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CFO confidence falls, Deloitte survey finds

March 31, 2014

North American chief financial officers are less optimistic regarding the growth prospects of their organizations in 2014 than they have been at the start of each of the previous three years, according to Deloitte LLP’s first-quarter CFO Signals survey.

For the first quarter, 47 percent of CFOs expressed improved optimism while 20 percent expressed declining optimism for a net optimism of +27 percentage points, down from net optimism of +32 percentage points in the first quarter of 2013.

Expectations for domestic hiring improved marginally from the first quarter of 2013, though the forecast of 1.0 percent growth is below last quarter’s and remains below the survey’s historical average of 1.6 percent.

Year-over-year earnings projections by CFOs hit an all-time survey low of 7.9 percent, down from 12.1 percent one year ago. However, most CFOs are still focused on pursuing opportunities rather than limiting risk.

“We normally see a clear boost in CFOs’ sentiment and expectations in the first quarter of a calendar year, but the effects are far weaker this time," said Sanford Cockrell III, national managing partner, Deloitte LLP and leader of the CFO Program. “There are clear concerns emerging on the stability of the economic recovery, price stagnation and flat employment affecting consumer demand. These are constraining expectations for 2014, but organizations still remain generally focused on growth over risk.”

The quarterly survey includes more than 100 CFOs from North American organizations averaging more than $5 billion in annual revenue.