40 percent of 1,400 chief financial officers polled in a new survey are planning to increase their companies’ IT spending. Independent research firm Robert Half Management Resources conducted the survey, asking the executives, "In which one of the following areas are you most likely to invest once the economy improves?"
40 percent of the executives said that they would invest in new IT systems or upgrade existing ones once the recession subsides. Of these, 18 percent said they would spend more money on new products or service lines, 14 percent will invest in new locations or real estate, while six percent plan to proceed with mergers and acquisitions.
Paul McDonald, executive director of Robert Half Management Resources, says: "As companies emerge from the recession and become more profitable, they will begin to focus on shoring up critical business applications and technology infrastructure. While finance executives may remain cautious about making bold new expenditures, they understand that updating their IT systems can help improve risk management, increase operational efficiency and ensure regulatory compliance… IT investments encompass not only hardware and software but also reflect the human resources necessary to manage these initiatives."
Showing posts with label Executive Survey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Executive Survey. Show all posts
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
UK executives worried about staff retention
UK executives worry that their companies may not have what it takes to hold onto their most talented employees once the recession is over, according to a new executive survey from Deloitte.
65 percent of the executives polled said that they are highly or very highly concerned about their firms' ability to keep the talent once the economy starts to bounce back.
Deloitte experts suggest that businesses should use strategies similar to those used in consumer branding if they want to recruit and keep the best candidates on the job market. Executives and recruiters need to present a good image to both potential hires and their existing staff.
"A strong employer brand strategy that goes beyond recruitment campaigns and a desire to be seen simply as an employee of choice will be crucial if companies wish to engage and retain employees that generate a disproportionate amount of value and organisational strength," said Eddie Barret, Eddie Barret, a director in Deloitte's human capital consulting practice, adding that companies need to focus on training, development and community involvement programs.
Find the latest executive jobs on our executive recruitment board.
65 percent of the executives polled said that they are highly or very highly concerned about their firms' ability to keep the talent once the economy starts to bounce back.
Deloitte experts suggest that businesses should use strategies similar to those used in consumer branding if they want to recruit and keep the best candidates on the job market. Executives and recruiters need to present a good image to both potential hires and their existing staff.
"A strong employer brand strategy that goes beyond recruitment campaigns and a desire to be seen simply as an employee of choice will be crucial if companies wish to engage and retain employees that generate a disproportionate amount of value and organisational strength," said Eddie Barret, Eddie Barret, a director in Deloitte's human capital consulting practice, adding that companies need to focus on training, development and community involvement programs.
Find the latest executive jobs on our executive recruitment board.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Executives push for new approach to risk management – Accenture study
85 percent of corporate executives reported the need to overhaul their company's approach to risk management in order to improve business results based on the lessons learned in the current economic downturn. This was the main finding of Accenture's 2009 Global Risk Management Study, released earlier this week. Ineffective integration of of risk, return and capital issues was cited as one of the main problems with the risk management functions in the executives' companies.
The consulting firm polled 260 chief financial officers, chief risk officers and other senior management staff whose duties include risk management at large companies in 21 countries, and also found that 40 percent of the executives' companies had already taken steps to to increase their investments in risk-management capabilities over the next six months. Another 31 percent of the executives reported that their businesses are considering an increase in their future investment in risk management capabilities.
Almost a half of the executives said that their company's risk management function is very much involved in strategic planning (48 percent) or investment and divestment decisions (45 percent), but only 27 percent said the same of their company's objective-setting and performance management functions, indicating a lack of integration of the existing risk management and performance management processes.
Dan London, managing director of Accenture’s Finance & Performance Management practice, said: “Executives could improve their organizations’ performance and position themselves for economic recovery by linking and balancing risk management and performance management to aid their decision-making and increase shareholder returns. Being effective at this also requires companies to integrate their risk management capabilities enterprise-wide.”
