Irish finance professionals are more pessimistic about how long an economic recovery might take than their counterparts elsewhere, according to a survey carried out by PwC.
The survey of over 800 chief financial officers was carried out around the globe earlier in the month.
"Broadly the pattern across the globe is that most CFOs believe at least three months before you get back to normal with another cohort plumping for 12 months," David McGee, Markets & Strategy Partner, PwC Ireland said.
"Most of the Irish CFO respondents felt we were at least a year away from a normalisation of the economy, but we're very early in the economic impact of the crisis."
The survey also found that Irish CFOs were more concerned about the loss of productivity from the lack of remote working capabilities that their counterparts elsewhere.
"We've been trying to figure out why this is. There are all kinds of considerations like availability of broadband or perhaps a lack of familiarity with this way of working compared to the US or companies in the tech sector.
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"In terms of the long term, it's too early to tell, but there's anecdotal evidence of some positives like a lack of commuting, but people miss the social interaction of an office setting," he added.
Amid predictions of a global recession of the magnitude of the Great Depression in the 1930s, about a quarter of Irish finance chiefs said they expected there would be layoffs in the coming months.
That was slightly lower than the global average of 28%.
David McGee said PwC had no plans for layoffs or job cuts as yet. Partners at its UK division have taken a 20% pay cut.
He said partners in Ireland would not be found wanting when it came to a response.
"We're not going to make knee-jerk reactions. Partners will take the first and the deepest hit to protect the business and we will, for as long as possible, protect jobs and salaries of our staff. We're going to prioritise communicating with them first and foremost," he stated.
