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At the same time, there are signs that supply
chain disruptions are finally easing. A tight labor What’s next?
market is driving costs higher for businesses but
also shows continued demand for workers. And Cash flow and pricing
consumer spending strengthened in October 2022.
ami Johnson, CPA, is a partner of the accounting firm Peters, Johnson,
As she looks ahead, Heacock is trying to bal-
JStaley & Co. CPAs, which provides virtual CFO services for small and
ance the risk of a greater downturn with the oppor-
midsize businesses, many of which are in service-based industries.
tunity — and the necessity — to continue growing.
That means maintaining a cash-rich position and She’s advising her clients to think carefully about cash and pricing.
looking for spending efficiencies, but also searching “Cash is king. Everybody wants to know where their cash is,” she said.
for new revenue. Besides drilling into their books, her clients also are analyzing where they
“I think that if you’re not growing, you’re dying. might make cuts, where they can save money, and whether they have
And so, we are constantly looking — not for the access to financing.
next best thing, but the thing that complements “We highly advise that people have contingency plans. Make sure that
our business,” Heacock said.
everyone’s got a line of credit. We don’t want to tap it, we don’t have to
Recently, the company has been convening two-
tap it, but just in case you need it,” she said.
hour monthly meetings of the sales and manage-
At the same time, she’s helping businesses plan for further inflation
ment team. The goal, she said, is to keep abreast of
in costs as well as rising interest rates. “Are they entering into long-term
the constant challenges and opportunities of the
deals?” she said. Giving the example of an office lease, she asked, “Am I
2023 economy.
locking into something that’s good and competitive?”
“Every single person gets the opportunity to
speak and say, ‘Here’s what I’m seeing,’” Heacock Finally, she advises business leaders to take a close look at their
said. “It’s real-time problem-solving.” pricing. Rather than continuing to make “nickel and dime” adjustments
that may frustrate customers, Johnson tells her clients to consider
SCENARIOS AND STRATEGIES a larger increase that will give them a cushion to absorb future cost
Chris Kite is global director of field technical increases.
operations for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and a “You’ve got to be competitive in your pricing, but you also have to be
member of the AICPA’s Future of Finance group.
forward-looking,” she said.
At Amazon, she oversees about 250 people who
help keep the massive cloud provider running and
respond to customer needs.
In 2023, she sees a unique threat from a combi-
nation of continued supply chain problems, geopo- “They needed someone who could come into
litical shifts, responses to environmental crises, and Goldman, quickly, and not have any bias,” Kite
the evolving competition for talent. said.
“Today’s the perfect storm,” said Kite, who is Having suffered significant losses, the company
based in California and was speaking as an indi- needed to overhaul its property leases, reexamine
vidual and not on behalf of Amazon or AWS. “I its use of existing office space, sell eight real estate
think you can manage any of these individual risks. assets in Manhattan, and complete a corporate
But now, this is what I consider to be very systemic headquarters project.
risk because of the interdependencies within and Kite relied on scenario planning and “ruth-
among these different areas.” less prioritization” to steer her team through that
While the challenges may be novel, Kite is complex mission amid the recession — just as she’s
relying on overarching leadership strategies that urging her team at Amazon to do today.
she learned in previous sectorwide and economy- “During times of uncertainty, it’s really difficult
wide downturns, including her work in the defense to have the visibility you want,” she said. Lacking
industry following the end of the Cold War, as well a clear picture of the future, Kite had her team
as in the finance sector during the Great Recession. constantly study numerous scenarios. And they
More than 14 years ago, in November 2008, planned on a rolling basis, transferring money
Kite joined Goldman Sachs as the CFO of real from one project to another, based on the progress
estate. The company and the U.S. economy were each was making.
caught in the jaws of the financial collapse and the “We would rebalance our budget at least three
Great Recession. times a year, sometimes four times a year. We were

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