CFOs See Silver Linings to Coronavirus Crisis

The coronavirus pandemic has spurred unforeseen enhancements at U.S. corporations and pushed CFOs to reprioritize engineering financial commitment, in accordance to a Grant Thornton survey.

The accounting firm noted that much more than sixty% of CFOs cited enhanced flexible and distant get the job done environments as an upside of the pandemic, with forty% also noting enhanced collaboration, enhanced organization procedures, and an skill to superior concentration on strategy.

Amid the shift to distant get the job done, 61% of finance chiefs indicated that they count on to raise financial commitment in cybersecurity in the subsequent 12 months. When requested to name the a few most significant difficulties dealing with their corporations, 46% indicated cybersecurity hazards, 46% chose engineering updates, and thirty% mentioned distant workforce concerns.

Fifty-a few per cent of respondents are prioritizing long-term foundational engineering infrastructure financial commitment above engineering that addresses instant organization wants (47%).

“A 12 months ago, CFOs had been scrambling just to survive, but from time to time a crisis can accelerate positive alter,” Chris Schenkenberg, regional tax organization lines nationwide managing lover at Grant Thornton, mentioned in a news release.

The survey also unveiled that numerous CFOs approach to slice vacation and authentic estate expenditures in the coming 12 months and over and above and much more than 50 % approach to raise financial commitment in their companies’ DE&I (range, fairness, and inclusion) and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) procedures.

CFOs skewed unfavorable on taxes, with 39% declaring the Biden administration’s tax strategies will negatively impact their corporations. Amid corporations with much more than $1 billion in income, fifty five% count on tax variations to have a unfavorable impact, when only 29% of corporations with revenues between $101 and $500 million felt the exact.

Indicating the particular reason acquisition enterprise boom of 2020 will keep on, eighty four% of non-public enterprise respondents mentioned SPACs have improved their fascination in heading community. When requested no matter if a SPAC or a regular IPO would be their option, respondents had been almost similarly break up, with forty nine% picking a SPAC and 51% picking an IPO.

A lot more than two-thirds of CFOs, on the other hand, count on improved SPAC regulation from the Securities and Exchange Fee in 2021 when fifty five% believe SPACs go away new community corporations overvalued.

coronavirus, ESG, Grant Thornton, distant get the job done, SPACs, survey, Technology