"Capital bases also proved to be more resilient than expected, with companies finding innovative ways to cushion their short-term finances such as raising equity finance against assets."

What’s changed?

In some ways much appears unchanged since before pandemic. As we discussed in our paper on continuity and financing, the basic disciplines that underpin business and capital planning remain predominantly unaffected. Well-managed organisations still need to define and commit to a robust business strategy, set realistic forecasts then communicate regularly and clearly with stakeholders. They need to implement according to their promised plan, remembering that, at least from a financial perspective, cash is king. What has undoubtedly changed though, is the operating context within which these actions are applied in practice. This means placing greater emphasis on the knowledge and strategies that the resilient organisation now needs to recover and thrive as it ventures into a less certain future.

The next normal

Disruption to businesses across the world has not been evenly distributed. Some have been devastated while others have been dealt a helping hand by the pandemic. Most fall somewhere between these two extremes. The future operating environment is likely to be hesitant at best, fear of the virus is likely to persist, at least subliminally, in most markets for some time yet. It is possible that consumer behaviour might never return to the pre-pandemic ‘normal’ and that we must start to acclimatise ourselves to the ‘next normal’. This means taking stock of the changes that have redrawn the operating context then reshape and restructure the organisation to take maximum advance of them. Prevailing trends need to be monitored and the operating models and capital structures kept as flexible and responsive as possible to reinforce and maximise resilience to unexpected change. 

Greater interdependency

Most resilient organisations have given themselves additional financial liquidity during the uncertainty of the crisis and will need to maintain a tighter grip on cash during the next normal. While governments across the world have been recognising and ameliorating the impact on business as far as possible, some key suppliers and customers could still be struggling and might yet fail. For this reason, all partners in the value chain should be monitored. 

Above all, there is an opportunity to develop more open, trust-based interdependencies which leverage the respective strengths of every expert in the chain, as well as identifying and rectifying any potential weaknesses it that might have been overlooked in the past. Given the uncertain financial challenges that lie ahead, robust capital planning will more important than ever, so clear, proactive communications with financial stakeholders will be vital. Greater interdependency will also extend to specialist external partners, whose focussed skills can be leveraged to accelerate business transformation. This will free the resilient organisation to focus on its own strengths and develop the agility it will increasingly need to thrive and grow in the next normal.  

Deloitte’s global reach and breadth of capabilities across all aspects of capital management is helping guide many organisations through the uncertainties of the current era and build their resilience to face the future with renewed confidence.

There are three essential steps in developing financial resilience:

1. Where are you now?

• Interrogate your current situation thoroughly. Lift the lid on every cost center and review the financial health of every supplier and customer (as well as further up and down the supply chain if possible).
• Recognise and own your current situation. Be honest even if things don’t look good, at least you will know where to focus.
• Identify the issues you need to fix. List and prioritise them.

"Three essential steps in developing financial resilience:

1. Where are you now?

2. Where are you going?

3. How will you get there?"

2. Where are you going?

• What is your new vision for the future? Not a re-heated pre-pandemic one but a vision that fully takes stock of the change that is currently and will continue to challenge the resilience of your organisation.
• Define your mission and prepare to tell your story. If you have a direction that makes good commercial sense and which people can buy into, they will commit finance and investments.
• Think about your long-term horizon, not just your short-term one. A ten-year perspective might not help you in the next 18 months, but it will enable you to think more shrewdly about investing in sustainable growth.

3. How will you get there?

• What practical steps will you take to close the gap between where you are today and where you want to be? What capital milestones do you have on your journey? How often do you plan take stock of your evolving financial needs as you progress?
• Having plotted your course, what are the levers you can pull to enable it to happen as quickly and efficiently as possible? Look at a turnaround as a transformation. This might be through a targeted exit or acquisition which recent events might have highlighted.
  
• As mentioned earlier, we are in now in an era of expanded collaboration networks of focussed experts doing what they all do best to solve the biggest challenges faster, cheaper and with less capital risk. Are you leveraging the best options available to you?

"The government needs to be able to trust companies not to exploit or take unfair advantage of short-term financial measures it is offering while companies need to be confident that the government has their best interests and that of the wider economy at heart."