Less than third of CFOs optimistic about their company’s financial future

Budapest (MTI) – Among Hungarian CFOs only 31 percent say the financial future of their company improved over the last six months, 56 percent said their prospects were broadly unchanged and 13 percent said it had worsened, consultancy Deloitte said in its Central Europe CFO Survey for 2016.

A year ago 30 percent of CFOs reported positive change, 50 percent no major change and 20 percent believed conditions were getting worse. With this the business outlook of CFOs somewhat improved compared to the 2015 survey, but Deloitte noted that the 31 percent rate of optimistic answers was low compared to the regional average of 51 percent in 2016.

The survey found that Hungarian CFOs are expecting slower GDP-growth compared to previous years and investments could be lower than in other regional countries. Deloitte partner Ákos Demeter said outside risks like market price pressure, stricter financial regulation and quick changes in the regulatory environment still present vulnerabilities.

Only 23 percent of respondents said it was a good time to be taking greater risk onto their company’s balance sheet, while 77 percent said it was a bad idea.

A majority of CFOs, 88 percent are planning to restructure their company or introduce a new business model to boost revenue. Tied to this 65 percent are expecting their company to increase their revenue in 2016, but only 19 percent expect to increase employee number in the next 12 months.

Mergers and acquisitions could pick up as 48 percent expect their numbers will grow, also 48 percent say their number could be unchanged and only 4 percent expect their number to decrease.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters