By Ediri Ejoh

THE Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of various organizations across the country have expressed fear over what 2016 business environment holds for the success of their operations if government fails to deliver on its mandate in areas of infrastructures, security, clarity on exchange rate and tax.

Expressing their concerns through a survey carried out by KPMG Professional Services which is slated to be launched on 2nd February by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, it was revealed that CFOs are less optimistic that things will be the same in terms of growth prospect in 2016 compared to previous year.

Partner and Head of Audit, KPMG Professional Services, Mr. Tola Adeyemi said that over 50 per cent of respondents attributed their lack of confidence in 2016 business environment to the general macro economic environment, regulatory in efficiency and exchange rate among others.

“The outcome of a survey which had 25 percent of its respondents drawn from energy and natural resources sector; 10 percent from technology, media and telecommunication; 30 percent from financial service industry; 32 percent from consumer and industrial market and 3 percent from infrastructure, government and healthcare had 50 percent of overall respondents expressed less confidence and are of the view that the prospect for business growth in 2016 compared to 2015 will be of the same.”

Adeyemi hinted further that the CFOs have decided to take certain measure to ensure that they turns things around while appealing to government to deliver on its promises and create friendly business environment for the smooth operation of their business.

“CFOs have decided to invest more in area of marketing, service delivery and technology. Also to ensure that all their branches complied with regulatory standard and tightening internal control to avoid leakages while motioning key performance indicator. They however appealed to government to deliver on its promises in areas of infrastructure, security, clarity on exchange rate and tax.”

Corroborating his view, Partner and Management Consulting, Mr. Segun Sowande noted that the encouraging aspect of the whole survey was that the areas where CFOs have expressed fear tally with areas where the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari government has set as priority, “This means that if government delivers on its priorities, it will certainly turn around the economy of the country.

“If government delivers on all its promises I believe when we conduct the next survey, hopefully the outlook then will be much more positive than what we are witnessing now.”