Overview

The FD community is beginning to shift its focus from cost control to finding and developing new growth strategies. The Sage/Financial Director survey was run to find out where FDs think the UK economy is going and what tools and skills they feel they need to take advantage of future opportunities.

Those opportunities have yet to present themselves fully. But asked to rate how optimistic they were on the short-term prospects for the UK economy, the majority of respondents remained cautious.

That may well be a reflection of the strength of the economic indicators that are currently pointing towards continued sluggish growth for the rest of 2011. Inflation, low GDP growth, poor consumer confidence and public sector cuts are all contributing to the mood of caution among FDs. But it should also be borne in mind that similar surveys 12 months ago were revealing a much more pessimistic view of the economy.