Table of Contents

1a. Are you more or less optimistic about your country's economy compared to last quarter?	1
1b. Rate your optimism about your country's economy on a scale from 0-100, with 0 being the least optimistic and 100 being
the most optimistic.	2
2a. Are you more or less optimistic about the financial prospects for your own company compared to last quarter?	3
2b. Rate your optimism about the financial prospects for your own company on a scale from 0-100, with 0 being the least
optimistic and 100 being the most optimistic.	4
3a. During the past quarter, which items have been the most pressing concerns for your company's top management team?	5
3a. During the past quarter, which items have been the most pressing concerns for your company's top management team? -
Other specified	6
3b. Other than your answers to 3a, please write any new challenges or emerging risks that your firm anticipates in the next year.	7
4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months?
[Unweighted - Winsorized]	12
4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months for:
[Unweighted - Sorted]	13
4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months?  [All
Companies - Winsorized - Revenue Weighted - Sorted]	14
4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months?  [All
Companies - Winsorized - Employee Weighted - Sorted]	15
4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months?
[Public Companies - Winsorized - Revenue Weighted]	16
4b. For 2016, what is your planned change in capital spending...	17
4b. For 2016, what is your planned change in capital spending... [Winsorized - Revenue Weighted]	18
5. Compared to a "normal" economic environment, have the following factors affected your capital spending this year or next
year?	19
5. How have the following factors affected your capital spending THIS year? (sorted)	21
5. How have the following factors affected your capital spending plans for NEXT year? (sorted)	22
6. Considering the normal aging of your assets and your rate of investment in new assets, by about how much has the age of
your fixed assets changed relative to five years ago?	23
6b. Is the aging of your fixed assets a drag on your productivity growth?	24
7.  Going forward, is the nature of your business changing in a way that affects your firm's required amount of capital
investment?	25
Q7a. Why will you require LESS capital investment?	26
Q7b. Why will you require MORE capital investment?	27
8.  For firms in your industry, do you believe increased payouts (dividends, repurchases) are constraining corporate investment?	31
9. By how much do you expect the value of the USD to change over the next 12 months? (e.g., -15%, +10%)	32
9. How has currency valuation affected your capital spending in 2015 broken down the change in the value of the dollar?	33
9. How has currency valuation affected your capital spending plans for 2016 broken down the change in the value of the dollar?	34
10a. Is your firm's rate of productivity growth changing?	35
10b. Have the following factors affected the productivity growth rate at your company?	36
10b. Have the following factors affected the productivity growth rate at your company? - Other specified	37
11. On November 16, 2015 the annual yield on 10-yr treasury bonds was 2.3%. Please complete the following:	38
Revenue Weighted: 11. On November 16, 2015 the annual yield on 10-yr treasury bonds was 2.3%. Please complete the
following:	39
Employee Weighted: 11. On November 16, 2015 the annual yield on 10-yr treasury bonds was 2.3%. Please complete the
following:	40
Return on assets (ROA=operating earnings/assets)	41
Manufacturing capacity utilized	42
Manufacturing capacity utilized (Revenue Weighted)	43
Industry	44
Industry (Other specified)	45
Sales Revenue	46
Weighted Sales Revenue (Millions)	47
Number of Employees	48
Weighted Number of Employees	49
Where are you personally located?	50
Where are you personally located? - Other specified	51
Ownership	52
Foreign Sales	53
In what region of the world are most of your foreign sales?	54
What is your company's credit rating? 	55
Your job title (e.g., CFO, Asst. Treasurer, etc):	58

 1 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

1a. Are you more or less optimistic about your country's economy compared to last quarter?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	1=More optimistic	120	26.1 %	± 4.0 %
	0=No change	152	33.0 %	± 4.3 %
	-1=Less optimistic	188	40.9 %	± 4.5 %
	Total	460	100.0 %

	Mean = -0.15
	SD = 0.81

	Missing Cases = 4
	Response Percent = 99.1 %

2 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

1b. Rate your optimism about your country's economy on a scale from 0-100, with 0 being the least optimistic and 100 being the most optimistic.

	Minimum = 0

	Maximum = 95

	Mean = 60.3

	Median = 60

	Standard Deviation (Unbiased Estimate) = 17.6

	95 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 58.6 - 62.1

Quartiles

	 1 = 50
	 2 = 60
	 3 = 75

Valid Cases =395
Missing Cases =67
Response Percent = 85.5%

3 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

2a. Are you more or less optimistic about the financial prospects for your own company compared to last quarter?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	1=More optimistic	189	41.0 %	± 4.5 %
	0=No change	132	28.6 %	± 4.1 %
	-1=Less optimistic	140	30.4 %	± 4.2 %
	Total	461	100.0 %

	Mean = 0.11
	SD = 0.84

	Missing Cases = 3
	Response Percent = 99.4 %

4 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

2b. Rate your optimism about the financial prospects for your own company on a scale from 0-100, with 0 being the least optimistic and 100 being the most optimistic.

