More than half of CFOs and finance executives in the US and Mexico believes that the COVID-19 outbreak could have serious consequences for their businesses, according to a new report from PwC.
The multinational professional services firm polled 50 financial leader at the beginning of March 2020 and found that 54% believe the pandemic could have a significant impact on their companies.
That hardly surprising given 80% said that the risk of a global recession caused by the coronavirus was one of their top three concerns.
Moreover, 58% expected their revenues to drop, 34% that the virus’ damage to their business was limited to specific regions but that they were monitoring the developments carefully and that 30% were considering supply chain changes.
More encouragingly, 90% said that they believed that their company would return to normal within three months if the pandemic was to end immediately.
“Uncertainty, especially regarding both the length and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, is a predominant concern for chief financial officers,” said Tim Ryan, US chair and senior partner at PwC. “However, with 90% of CFOs and finance leaders optimistic that they can return to normal business operations fairly quickly if the pandemic stops soon, this should signal a strong sense of urgency for business leaders to work closely with government and public health officials to help address the crisis.”
Amity Millhiser, US vice chair and chief clients officer at PwC, added, “Most finance leaders surveyed seem to be optimistic about a resolution to the spread of the coronavirus and as a result are focused on near-term versus long-term solutions to managing costs. However, if conditions continue to deteriorate we would expect to see a pullback in long-term investment spending as companies move to longer-term cost containment strategies.”
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