for diversity. Explaining the decision, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the Bank of England’s regulatory arm, expressed a reluctance to saddle UK firms with extra regulatory burdens and costs.