BUSINESSES in Northern Ireland should prepare for the "worse-case scenario" when it comes to Brexit, according to a leading accountant.
Andrew Miskin, global president of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and a former partner of PwC London made the remark during an event in Belfast.
He was addressing 120 delegates at the CIMA Leaders Forum which looked at the "future of finance in a post-Brexit world".
“Unless businesses were prepared to spend a lot of money up front they would have mitigated their risk," he said.
"Management accountants with their forward looking strategic analytic skills are fleet of foot in terms of decision making and this will be critical during the times ahead.”
Economic commentator Paul Gosling also told guest that other global issues could have a greater impact than Brexit.
“Until we know the shape of Brexit, it is difficult to estimate its potential impact," he said.
"But we can expect continued currency volatility and not necessarily a sterling weakness at existing rates of exchange. I expect ongoing exchange rate uncertainty and volatility. I do not have confidence in the resilience of the eurozone economy and I do not believe its underlying problems have been resolved.”
Dr Esmond Birnie, senior economist at Ulster University Economic Policy Centre who was also speaking at the event added it was, “so far so good but it is early days yet.”
“There are indications of a slowdown in NI growth rates and a lag relative to those in the rest of the UK but both these trends pre-date the June ‘16 vote. Notwithstanding a number of areas of strength, the NI economy has, for decades laboured with a problem of a lack of competitiveness relative to much of GB and many other parts of the world. That problem continues to exist.”
Senior economist and market analyst with Bank of Ireland UK Alan Bridle also gave an overview of the rapidly changing regional finance landscape.
“Significant changes in the regional finance market pre-date the EU referendum and are continuing at a pace. While there is much speculation and uncertainty, in a sense nothing has changed yet and it is business-as-usual," he said.
