These are unreal times. The Covid-19 pandemic halted business activity overnight, disrupting supply chains and sales, which created an instant liquidity crisis for businesses big and small. While digital transformation and businesses going online are top priority, cash flow has become king to ensure business continuity. This has made the CFO one of the most important C-suite executives amid the crisis.
The first priority of the CFO has been to optimise cash reserves, as raising any new money will remain a herculean task while the extent and duration of the crisis still remains unclear. Beyond that, setting up a cash war room, a cross-functional cash taskforce would be the key to review the company-wide situation to remain on top of the game. While customers and vendors will likely delay payments, it may become important to recover pending payments and double down on collections to remain solvent in the long run.
Apart from monitoring the current cash situation, CFOs will also be tasked with ‘scenario planning’, to gauge different ways that the Covid-19 outbreak can pan out, and preparing the necessary solutions for each scenario that the company can implement. A strong communications plan will also be key. Once concerns about cash reserves and scenario planning and communication are addressed, CFOs can focus on to ensuring business continuity during the new normal. A pivot from the regular products and services—like Zomato, Swiggy and Dominoes using its delivery network to deliver groceries—or development of new products and services to help the customer has been the solution to remain afloat.
Keeping these scenarios and the crucial role that CFOs play, Forbes India CFO Dialogues in partnership with IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) will bring together leading CFOs to discuss how they are navigating the Covid-19 crisis, their lessons from the crisis so far, what they would do differently, and the way forward.
The Forbes India webinar will be held on June 08, 2021, 4:30 pm onwards.
