About 35 percent of corporate directors expect business conditions to deteriorate in the next 12 months, according to survey findings from an analysis by think tank Diligent Institute.
Diligent Institute’s March 2023 Director Confidence Index — which surveyed 185 domestic public company board members — found that slowing demand, heightened geopolitical risks and the Federal Reserve’s continued tightening through the latest bank run were all contributing factors to the negative outlook.
“Today’s corporate directors are facing an ever-evolving set of risks, from inflation and rising interest rates to keeping pace with digital transformation and overseeing non-financial performance indicators like sustainability and cyber risk,” Diligent Institute Executive Director Dottie Schindlinger said.
“In our conversations with corporate leaders, we’ve found that organizations leveraging software to aggregate risk information into a single source of truth are able to provide executive management and the board with the insights they need to make confident, data-driven decisions.”
Board education provider Corporate Board Member also helped to produce the survey.
On average, corporate directors rate their forecast for business 12 months out a 5.84 out of 10, representing a 7 percent decline from the prior month. Further, the directors’ rating of current business conditions regressed by 5 percent to 5.84 in March from 6.16 in February. In addition, the directors rate the impact of the Federal Reserve’s policy on their company’s ability to compete a 6 out of 10.