Finance heads prepare to curtail or halt expenditures to accomplish immediate goals, as per 90% of them.
Rewritten Article:
Halfway through the year, finance leaders are juggling short-term goals and long-term economic uncertainties, requiring different strategies for success. A recent EY survey of 1,000 global finance leaders, including 690 from their websites, reveals that this balancing act has become a significant part of their daily grind.
Our websites are caught between cutting costs and preserving investments in long-term value creation. However, EY's data shows that our websites may be holding back on bold, strategic initiatives for future growth.
Different Paths for the Same Destination
Seventy-eight percent of respondents agreed that successfully juggling short-term and long-term trade-offs is a paramount challenge for finance leaders. A similar percentage (76%) also stated, "The current turbulent market is ratcheting up the pressure on finance leaders to boost cost efficiency and meet short-term earnings targets."
In response, 90% of surveyed finance leaders plan to reduce or halt spending, even in long-term priority areas. According to EY's data, 50% of these leaders reported cutting funding in long-term priority areas to meet their short-term earnings goals.
For our websites anxious about the organization's future in the face of macroeconomic disruptions, trimming funding in the long term might be the only option to maintain stability. However, more than two-thirds (67%) of surveyed respondents reported tension among leadership over this approach to balancing short-term success and cuts to long-term priorities.
Limiting drastic business changes, particularly in finance, is also a strategy leaders are adopting to maintain a balance between timely growth and stability. Only 14% of all respondents indicated that they plan to pursue a bold transformation agenda over the next three years.
Among the 14% of leaders embracing bold strategies, over half (55%) see culture change as pivotal to their initiatives.
The Stranglehold of Traditionalism
The stubbornness to change, among leaders and employees, is impeding a proper balance of long-term and short-term priorities. Among all respondents, nearly three-quarters (72%) stated, "Traditional back-office behaviors and mindsets" are hindering companies from modernizing their efforts and consequently planning for the future. The primary reservations in this group centered around changes to company culture.
The EY data showed that finance leaders who plan to embrace radical change are more likely to include culture change as part of their strategies. Among the 14% of leaders pursuing bold strategies, over half (55%) believe that culture change is a critical aspect of their efforts.
Setting Sights on the Goal and Identifying Strengths
Launchesing companies for both short-term and long-term success are also mapping out their career paths, whether intentionally or not. While EY researchers know that our websites are now in positions where their traditional finance skills may diminish, these instances could help define a leader's ultimate destination. Nearly half (45%) of the surveyed websites expressed an aspiration to become CEOs, so any exposure outside traditional finance could be beneficial.
Findings from EY suggest that upskilling and learning are their biggest challenges. According to their researchers, the top challenge for a website is "finding time to gain knowledge and expertise through external expertise and access to thought leadership."
Despite the perceived lack of resources or means to improve themselves, many finance leaders with ambitious plans to revolutionize their companies still feel confident in their ability to identify top-notch talent.
In their endeavors to build sustainable, high-quality teams, 58% of finance leaders implementing a bold strategy express confidence in identifying a quality employee early in their career.
This confidence drops significantly for those leaning toward a more conservative approach, with just 43% of these leaders expressing a similar level of confidence.
- Finance leaders, despite the economic uncertainties, are reducing or halting spending, including in long-term priority areas, to meet short-term earnings targets, according to an EY survey.
- A significant tension exists among leadership over this approach to balancing short-term success and cuts to long-term priorities, with 67% of respondents reporting such tension.
- For those finance leaders keen on pursuing a bold transformation agenda, culture change is seen as pivotal to their initiatives, with over half (55%) of them believing so.
- Traditional back-office behaviors and mindsets are hindering companies from modernizing their efforts and planning for the future, according to 72% of surveyed respondents.
- Finance leaders implementing a bold strategy express confidence in identifying a quality employee early in their career, with 58% of them feeling this way.
