Chinese economy fears erode CFO confidence

The Deloitte CFO Survey – Q3 2015 found that after consecutive quarters of strong increases in optimism, confidence appears to have plateaued among Australia’s CFOs.

Deloitte managing partner Sydney Dennis Krallis said what had been an encouraging positive trend in terms of greater optimism since the beginning of 2015, and after an ordinary 2014, has now slowed.

“Local and global uncertainty hadn’t been a particularly strong influence on CFO optimism in the first half of the year, but news regarding slower growth coming out of China, and its scale and relevance to Australia, now appears to be hitting a nerve,” Mr Krallis said.

According to the report, 68 per cent of CFOs reported that news from China was a negative influence on optimism, the most downcast response since early 2013, when China released its worst growth figures in nearly 15 years.

“Now, growth figures have fallen below those levels, and with global growth depending heavily on China’s smooth economic transition, it’s perhaps not surprising that uncertainty has re-emerged,” Mr Krallis said.