Managing investments across diverse markets challenging.

• Position: INVESTING

Global chief financial officers are facing a tough balancing act in investing across both developed and rapid-growth markets, with most lacking confidence in the effective communication of such an imbalance across divergent markets to investors, concludes a new report from audit and accounting firm Ernst & Young.

Based on a survey of more than 750 CFOs worldwide, two-thirds of the respondents said they don't believe their organization is good at balancing resource allocation between developed and rapid-growth markets. And a similar number find it difficult to convey an overarching narrative to investors when balancing investments across these markets.

The report A Tale of Two Markets, found that CFOs should be preparing for investor churn across different growth markets and that they should be reassuring investors personally. The lack of transparency in rapid-growth markets is another obstacle finance officers face in communicating with investors. Investors want more forward-looking, real-time and concise insight into markets and potential, which provides challenges and opportunities for CFOs.

"In an environment where many developed markets are unlikely to grow significantly over the next few years, CFOs are increasingly looking to rapid-growth markets as a source of future income," says Les Clifford, an E&Y partner and chair of the firm's CFO...