Are CFOs growing more optimistic?

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: CFO SURVEY

If optimism about the economy can be measured partly by a decrease in pessimism, financial executives may be starting to feel that the worst is over. A national survey conducted by Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd., found that an overwhelming majority of financial executives polled expect the U.S. economy to either improve (44 percent) or remain the same (45 percent) over the next six months.

Only 10 percent expect it to get worse, compared with 31 percent of respondents who expected it to worsen at this time last year.

The survey was conducted from March 22 through April 5, with 496 U.S. chief financial officers and senior comptrollers from both public and private companies participating.

Even more promising perhaps is the finding that more than half of those surveyed (52 percent) expect their company's financial prospects to improve over the next six months, a 7-percent increase from when the same question was asked last fall.

Another hopeful sign is that financial executives indicate that the credit crunch is easing. More than three-quarters (77 percent) said they are not having difficulty accessing credit, while, 23 percent said obtaining credit was a problem.

Signs of growing optimism have yet to translate into widespread hiring plans, however. Only 29 percent of respondents said their companies expect to increase headcount; 22 percent plan to decrease headcount and 49 percent expect staffing levels to remain...