This is where Swiss finance heads want to save

A bit of economic color theory: The chief financial officers see black when the numbers are red. So that things don’t get that bad, the bag masters sound out the savings potential in the companies.

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The corona pandemic remains the pacemaker in people’s everyday lives and thus also in economic life. The CFOs surveyed by the Deloitte consultancy are no longer quite so pessimistic about the economy. 42 percent still assess the outlook for the next twelve months as negative. In spring this value was 96 percent.

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The situation remains unstable in view of the steep rise in the number of infections in Europe, the statement on Thursday said. After all, she has defused herself in Switzerland thanks to government measures such as short-time work or the quickly paid out Corona loans. However, the survey was conducted before the dramatic increase in the number of cases in recent days.

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Recovery will take a long time

The return of the Swiss economy to pre-crisis levels is likely to take some time. Only a third of the CFOs expect their company to grow in the next twelve months, and almost 30 percent are even anticipating a decline.

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According to the survey, the companies are most likely to recover at the sales level, while only a slight increase is expected in the margin and, above all, in the number of employees. It is said that the sales level from before the corona crisis is not expected to be reached until the third quarter of 2021.

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If income falls, austerity efforts increase

With the outbreak of the crisis, companies stepped on the brakes on costs. Most CFOs have saved on business trips or in marketing, and overtime and vacation balances have been cut for employees. However, jobs will also be cut. A third of respondents said that their companies had already laid off people.

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The chief financial officers also see potential for savings in office rents. More than 30 percent of those surveyed are checking which office space their companies will need in the future and 17 percent have already made adjustments.

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Meanwhile, with Corona, the chief financial officers named new dangers in the survey. For the first time, the topics of loan defaults and cyberattacks made it onto the list of worries. The companies are called upon to ensure that the increased work in the home office does not open the door to cybercriminals, it is said.

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