Leadership

The biggest risks to companies right now, according to business leaders

People cross an illuminated floor at a banking district in central Tokyo November 27, 2014. Japan's jobless rate fell and the availability of jobs edged higher in October from the previous month, government data released on Friday showed. Picture taken November 27, 2014.

Business leaders in Europe outline the biggest threats to their companies' success in Deloitte's latest European CFO Survey. Image: REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Will Martin
Markets Reporter, Business Insider UK

Business leaders across Europe see the geopolitical risks being caused by the likes of ISIS (also known as the Islamic State) and the ongoing European refugee crisis as the biggest threats to success for their businesses right now.

In Britain, Brexit risks are scarier than anything, according to Deloitte's latest European CFO Survey.

The report is a major look into the challenges facing the financial success of the biggest companies in Europe in 2016 and it shows that geopolitics dominates the minds of Europe's largest finance officers.

Deloitte says that the survey — which was carried out between January and March this year — presents "insights from nearly 1,500 CFOs based across 17 European countries on critical business concerns including capital markets and funding, business risk appetite and overall market sentiment."

1,500 CFOs from the whole continent may not seem like a huge number but the survey is a pretty good indicator as it includes bosses from some of the biggest listed companies in Europe's most important economies, providing a handy indicator of overall sentiment.

While geopolitics dominate, increased regulation, weak currencies, fears about financial systems, and deflation, are also seen as big risks on a country-to-country basis, as a great chart from the survey shows. Take a look:

 Which of the following are likely to pose a significant risk to your business over the next 12 months?
Image: Business Insider

Unsurprisingly, in Britain, the country's EU referendum is seen as by far the biggest risk to business right now, with more CFO's citing it as a risk than anything else.

Here's Deloitte: "In the UK, CFOs rank Brexit as the most significant risk for their business. This seems likely to have influenced the decline in UK CFO sentiment across the board (financial prospects -5pp, risk appetite -44pp, revenue expectations -23pp, operating margins -32pp, employment growth -41pp) in a period of already high uncertainty (+11pp)."

The Brexit referendum is dominating the UK agenda right now, with businesses and politicians alike devoting much time to worrying about the result of the vote. Despite this, as Deloitte's UK only CFO survey showed in April, many of the UK's biggest companies are unprepared for Brexit.

More from Business Insider:

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Future of Work

Related topics:
LeadershipJobs and the Future of Work
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Future of Work is affecting economies, industries and global issues
World Economic Forum logo

Forum Stories newsletter

Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.

Subscribe today

13 leaders on the books that changed how they work, live and lead

David Elliott

December 19, 2024

A music superstar, romance fraud, and life-changing advice: highlights from the Forum's podcasts in 2024

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum