Irish-based companies are on track to perform well in the upcoming financial year, according to the findings of the latest EY Ireland CFO survey.
Despite the uncertain global economic backdrop, the survey reveals that the average growth rate forecast by Irish finance leaders was 12%.
"Despite a very challenging macro-economic environment due to inflation and the impact of the war in Ukraine on the global economy, which resulted in the Central Bank of Ireland revising down its growth forecasts for the wider economy, the results are testament in no small part to the agile nature of Irish business in navigating these challenges," said George Deegan, Assurance Partner and EY CFO programme lead.
"There are some significant issues to be overcome, but it's encouraging to see that finance leaders are facing these challenges from a position of relative strength," he said.
The survey, which was made up of 152 CFOs and finance leaders in Ireland from organisations across a variety of sectors, shows that growth will primarily come from organic sources over the period.
People and talent, expansion into new markets, innovation, and investment in technology were cited as the key drivers of growth for the year ahead in the eyes of Irish CFOs
Succession planning and talent development were referenced by almost a third of all finance leaders as one of the biggest priorities over the next five years.
Similarly, finding the right people and talent to achieve the desired level of growth over the next five years, remains the number one cause for concern among the participants surveyed.
"Instead of a 'great resignation’, what we are witnessing is a ‘great re-evaluation’ where employees are keenly re-assessing what they want from their careers, their employers and what are the lives they want to lead," said Derarca Dennis, Assurance Partner at EY Ireland.
The report reveals that the competitive business environment may be holding back investment prioritisation in the area of Environmental Social Governance, with only 15% citing it is as a key financial priority
However, the findings show that there is clear interest among finance leaders in spending more time working on sustainability and ESG issues.
"This study was conducted at a time of intense geopolitical disruption, along with the continuing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, so it may not be surprising to see that CFOs and finance functions alike are focused on steadying the ship and tackling short-term challenges, so it may be that long-term value-driving areas like ESG and sustainability have fallen temporarily down the priority list as they focus on the immediate tasks at hand," said Ms Dennis.
The results of the EY Ireland CFO survey also indicate that finance leaders are using technology to achieve process efficiencies with 24% of respondents identifying investment in technology as a priority for driving growth in the next five years, while 14% mentioned data and analytics.