The common problems with risk management cited by the executives in the study were:
• Ineffective integration of risk, return and capital issues in decision-making (identified by 85 percent of respondents);
• Lack of alignment between the company’s strategies and its risk appetite (85 percent);
• Insufficient enterprise-wide risk culture (82 percent);
• Inadequate availability of timely risk, finance and business data (80 percent);
• Lack of integration and aggregation across all risk types (78 percent); and
• Ambiguous risk responsibilities between corporate and business units (78 percent).
“The current economic downturn is the ultimate stress test of a company’s risk management function, and the lessons learned can be leveraged to restore confidence and create a stronger, better, integrated and aligned platform for improving performance under a variety of business conditions,” London said. “Leading companies recognize that an expanded, integrated risk-management program supported by technology that allows management to monitor risk-related factors across a company is not just a protective tool but one that can provide companies with a competitive edge in a constantly changing world.”
Ovum shared similar findings this week. In a report titled "Managing Risk During an Economic Downturn," an Ovum analyst argues that reducing a company's focus on risk management during an economic crisis is a false economy.
Ovum's report also reveals that businesses are rethinking their approach to risk management and focusing on giving it an even more central role in their companies' planning and management.
"The financial crisis has provided a very high profile example of how poor risk management practices can severely impact not only a business, but also a whole industry sector,” says Helena Schwenk, author or the report and senior analyst at Ovum. "While the banking system recovers and readjusts from the crisis and moves to a more tightly controlled and regulated risk management environment, other industry sectors are advised to take heed of the risk management lessons learnt from this painful episode.”
Find the latest senior management jobs on our executive job board.
Browse and apply for Accenture jobs on our management consulting job board.
The consulting firm polled 260 chief financial officers, chief risk officers and other senior management staff whose duties include risk management at large companies in 21 countries, and also found that 40 percent of the executives' companies had already taken steps to to increase their investments in risk-management capabilities over the next six months. Another 31 percent of the executives reported that their businesses are considering an increase in their future investment in risk management capabilities.
Almost a half of the executives said that their company's risk management function is very much involved in strategic planning (48 percent) or investment and divestment decisions (45 percent), but only 27 percent said the same of their company's objective-setting and performance management functions, indicating a lack of integration of the existing risk management and performance management processes.
Dan London, managing director of Accenture’s Finance & Performance Management practice, said: “Executives could improve their organizations’ performance and position themselves for economic recovery by linking and balancing risk management and performance management to aid their decision-making and increase shareholder returns. Being effective at this also requires companies to integrate their risk management capabilities enterprise-wide.”
The common problems with risk management cited by the executives in the study were:
• Ineffective integration of risk, return and capital issues in decision-making (identified by 85 percent of respondents);
• Lack of alignment between the company’s strategies and its risk appetite (85 percent);
• Insufficient enterprise-wide risk culture (82 percent);
• Inadequate availability of timely risk, finance and business data (80 percent);
• Lack of integration and aggregation across all risk types (78 percent); and
• Ambiguous risk responsibilities between corporate and business units (78 percent).
“The current economic downturn is the ultimate stress test of a company’s risk management function, and the lessons learned can be leveraged to restore confidence and create a stronger, better, integrated and aligned platform for improving performance under a variety of business conditions,” London said. “Leading companies recognize that an expanded, integrated risk-management program supported by technology that allows management to monitor risk-related factors across a company is not just a protective tool but one that can provide companies with a competitive edge in a constantly changing world.”
Ovum shared similar findings this week. In a report titled "Managing Risk During an Economic Downturn," an Ovum analyst argues that reducing a company's focus on risk management during an economic crisis is a false economy.
Ovum's report also reveals that businesses are rethinking their approach to risk management and focusing on giving it an even more central role in their companies' planning and management.
"The financial crisis has provided a very high profile example of how poor risk management practices can severely impact not only a business, but also a whole industry sector,” says Helena Schwenk, author or the report and senior analyst at Ovum. "While the banking system recovers and readjusts from the crisis and moves to a more tightly controlled and regulated risk management environment, other industry sectors are advised to take heed of the risk management lessons learnt from this painful episode.”
Find the latest senior management jobs on our executive job board.
Browse and apply for Accenture jobs on our management consulting job board.
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