 CFOs who navigated the many business challenges and trends in 2021 may enter the new year feeling a pang of whiplash.
Congress pushed up total pandemic aid and economic stimulus to $5.7 trillion, the economy and labor market rebounded faster than expected, and scores of CFOs reported their companies’ biggest profit margins in decades.
At the same time, supply chain blockages persisted, many ‘help wanted’ signs went unanswered and investors seeking transparency on sustainability gained an ally in the Securities and Exchange Commission.
And if that’s not enough, COVID-19 mutated into two market-jarring variants and inflation far outran the pace predicted by the Federal Reserve and many private-sector forecasters, hitting a 39-year high in November.
The manic-depressive mix of trends in 2021 underscored the value of flexibility and detailed scenario planning.
Some CFOs took several measures to shore up their balance sheets against inflation, including building inventories, rethinking their hedging strategies and harnessing real-time data through advanced analytics.
5 CFO tips for limiting harm from inflation
With inflation rising, CFOs rethink hedging strategies
CFOs facing an unprecedented range of risks find an edge in analytics
Finding strength in adversity, CFOs learned from the pandemic by safeguarding business continuity, streamlining internal audit and diversifying their sources of capital. They also sharpened their focus on employee well-being, which at some companies meant expanding the geographical definition of “remote work.”
4 CFO lessons from the pandemic
Should CFOs let remote employees play 'paycheck arbitrage?'
Some CFOs fine-tuned their pricing — and burnished their appeal to customers — by switching from subscription to usage-based pricing.
SaaS companies quickly replacing subscriptions with usage-based pricing
Similarly, CFOs channeled a growing movement for sustainability into an opportunity to gain insights about financing and their internal operations and industries.
11 CFO tips for riding the rising tide in ESG activism
Despite the headwinds, CFOs in hot markets took advantage of easy money and abundant liquidity by increasing the size of their capital raising.
Capital raises, along with expectations, getting bigger, VC funder says
Although COVID-19, high inflation, clogged supply chains and other harsh trends will spill into the new year, CFOs in 2021 learned first hand how to limit the harm and, where possible, find opportunity.
 Jim Tyson
Reporter, CFO Dive
Twitter | Email | Subscribe.
Deep Dive Amid signs of rising inflation, economists and financial executives suggest ways that CFOs can buffer against the damage from unstable prices. |
Finance leaders need more than treasury at the table when mapping out what derivatives to buy, at what price, and how to account for them, says a specialist. |
Deep Dive CFOs are adapting to an unusually hazardous business landscape by forecasting with advanced data analytics. |
Deep Dive CFOs are advancing into the second year of a once-in-a-century pandemic with lessons they’ve learned while coping with a broad range of disruptions from COVID-19. |
Some companies are allowing permanent remote work, but don’t want to pay as much to employees who move to lower-cost areas. |
Most fast-growing companies today make money based on consumption rather than number of users, a survey shows. |
Deep Dive CFOs eager to steer clear of shareholder activists should publicly embrace sustainability despite flaws in the measurement of best practices. |
For hot companies in hot markets, the amounts are exceptional, Christoph Janz of Point 9 Capital says. | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment