Report: Aussie Bosses Hesitant To Increase Spend In 2022

A new survey of Australian CFOs has found 68 per cent of businesses will focus on maintaining revenue and recouping losses instead of growth in 2022.

‘CFO Goals for 2022: Tech, Team, and Leadership’, released today and conducted prior to the Omicron arrival, shows market impacts like the pandemic are still influencing businesses’ future spending decisions.

Virtual corporate card and expense management platform, DiviPay released the report, which was based on a survey of 210 Australian CFOs.

Half of respondents (50 per cent) said they would maintain 2021 spend levels next year, while 18 per cent said they would decrease.

Smaller business CFOs were particularly hesitant to increase spend, which is not surprising considering the impact the sector took during the pandemic.

Only 20 per cent of micro-business CFOs planned to up their business expenditure in the new year, compared to 52 per cent of larger business CFOs who said the same thing.

According to the report, such hesitation is largely due to external influences, such as the pandemic and resulting restrictions.

Almost half of respondents (45 per cent) said the pandemic was likely to influence their business spend, while 38 per cent said they would be impacted by supply chain issues.

That said, the pandemic wasn’t the only influencer.

36 per cent of respondents said business spend would be swayed by tech and automation, with 35 per cent saying business growth, and 34 per cent pointing at remote working.

The reactive stance seems reflective of a conservative approach recently adopted by numerous businesses.

DiviPay CEO, Daniel Kniaz, said while some CFOs were still weary of the pandemic and the resulting threats to the market, other CFOs found now was the perfect time to invest in new technology and opportunities.

“CFOs would be wise to evaluate their current systems and consider a solution that provides transparency and visibility across the business, including real-time transaction feeds and automated expense reports,” he said.

“CFOs who aren’t planning to increase spend should think critically about where they will be spending money in 2022, to ensure they’re not left behind their competition.”

The new report also contains spending insights for CFOs, as well as views on time management, and organisational areas they would like to improve and automate in 2022.

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