Malaysian CFOS on Covid-19 impact

Half of the Malaysian chief financial officers (CFOS) surveyed expect a 10%-50% drop in revenue and/or profit.

While 6% find it hard to assess the impact on revenue, only 3% expect a profit this year.

As they navigate through uncertain times, 94% are certain of cost containment measures and 68% say they will defer or cancel planned investments.

This is higher than the average global findings, at 81% and 60%, respectively, the PWC Covid-19 CFO Pulse survey revealed.

About 95% of them plan to reduce facilities/general capex investments but with many employees working from home (WFH), they are looking to cut spending on facilities and maintenance costs, including operations.

As more employees work remotely, relatively few CFOS indicate that they will cut spending on digital transformation (29%) and cybersecurity or privacy (5%).

The report said as organisations become more technology-dependent, budget cuts could delay important activities that help bolster resilience to emerging cyber threats.

Although the outbreak has been said to trigger the world’s largest WFH experiment, slightly less than half of respondents in Malaysia (48%) and globally (49%) are considering making remote work a permanent option.

Malaysian CFOS were the least optimistic of the countries surveyed, although slightly more than half (58%) believe their company could return to “business as usual” within six months if the crisis were to end today. About 23% estimate that it would take more than 12 months, compared to the global average of 8%.

A total of 867 CFOS from 24 countries or territories participated in the survey, of which 31 were from Malaysia representing diverse fields. This is the first time Malaysia participated in the survey, which is the fifth wave of the global survey.