CFO Signals™ is about CFO issues. This quarterly survey tracks the thinking and actions of leading CFOs – representing North America’s largest and most influential companies. Our goal is to explore top-tier CFO issues, in four predominant areas: business environment, company priorities and expectations, finance priorities, and personal priorities. Download the full report and infographic for the CFO Signals ™ 2013 Q4 results to learn more. http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Services/additional-services/chief-financial-officer/cfo-signals/a568758a05f13410VgnVCM1000003256f70aRCRD.htm?id=us:sm:ss:signals:eng:cfo:022514

1. Business Outlook Findings
4th Quarter 20131
CFO SignalsTM
What North America’s top finance executives
are thinking – and doing
Optimism among Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) regarding their organizations’ prospects remains strong for an unprecedented entire
calendar year. But this optimism is driven by confidence in their own organization’s operations, not by confidence in the broader business
and economic climate.
Company growth projections2
Despite overall optimism, most key company metrics suggest CFOs expect substantial challenges in 2014. Sales growth expectations reached a
historic survey low, while earnings growth projections remain far below the survey’s average.
Sales growth
Domestic hiring
Earnings growth
5.6
%
5.0
%
4.1
%
4Q12
3Q13
4Q13
10.9
%
4Q12
8.0
%
8.6
%
3Q13
4Q13
Capital spending
1.0
%
1.3
%
3Q13
4Q13
4.9
%
6.4
%
4Q12
1.4
%
4Q12
4.2
%
3Q13
4Q13
Economy optimism3
CFOs have expressed rising confidence in the North American economy in recent quarters, but the trend has now reversed. There are signs of
rising optimism regarding Europe and China, however.
60%
23%
49%
vs. 67% in Q3
North America
vs. 14% in Q3
Europe
vs. 37% in Q3
China
Own-Company optimism4
Fifty-four percent of CFOs express rising optimism, and 21% express declining optimism.
29%
40%
4Q12
1
2
3
4
51%
19%
1Q13
59%
13%
2Q13
42%
24%
54%
3Q13
21%
4Q13
These are a subset of the full CFO Signals Q4 findings. The full report is available at www.deloitte.com
Quarterly numbers represent CFOs’ expected change year-over-year. Averages have been adjusted to eliminate the effects of stark outliers
Economy optimism is calculated as the percent of CFOs who believe each economy will either (1) better in a year’s time, or (2) is already good and will not get worse
Figures represent percent of CFOs saying their optimism regarding their organization’s prospects is higher/lower than the previous quarter
The Deloitte CFO Signals survey was conducted for the fourth quarter of 2013 between November 11, 2013 and November 22, 2013. Seventy-nine percent of the 96 CFO respondents
were from organizations with more than $1 billion in annual revenues, and 68 percent were from publicly-traded organizations.
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