Challenges and competition – growth agenda for CFOs despite economic uncertainty

Deloitte China CFO Program has recently conducted a survey in September to November 2017, with the objective of gauging opinions from China CFOs on a wide range of topics, including the economy, the industry, their companies, as well as their career.  With the feedbacks we have collected from 109 CFOs, survey report has been complied with the findings, which we believed that this survey report would be a good reference for benchmarking and CFO’s peer comparison.

Key findings

• The majority has a positive economic outlook.  There remain some consistent risks on top of mind such as government policies, influence of geopolitics and relative strength of the RMB towards the year end.  There is a positive attitude towards 2018 with most firms planning for increased expenditure and net hiring
• The business environment is rapidly changing, faster than ever, with technology becoming a key driver to new competition and quicker, more agile innovators getting ahead
• On our "Business Chemistry" related insights in this Q3 2017 survey, the respondents have once more confirmed that the expected and primary role is more of a "Guardian" personality.  Also, the community are showing adaptability when working with their CEO to foster business performance – thus changing their style to incorporate more "Driver" traits
• A skill that is clearly necessary for leaders of the finance function is being able to adapt to the rapidly changing business environment in China and globally