Finance leaders favour visibility & planning over cuts

SAP Concur has published research showing finance leaders are prioritising spend visibility, scenario planning and technology investment over broad cost-cutting. The survey covered 400 finance leaders across eight markets.

The findings show 52 per cent of respondents are monitoring market conditions more closely in response to volatility, while 46 per cent are carrying out more detailed scenario planning. Another 42 per cent are investing in advanced technology, including automation and artificial intelligence.

By contrast, fewer respondents are relying on direct cost controls. Just 24 per cent are focusing on proactive cost reduction, while 19 per cent are tightening budgets.

The results suggest a shift in how finance teams are responding to unstable trading conditions. Rather than moving first to broad cuts, many are seeking more detailed information on spending patterns and building tools to test different outcomes before making major decisions.

Fabian Calle, Managing Director, ANZ, SAP Concur, said: "When uncertainty rises, cutting costs may seem like the most immediate response. However, finance leaders also need to understand where spending can change without compromising the investments that support resilience and future growth.

"Greater visibility into spending gives finance leaders a stronger foundation for these decisions. When they can see where money is going and understand how conditions are changing, they can make more deliberate decisions about where to reduce, maintain or redirect investment."

Planning shift

The survey also examined what finance leaders expect to do if volatility continues. More than half, or 52 per cent, expect to expand scenario planning for major decisions, while 47 per cent plan to improve real-time spend visibility.

A further 43 per cent expect to shorten planning and forecasting cycles, and 39 per cent plan to increase budget flexibility. Together, those responses suggest a growing emphasis on plans that can be revised more quickly as conditions change.

SAP Concur said integrated spend data and real-time insights can help finance teams identify changes earlier, assess alternative scenarios and adjust budgets as circumstances evolve. The research places technology at the centre of that approach, particularly as finance teams try to improve the speed and quality of decision-making.

Calle said: "Traditional planning based heavily on historical information becomes more difficult when market conditions change quickly. Finance leaders need timely information and the ability to model different scenarios so they can understand the potential implications before making major spending decisions.

"AI and automation can support this approach by helping finance teams analyse more information, identify patterns and assess different scenarios. The goal isn't to remove human judgement. It is to give finance leaders better information to support that judgement."

Protected spending

The research also divided respondents into two groups based on how many strategies their organisations were using to improve their response to changing conditions. It described "reactive" finance leaders as those selecting one strategy, while "adaptive" finance leaders selected five or more.

Among adaptive finance leaders, 88 per cent said they would protect cybersecurity controls if volatility continues, compared with 65 per cent of reactive leaders. The same pattern appeared in other areas of spending.

Adaptive finance leaders were more likely to protect investment in AI and automation, at 74 per cent compared with 63 per cent among reactive leaders. They were also more likely to protect product or service innovation, at 72 per cent compared with 60 per cent.

Differences extended to people and growth spending. Workforce and talent investment was protected by 60 per cent of adaptive leaders, compared with 46 per cent of reactive leaders, while 60 per cent of adaptive leaders said they planned to protect growth initiatives, compared with 49 per cent of reactive leaders.

Harder choices

Even so, respondents expect financial trade-offs to become more difficult. Two in five finance leaders, or 41 per cent, said balancing cost reductions with investment in growth would become harder over the next year.

Another 39 per cent said it would be more difficult to decide which investments to protect, pause or reduce. A further 35 per cent said determining how much contingency to build into budgets would become harder.

The survey covered finance leaders in Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. Respondents came from organisations with 50 employees to more than 10,000 staff across sectors including financial services, technology, healthcare, utilities, consumer and industrial markets.