Publication: Financial Executives International Published Date: 5/9/2011
Despite a small dip in confidence, U.S. executives' optimism remains stable as they expect large gains in net earnings in the next 12 months. With expectations of increasing oil prices, CFOs overall see inflation as a mounting concern, according to the quarterly "CFO Outlook Survey" conducted by Financial Executives International (FEI) and Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business. The survey, which polls CFOs of public and private businesses in the U.S. and Europe (Italy and France) on their economic and business confidence found that U.S. CFOs have slightly retreated from the economic confidence they expressed at the start of the year. After completing the first quarter of 2011, the CFO Optimism Index for the U.S. economy dipped to 64.10 (from Q4's 13 quarter high of 65.50). U.S. CFO's optimism in the global economy also experienced a decline from the previous quarter (64.30 to 61.70), but remained higher than the optimism for their counterparts in Europe (58.90). CFOs in the U.S. also continue to demonstrate a higher level of confidence in their own companies (72.00) than European CFOs (66.10). However, U.S. and European levels of confidence appear to be slowly converging, as U.S. CFOs' confidence in their companies took a slight dip from Q4 (73.00), while European CFOs increased their confidence compared with Q4 (65.60). View survey results.