Survey Also Reveals Concern About Current Economy and Economic Growth
Next Year
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec 09, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Financial executives at U.S. companies expressed more optimism that
their businesses will hire employees and see revenue growth in 2011,
according to a recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey.
Of the 801 executives surveyed in the bank's annual CFO Outlook, 47
percent said they expect their companies to hire additional employees
next year, up from 28 percent who forecast hiring last year. Only 6
percent said they expect layoffs, compared with 9 percent last year. In
addition, 64 percent of CFOs expect revenue growth in 2011, up from 61
percent last year.
"Despite the challenging economic climate, many CFOs have growing
confidence that their companies have weathered the worst of the storm
and are poised for expansion," said Laura Whitley, Global Commercial
Products executive at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who oversees the
delivery of debt, treasury and liquidity solutions to more than 140,000
commercial and institutional clients. "Although concerns about the
economy remain, the increase in CFOs who expect to hire employees could
be crucial to improving the nation's unemployment rate."
Financial executives gave the current economy a score of 47 out of 100,
up slightly from last year's score of 44 - the lowest in the 13-year
history of the annual CFO Outlook. Despite that improvement, CFOs
weren't as optimistic about U.S. economic growth. Only 56 percent said
they expect expansion in 2011, compared to the 66 percent of CFOs who
forecast economic growth a year ago.
Other notable findings in the survey:
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When asked what will have the biggest impact on the economy in 2011,
CFOs ranked healthcare reform No. 1 at 54 percent, followed by the
budget deficit at 52 percent and the housing market at 43 percent.
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Related to the above, CFOs' top financial concern by far is health
care costs, followed by revenue growth and cash flow. The top concern
last year was revenue growth.
-
Only 27 percent of CFOs expect the cost of capital to increase,
compared to last year when nearly half of CFOs expected a higher cost
of capital.
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Executives at manufacturing companies generally were less positive
about their sector than CFOs at services and commodities companies,
which include construction, retail, transportation, finance,
education, health care and food service businesses. Only 47 percent of
manufacturing CFOs predicted expansion their sector vs. 58 percent of
CFOs in other sectors.
Conducted by Granite Research Consulting, the CFO Outlook helps Bank of
America Merrill Lynch better understand how financial executives view
the economy. The results were compiled from phone interviews of 801
CFOs, finance directors and other executives selected randomly from U.S.
companies with annual revenues between $25 million and $2 billion.
Interviews were conducted from mid-September to late October. The margin
of error is /-4 percent. The full report will be available in January.
Bank of America
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serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and
large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset
management and other financial and risk management products and
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investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes,
serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around
the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to
approximately 4 million small business owners through a suite of
innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves
clients through operations in more than 40 countries. Bank of America
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Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
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banking and global markets businesses of Bank of America Corporation.
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including Bank of America, N.A., member FDIC. Securities, strategic
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SOURCE: Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Reporters May Contact:Jefferson George, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 1.980.683.4798jefferson.george@bankofamerica.com
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