The number of CFOs who say now is a good time to take greater risks plummeted to 33% in the second quarter of the year, down from 60% in Q1, according to a survey released Tuesday by Deloitte.
Deloitte's quarterly
The percentage of finance chiefs who indicated they're significantly or somewhat less optimistic about their own company's prospects shot up to 31% in Q2, a significant increase from 4.5% in Q1.
Compared to Q1 results, finance chiefs dramatically cut back their 12-month projections across all six categories of revenues, earnings, dividends, capital allocation, domestic hiring, and domestic wages and salaries tracked in the survey, with major downward revisions for both revenues and earnings.
The percentage of respondents who ranked the economy as the No. 1 most worrisome external risk this quarter was 53%, followed by cybersecurity (51%) and interest rates (43%). The top internal risks cited were talent availability (46%), lack of agility/resilience (46%) and cost management (45%).
CFOs were split on U.S. capital market valuations, with 46% saying it's undervalued, and 41% saying it's overvalued. Their sentiment on financing was mixed, with 53% viewing debt financing as attractive, compared to 41% for equity.
