The CFO Signals Report “What North America’s top finance executives are thinking and doing” reflects the views of 156 large company CFOs from the US, Canada, and Mexico, and the vast majority are from companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. A few highlights:

• Overall, 60% of CFOs do not expect to return to a pre-crisis level of operations in 2020. Instead, 21% expect to reach this milestone in 1Q21, with 39% saying 2Q21 or later.
• In a year, CFOs expect major increases in remote work, automation, and cloud computing, and many expect a smaller real estate footprint.
• Overall, CFOs are less likely to expect changes to cross-border sourcing.
• Nearly 30% of CFOs expect changing FX rates or currency values to impact their business, and 25% expect a credit crisis. 

CFOs also were asked how they regard the status of the North American, European, and Chinese economies. Here’s how they responded:

• Perceptions of North America fell drastically, with just 1% of CFOs rating current conditions as good (80% last quarter), and 58% expecting better conditions in a year (up from 35%).
• Europe’s numbers were also down sharply, coming in at 1% saying current conditions are good, with 33% expecting better conditions in a year.
• Perceptions of China’s current conditions held at 9%, and expectations for a year from now rose sharply to 51%.

This publication was released by our Global firm.

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