{"id":6574,"date":"2019-07-09T15:49:17","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T14:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/?p=6574"},"modified":"2026-07-09T15:28:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:28:41","slug":"brexit-planning-tips-cfos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/brexit-planning-tips-cfos\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Brexit planning tips from CFOs to help your business"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStrategy, Legal & Operations<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t5 Brexit planning tips from CFOs to help your business\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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What practical steps has your business taken when it comes to Brexit planning?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Brexit deadline of 31 March 2019 may have come and gone, but your company still needs to prepare as we look towards the new deadline of 31 October 2019 for the UK to leave the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the 2019 CFO Agenda event in London<\/a>, chief financial officers from businesses such as car manufacturers Honda and BMW, and recruitment firm Hays came together to describe their biggest challenges around Brexit planning and how they’ve handled them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is still uncertainty around Brexit and what it will truly mean for businesses<\/a>, the stories from the CFOs \u2014 and the advice they have to share \u2013 may offer food for thought around what your company should be doing to prepare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brexit: The UK transition<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Need help making changes to your business processes now that a UK-EU trade deal is in place? We’re here and ready to support you to make them.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFind out more<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Business\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The supply chain \u2014 accepting there could be a Brexit no-deal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kate Curnow is the deputy CFO at Honda Motor Europe Limited, She specialised in corporate tax in a past role at PwC, where she worked with multinationals. She said Honda has a highly integrated supply chain where ‘just-in-time’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

delivery systems are essential, so the goal of the company’s Brexit planning was to minimise disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: “Very early on, we made the decision that we would prepare for a no-deal Brexit<\/a>. We would hope for a deal but would also accept that we may have a no-deal. The problem was trying to convince all of our associates that no-deal was possible, and we had to prepare for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There were two years of long and hard work ahead of us to try and get in the position where on the 29 March we did have a no-deal Brexit, we were ready to face that challenge, having our systems and people in place to deal with it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest concerns that the automobile and manufacturing industry has over Brexit<\/a> is what happens around tariffs from goods imported from outside the European Union (EU), and what decisions would be made around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Curnow said it wasn’t tariffs that concerned Honda most \u2013 it was about administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: “We were concerned about lorry drivers potentially being stuck at ports waiting to go through. How would we know we had the right paperwork? Did we have solutions for our drivers in making sure they had the right licenses to cross through Europe?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free copy of Doing business in a post-Brexit future<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dealing with logistical challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Michael Kreeft is the CFO at BMW Group UK. For BMW, the UK is the home of its Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, selling 240,000 cars a year. With Brexit preparation<\/a>, the main focus of its challenge has been to ensure business continuity from the manufacturing and the sales side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: “One example of the measures we’ve taken on the manufacturing side was to change our annual maintenance period for the Oxford plant from the summer, usually around August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We decided last year to pull that maintenance period forward to a period where a no-deal Brexit would have affected production – April.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We looked at increasing warehouse space for foreign parts supply on both sides of the [English] channel, increasing stock holdings in our product sales operation, and increasing the supply for spare parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Of course, we had to prepare for potential custom changes<\/a>, which meant changing our IT systems to prepare for all the logistical challenges that might happen due to disruptions at the EU border. Away from Brexit, we’ve seen the disruptions that happen when there are strikes in France.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BMW Group UK has also been working with more than 400 suppliers, with special “supply days” to discuss with them what BMW was doing to prepare for Brexit and to hear from suppliers about how they were preparing too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kreeft added: “I think that working together with suppliers has been key in the overall Brexit process.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curnow said Honda has been very keen to make sure its voice was heard by the UK government and the EU, while also making sure that the voices of its suppliers were understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: “Certainty is essential. It’s uncertainty that causes the most problems, and the sooner we have certainty the more decisions we can make and move on to the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We still have to be prepared for Brexit<\/a>. We still don’t know what will happen, so it’s therefore taking time and energy, and we still need to be prepared for the unknown.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BMW has also been affected by the uncertainty. Kreeft said: “Up to 2016, the UK car market was booming. After invoking Article 50 and the general election in 2017, we saw the car market declining and we see the decline continuing today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We asked our customers what’s holding back our sales, and Brexit is often the argument given. The uncertainty can really prevent people from spending money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I still think UK manufacturing<\/a> is in a very strong position, but the situation can’t continue for any much longer. We need long-term planning stability, so we need a decision.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about Brexit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n