Business Continuity
On-demand Webcast - Canada’s Inflation Outlook: How to Prepare Your Business for 2023
Canada’s economic outlook continues to evolve. In two years, businesses have experienced the deepest recession since the Great Depression to an overheating economy. Coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic creating long-term changes in how businesses operate, and people live. Now, organizations are back to renewed worries as the economy slows and inflation pushes prices higher.
In the most recent SAP Concur webcast, Canada’s Inflation Outlook: How to Prepare your Business for 2023, Kevin Craig, Managing Director of SAP Concur Canada, explores the latest insights on Canada’s economic outlook and how businesses can prepare for the months ahead. He is joined by experts Courtney Cook, Senior Value Consultant, SAP Concur and George Jia, Associate Professor, Department of Economics at the University of Prince Edward Island.
If you didn’t get a chance to watch the live webcast, here are the key highlights:
The Tidal Wave Impacting Businesses
According to George, rising energy prices, a shrinking labour market, and inflation are affecting businesses all at once. Businesses are being forced to raise prices. Workers are asking for bigger raises and new hires are demanding higher salaries to cope with the rising cost of living. All these factors mingle together, and businesses are feeling the impacts on both the supply side and demand as consumers cut back on spending.
Courtney explains there is also a large uptick in businesses now requiring pre-approval for things like travel expenses to ensure employees are opting for more economic travel options to manage costs. Businesses are also taking a different approach to cutting spending such as managing personal car mileage—if employees are driving a certain distance and choose to take their personal car, businesses are only reimbursing the amount of what a rental car would cost.
Preparing for the Road Ahead
In response to what businesses can do to cope with the overall cost increases, Courtney encourages businesses to ask themselves one question: when was the last internal expense policy audit conducted and is it aligned with the existing expense program, such as Concur Expense? She also adds that finance leaders are demanding more visibility into spend and want to be closer to the process of revamping the approval policies to get a tighter hold on spending leakage. Given finance leaders are looking at cash flow now more than ever, they are working more closely with employees that are in the weeds with Concur Expense.
Silver Linings
Amid the doom and gloom, George says Canada’s inflation rate has tamed down which is always good news. While government spending is expected to continue to rise, George anticipates they will prioritize funding for critical services such as health and dental care.
Courtney also shares a reminder that the efforts from the post-COVID response businesses implemented by updating their policies, updating receipt rules, and pre-approval processes positions businesses to have a much quicker response if needed should the peak of the recession approach.
Of course, every business owner wants to know when they’ll be out of the rut. George predicts everything should be more or less normal closer to the end of 2023.
There is no time like the present to revisit the expense management process and see where automation can ease the uncertainty of the day. Click here to register and watch the full webcast recording.
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