Dive Brief:

• CFOs raised expectations for growth within their companies and for the broader economy, according to Deloitte’s CFO Signals survey for the second quarter, released today.

• Seventy-five percent of CFOs called current national economic conditions “good” or “very good,” a 29% jump from the last quarterly survey. 

• The survey also saw a big jump in CFO optimism about their company's prospects, with 75% saying they're optimistic, a 67% jump from three months ago.

Dive Insight:

CFOs’ expectations for revenue growth jumped from 8.5% to 9.6%, the highest level in over a decade. Earnings growth rose from 12.8% to 13.6%; capital spending from 10.2% to 12.4%; dividend growth from 3.3% to 4%; domestic hiring from 2.7% to 4.1%, and domestic wages/salaries from 3.1% to 3.4%. 

As the economy stabilizes, 65% of CFOs say now is a good time to be taking greater risks, though they cited economic stability and inflation as their most worrisome external risk, followed by potential changes in government policies and a COVID-19 resurgence.

CFOs ranked economic stability and inflation as their primary external concerns and talent acquisition and retention their biggest internal concern. 

“None of what we saw, from a trend perspective, surprised us,” Steve Gallucci, national managing partner of Deloitte’s U.S. CFO Program, told CFO Dive. “What we saw is the continued evolution of what we’ve been seeing over the past few quarters.”

Tech investment

On the digital infrastructure front, after nearly a year and half of working remotely, nearly all CFOs agreed on the benefit of tech investments. They named changing customer demands (47%) and disruptive technologies (40%) as the top-two drivers for digital transformation.

In shepherding those transformation goals across the finish line, 42% of CFOs said their primary role is as co-leader of the transformation; another 19% said they’re a sponsor or enabler, and 16% called themselves leaders. 

Several CFOs reported to be taking a greater leadership role and modeling inclusive leadership in accomplishing companies’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals this year.

The average number of female direct reports to CFOs increased from from 2.38 to 4.09 from the first quarter of 2019; for minority direct reports, the figure rose from 1.05 to 2.85. 

The average number of women expected to be “CFO-ready” in three years grew from .40 in 1Q19 to 1.23, while the average number of minority direct reports expected to be CFO-ready grew to .89 from .69 over the same period.