Due to the global pandemic, smaller businesses – those with 200 or less staff – are especially pessimistic about their future revenues and face greater challenges than their larger counterparts, reveals ACCA’s Covid-19 global survey ‘The Road to Recovery’.

The Road to Recovery updates ACCA’s April survey, ‘Covid-19 global survey: inside business, impacts and responses’, and shows that over the last three months the situation has not improved for SMEs with almost 60% now citing customer purchases as having stopped or decreased.

Beyond SMEs, the report also found that in North America, the overall picture is one of a slow return to normal, according to the respondents from an expert panel of 156 finance professionals who were asked a number of questions specific to their role or organization sector. The results show:

• 40% say employee productivity remains affected
• 42% of organizations are focusing their time on the medium- to long-term stability and opportunities for their organizations over the next one to six months
• 40% say customers have stopped or reduced their purchases
• 37% say they are re-evaluating their social responsibility to the wider communities affected by the outbreak
• 29% admit to cash flow problems, but 81% of organization’s leaders have planned ahead by completing a financial reforecast

ACCA surveyed over 4,500 members world-wide for the report.