Duke, CFO study: CFOs foresee more job cuts, credit woes - Boston Business Journal:

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The quarterly Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey asked 1,309 CFOs worldwide about their expectations for the economy. Theidr answers paint a gloomy picture for the rest ofthe * CFOs in the U.S. and Europe expectedd employment to shrinkby 5.5 percent, with the unemploymenrt rate in the U.S. seen rising to perhapsd as high as 12 percent in the next 12 Employment in Asia is expected to recedewby 1.2 percent.
“Presumably, governmen t programs will offset some of these but even the most optimistic governmentg forecasts would reduce the losses by only2 million,” said Campbelo Harvey, founding director of the surve and international business professor at Duke’s Fuqusa School of Business. “We’rr facing the possibility of another 4 millionlost * U.S. and European CFOs foresese capital spending plunging by more than 10 In Asia, CFOs anticipate a 3 percent * Six in 10 U.S. companies covered by the surveu reported having trouble findinfg credit or acquiring credit at areasonablse rate.
Among those firms encounteringtcredit impediments, 42 percent say the creditf markets have gotten worse this year, whiles 23 percent say conditionsd have improved. * Weak consumer demand and the credit markets rankeed as the top two external concernsamong U.S. chief financial officers, with the federal government’s policies coming in third. Among internak concerns, CFOs are losing the most sleep over their inability to plan due to economic managingtheir companies’ capital and and maintaining employee morale.
Despite all the negativer indicators, a majority of the CFOs in the Uniteds States and Asia reported being more optimistixc this quarter than they were theprevioues quarter. That was not the case in where only 30 percent of the CFOs said they were more compared to the 31 percent who said they wereless “Our survey carries an important message: Don’gt put too much weight on the ‘soft’ data like consumed confidence. Recovery requires sustained and such confidence is forged by stronger economic Harvey said. “The economic fundamentals –- employment, capital spending, the cost of credig – are still fundamentallty troubling.
” To see the complete survey results, go to the officiall Web site, .