Most Worrisome Risks Perceived By CFOs

Recently Deloitte released their “CFO Signals” “High-Level Summary” report for the 3rd Quarter of 2013.

As seen in page 2 of the report, “One hundred and twenty-four CFOs responded during the two-week period ending August 23. Seventy-three percent of the respondents are from public companies, and 77% are from companies with more than $1B in annual revenue.”

One excerpt, under the title “Most Worrisome Risks” (p. 16) seemed particularly notable, as it listed some factors concerning profitability that have been discussed in previous posts on this blog.

Here is the excerpt:

Most Worrisome Risks

Of all the internal and external factors that compete for CFOs’ attention, which are most worrisome?

Worries center on lack of longer-term economic improvement in North America, Europe, and Asia, and on the impact of government actions on economies and industries:
• Geopolitics: New worries emerged that geopolitical events will further stifle global growth.
• Input and resource prices: Focus increased on commodity, oil, and energy prices, especially in Energy/Resources.
• Interest-rate movement: Worries grew about the direction of interest rates (both up and down), especially in Financial Services.
• Government gridlock: Having mostly disappeared recently, worries about the ability of governments to improve economic conditions rebounded.
• Irrationality: Concerns grew that slow growth and waning demand might lead to irrational competition.
• Margin pressures: Concerns escalated about competition, pricing, and the ability to align costs with revenue.
• Execution: Worries returned around companies’ ability to execute well on current and new strategies.

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