Data & Results
Dec. 22, 2020
Corporate financial decision-makers are generally optimistic about U.S. economic prospects, but note downside risks for 2021, as well as a trend towards workforce automation.
Key Results Summary
| CFO Optimism | Q4 2020 | Q3 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Optimism about own company (0 to 100) | 71.0 | 70.4 |
| Optimism about the U.S. economy (0 to 100) | 61.6 | 61.0 |
Note: Mean optimism values are unweighted.
| CFOs’ Growth Expectations for Their Own Firms | Q4 2020 | Q3 2020 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean Expected Year-Over-Year Percentage Change for Calendar Years | 2020 | 2021 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Revenue | 0.3% | 6.9% | -0.2% | 8.7% |
| Prices | 1.9% | 4.0% | 1.7% | 4.3% |
| Employment (full-time) | 0.7% | 4.1% | -2.4% | 2.2% |
| Wage Bill | 1.3% | 4.0% | 1.9% | 5.4% |
| Non-wage Compensation | 3.2% | 5.8% | 3.8% | 6.0% |
Note: Revenue and Prices are weighted by sales revenue. Employment, Wage Bill, and Non-wage Compensation are weighted by employment. These data are also winsorized at 2.5% and 97.5% to remove the potential influence of extreme values.
| CFOs’ Expectations for Real GDP Growth Over Next Four Quarters | Q4 2020 | Q3 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Weighted Mean | 2.8% | 2.2% |
| Weighted Median | 2.5% | 1.5% |
| Probability of Negative Growth | 15.2% | 22.9% |
Note: Responses are weighted by sales revenue.
Please refer to the full results for Q4 2020 and The CFO Survey Methodology for more information.
Please refer to the full results for Q4 2020 and The CFO Survey Methodology for more information.
Oct. 7, 2020
April 2020 and Prior
Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and CFO magazine previously conducted the Global Business Outlook by surveying CFOs of companies and subscribers of CFO magazine around the world each quarter. An archive of past surveys is available at cfosurvey.fuqua.duke.edu.
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