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CFO survey finds confidence rising

March 14, 2014

U.S. chief financial officers are considerably more confident now than they were toward the end of 2013, according to the quarterly CFO Outlook Survey conducted by Financial Executives International and Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business. While CFOs continue to be concerned about healthcare costs and global issues like the stability of the Eurozone, their optimism toward hiring, wages and overall U.S. employment remains steady, the survey found.

The survey’s U.S. CFO optimism index toward the U.S. economy saw the biggest improvement; the quarterly optimism index hit a two-year high of 62.0, up from 56.2 in the third quarter. The index for U.S. CFOs toward their own businesses rose to 67.7 from 65.1 in the previous quarter.

The survey found 59 percent of U.S. CFOs plan to hire additional staff during the first half of 2014. Similar to previous quarters, respondents are most commonly seeking experienced consultants, entry-level college graduates and skilled technical workers for their workforce.

The electronic survey included 130 corporate CFOs from the U.S. from Feb 12 to March 2, 2013.