40 percent voting this as an investment priority
last year. Nearly all (96 percent) of CFOs
plan to spend more or the same amount this
year on financial reporting and compliance
services. Indian CFOs continue having a positive
outlook towards global trade policy, with 63
percent of Indian CFOs expecting global
trade policy to strengthen their company’s
growth prospects.
Travel and entertainment (T&E) continue to be
a sizeable part of companies’ spending, with
77 percent Indian finance executives planning
to increase their spend or invest the same
amount on T&E this year. “I feel CFOs today play a critical role in the
long-term strategic planning and health of the
company. One of the findings in the survey
is that 73 percent of Indian CFOs collaborate
most closely with the board of directors.
This is a testimony to the increasingly
important and strategic role CFOs play, as
they navigate organizational spending in line
with economic drivers and influences,” said
Adlakha.
“Indian firms are gearing up to efficiently
manage their spending and investment this
year with a keen eye on the future,” said
Manoj Adlakha, the chief executive officer
of American Express India. “While they
balance spending to drive top-line growth
with profitability, they’re pressing ahead with
plans to take advantage of demographic
and economic changes to stay relevant and
competitive in the next 5-10 years.”
Indian companies continue to grow; 87
percent of companies surveyed in India report
higher or much higher revenue in the last
12 months, as compared to 43 percent last
year. This number is notably higher than the
worldwide (65 percent) and Asia average (63
percent) for this year.
The 2019 Global Business & Spending
Outlook was conducted by Institutional
Investor Thought Leadership Studio (IITLS)
and is based on a survey of 901 senior
finance executives from companies around
the world with annual revenues of USD500
million or more.
In total, 180 CFOs and other senior finance
executives from Asia and 30 from companies
in India participated in the study. All survey
responses were gathered in late November
and December 2018.
AUGUST 2019 | WWW.WISHESH.NET