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Brexit: CFO Survey from Deloitte

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The Deloitte UK quarterly CFO Survey illuminates the sentiments and strategies of major corporate users of capital to gauge attitudes related to valuations, risk, and financing. Deloitte provides open access to the current and historical survey results to enable analysis and application of the survey results. 
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Opponents of the prospective withdrawal of the UK from the EU, aka Brexit, held a protest march in central London on 9 September that gathered tens of thousands of people. The march was one of a series of protests against Brexit scheduled for this fall. As publicity around the opposition has grown, the campaign has received the name "Autumn of Discontent". Now, according to the latest survey of CFOs from Deloitte, it seems that the discontent is spreading to the business sector.
 
Deloitte’s second quarter 2017 survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) shows that the Brexit shock that hit executive opinion in the wake of the EU referendum only eased temporarily:

  • Optimism reached an 18-month high of 14 percent during the first quarter of 2017 but has just as sharply reversed during the second quarter, with a 12-percent increase among CFOs who think that Brexit will worsen the overall business environment.

  • Financial pessimism about the effects of Brexit on CFOs' "own spending and hiring decisions" increased, adjusting upward by about 7 percent from the first quarter.
  • CFOs continue to perceive Brexit as the biggest risk for the business environment. Weak demand in the UK is also among the highest risks to businesses, according to the CFOs.
  • The preferred financial strategy for corporations for the next year is still cost reductions. An additional 3 percent of CFOs selected this approach compared to the fourth quarter of 2016. 
Examine more results from the Deloitte CFO Survey through our custom visualizations below.

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