The Coming Business Impacts from the War in Ukraine

by | Apr 12, 2022

Part 1 in a Four-Part Series by Neal McNamara, Tim Czmiel and Truc To 

First and foremost, the war in Ukraine is a humanitarian tragedy and our sympathies and prayers go out to the people of Ukraine, including the millions who have fled to neighboring countries and face uncertain futures. We commend those who have volunteered or donated to emergency relief efforts, including the American Red Cross.

As responsible business leaders, we must also begin to understand and reconcile the coming business impacts from this multi-faceted geo-political event. As advisors, every day our clients ask us to think through and quantify risks and impacts to their businesses, and in this context, we now must factor secondary and tertiary effects of the devastation to the economy of Ukraine and from a sanctioned and increasingly isolated Russia.

It is widely understood, of course, that Western companies are being required to shut down operations in Russia (or are doing so as a result of public pressure), raising the global price of oil, natural gas and coal, and exacerbating inflation in the United States and Europe. Less understood are a variety of other coming shocks from the conflict:

Over the next several days, we will examine impacts in areas of business that Virtas advises clients, including M&A, financial disclosures, IT and cyber-security, and supply chain disruption. We welcome your comments as we begin this important conversation.