PwC COVID-19 CFO Pulse surveyed 824 CFOs from 21 countries or territories during the week of 6 April.
When assessing potential financial actions to help mitigate the effects of the coronavirus, most CFOs are considering cost containment measures (77%) and deferring or canceling planned investments (65%). Almost half (48%) are considering changing company financing plans and just 5% are not considering any financial actions as a result of COVID-19 .
That said, sentiment varies among countries. In Switzerland, CFOs are about equally as likely to consider cost containment, investment deferral and change of company financing plans, and CFOs in Denmark are focusing almost exclusively on cost containment alone.
Nearly half (45%) of CFOs say their company plans to take advantage of government support programs offered in response to COVID-19. The most common types of support they are considering are tax payment deferral and extension of tax deadlines.
CFOs in all countries expect a range of consequences for the workforce, but there are clear implications for employees: 42% of respondents expect to introduce furloughs in the coming month, and 28% anticipate layoffs.
More than half (56%) of respondents believe their company could return to ‘business as usual’ within three months if the crisis were to end today — a view more prevalent in countries where leaders report lower levels of concern.
As leaders responsible for cash flow and capital structure, CFOs are most concerned about global recession (71%), along with the financial effects of the coronavirus on their company’s operations (70%), decrease in consumer confidence reducing consumption (39%), supply chain issues (31%), and effects on workforce or reduction in productivity (30%).
Of those CFOs considering changes to their investment strategy, most (80%) plan to reduce general CapEx investments. With many employees out of offices and factories, companies may look to cut spending on facilities and other maintenance costs. Other potential reductions could come in operations (60%) and workforce (55%).
With more employees working remotely, relatively few CFOs indicate they will cut spending on digital transformation (21%) and cybersecurity or privacy (5%).
The survey included CFOs from 21 countries and territories: Armenia, Brazil, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Middle East, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and the US.