Financial leaders see a tough road ahead for business over the next year, according to the SmartBrief/Ipsos Leadership Index. An exclusive survey of 841 financial leaders, taken between March 28 and April 5, found that the majority of them expect business costs to rise, competition to increase, pricing to stay flat and interest rates to rise. Here are some of the key survey findings:
- 78% say that their cost of doing business will increase over the next year.
- 71% say their overhead — even excluding personnel costs — will increase.
- 70% believe competitive pressures in their industries will increase over the next year.
- 59% say that the federal funds rate — a key indicator of interest rates — will go up over the next year.
- 50% say their company will increase its hiring in the next 12 months.
- Hiring appears to be led by large companies. 54% of executives from companies with more than $1 billion in revenue expect hiring to pick up.
- 49% say that despite increased overhead costs, they will be charging the same price for their products or services.
LEADERSHIP INDEX DATA: TECHNICAL NOTE
The new SmartBrief/Ipsos Leadership Index was conducted online between March 28 and April 5 among SmartBrief subscribers in the finance, investment, equities, futures, banking, and equipment leasing and financing industries, as well as CFOs and other financial professionals. Surveys of this size have a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points.
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