Apple CFO most admired by peers

APPLE CFO LUCA MAESTRI is the finance chief most admired by fellow professionals, a survey of 300 Fortune 500 CFOs has found.

Apple and Maestri (pictured) have attracted stinging criticism for the company’s tax practices, after it emerged in 2013 that while the business’s corporate structure includes three Ireland-based subsidiaries, they do not appear to by tax-resident anywhere in the world.

Apple has always defended its core tax strategy and boss Tim Cook has always maintained the technology business pays every dollar of US tax it owes.

While Ireland has since moved to close that loophole, in January it was announced the company had made the biggest quarterly profits in history, making $18bn (£118bn) in its fiscal first quarter.

Walmart CFO Charles Holley and Ford CFO Bob Shanks were close runners-up in the survey conducted by Innovate US, while 74% of participants admitted their CFO is not involved in the sales cycle, but should be.