	Minimum = 0

	Maximum = 100

	Mean = 65.9

	Median = 70

	Standard Deviation (Unbiased Estimate) = 20.0

	95 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 64.0 - 67.9

Quartiles

	 1 = 50
	 2 = 70
	 3 = 80

Valid Cases =398
Missing Cases =64
Response Percent = 86.1%

5 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

3a. During the past quarter, which items have been the most pressing concerns for your company's top management team?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Economic uncertainty	191	42.7 %	± 4.6 %
	Cost of benefits	162	36.2 %	± 4.5 %
	Difficulty attracting / retaining qualified employees	156	34.9 %	± 4.4 %
	Regulatory requirements	149	33.3 %	± 4.4 %
	Government policies	136	30.4 %	± 4.3 %
	Weak demand for your products/services	112	25.1 %	± 4.0 %
	Data security	106	23.7 %	± 4.0 %
	Employee productivity	84	18.8 %	± 3.6 %
	Employee morale	81	18.1 %	± 3.6 %
	Access to capital	68	15.2 %	± 3.3 %
	Rising wages and salaries	63	14.1 %	± 3.2 %
	Currency risk	47	10.5 %	± 2.9 %
	Corporate tax code	44	9.8 %	± 2.8 %
	Cost of borrowing	36	8.1 %	± 2.5 %
	Geopolitical / health crises	22	4.9 %	± 2.0 %
	Rising input or commodity costs	17	3.8 %	± 1.8 %
	Deflation	16	3.6 %	± 1.7 %
	Inflation	12	2.7 %	± 1.5 %
	Other	35	7.8 %	± 2.5 %
	Total	1537

	Number of Cases = 447
	Number of Responses = 1537
	Average Number Of Responses Per Case = 3.4
	Number Of Cases With At Least One Response = 447
	Response Percent = 100.0 %

6 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

3a. During the past quarter, which items have been the most pressing concerns for your company's top management team? - Other specified

Agr, Forestry, Fishing	Deflation	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Increasing competition	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	insurance pricing	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	low interest rates	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	non-traditional competition - less regulated	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Sales staff	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	stasis in consumer and business demand	
Energy	Low oil and gas prices	
Healthcare/Pharm	Dependent on Government funding	
Healthcare/Pharm	impact of health care reform	
Healthcare/Pharm	Low Medicare payments	
Healthcare/Pharm	Medical premiums	
Manufacturing	agresssive competitor pricing	
Manufacturing	Declining commodity costs	
Manufacturing	drought	
Manufacturing	Falling Commodity Costs	
Manufacturing	Major Customer disfunction	
Manufacturing	poor production quality	
Manufacturing	Trained and Skilled Production Employees	
Manufacturing	Weak retail sales	
Other	Global Economy	
Other	Hiring the right person	
Pub Admin	terrorist action slowing economy/travel	
Retail/Wholesale	Ability to scale quickly	
Retail/Wholesale	Driving more top-line growth	
Retail/Wholesale	drop in oil prices	
Retail/Wholesale	Loss of sales revenue	
Retail/Wholesale	SUPPLY FROM VENDORS	
Services, Consulting	Cash flow	
Services, Consulting	Competition	
Services, Consulting	Cost Containment	
Services, Consulting	Dropping oil price	
Services, Consulting	Energy industry earnings outlook and its impact on the US economy.	
Services, Consulting	Energy prices,	
Services, Consulting	Government idiots	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Service delivery	
Transp, Public Util	Steel Imports affecting Customers	

7 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

3b. Other than your answers to 3a, please write any new challenges or emerging risks that your firm anticipates in the next year. 

Agr, Forestry, Fishing	Ag Chemical & Seed company consolidation	
Agr, Forestry, Fishing	European and China economic uncertainty.	
Agr, Forestry, Fishing	Increasing supply of the product we produce will put downward pressure on	
	selling prices	
Agr, Forestry, Fishing	Low world wide growth, terrible emerging market area, terrorism and unless one is	
	associated with a	
Agr, Forestry, Fishing	N/A	
Agr, Forestry, Fishing	royalty checks and lack of knowledge what happened to them.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Benefits costs; excessive and restrictive government regulations	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	CFBP and attracting qualified employees	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Changes in consumer preferences.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Competition	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Cyber Security issues	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	economic challenges in mid-level economies (we do a lot of business	
	internationally)	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Economic stagnation and soft insurance markets	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Economic uncertainty in 2016	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Expanding product offerings into into new geographical areas (other USA States)	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Geopolitical risks, interest rate environment	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Growing the top line again.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Higher interest rates will be a challenge for loan growth	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Increased shareholder activism	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Increasing costs driven by customer and prospect demands	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Increasing tax rates - property tax	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Interest Rate stagnation	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Interest rate risk due to anticipated rising interest rates.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	interest rate and geopolitical uncertainty	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	interest rate risk	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Managing rising interest rates	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	New Government Regulations	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	not enough qualified employees to hire	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Possibility of deflation	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Presidential election-induced uncertainty or consumer/business conservatism	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	rising interest rates, depressed oil prices,cyber threats, regulatory excesses.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Trying to manage income growth at a pace in excess of increases in fixed costs	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	uncertainty on all the concerns mentioned above	
Communication/Media	Dwindling Financing	
Communication/Media	Technological advances in delivering media via various platforms	
Energy	Continued economic head winds driven by greater macroeconomic drivers.	
Energy	culture changes need to be implemented or we will lose key personnel	
Energy	Low oil and gas prices!	
Healthcare/Pharm	Acces to cheap labor	
Healthcare/Pharm	Cash Flow and expansion	
Healthcare/Pharm	China Meltdown	
Healthcare/Pharm	Extensive Labor shortage in region	
Healthcare/Pharm	Increasing consolidation and competition	
Healthcare/Pharm	IT security	
Healthcare/Pharm	none I know of	
Healthcare/Pharm	Nurse and Physician shortages	
Healthcare/Pharm	OBAMA HEALTHCARE POLICIES AND DIRECTIVES	
Healthcare/Pharm	Patient engagement	
Healthcare/Pharm	Political climate with the election	
Healthcare/Pharm	Reimbursement Rate Pressure	
Healthcare/Pharm	State regulatory action to limit payments for services rendered.	
Manufacturing	1) Suitability of acquisition / disposition opportunities and 2) increased import	
	competition	

8 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

3b. Other than your answers to 3a, please write any new challenges or emerging risks that your firm anticipates in the next year. 

Manufacturing	80% drop in oil and gas market responsible for 15% of our sales increased	
	competition elsewhere	
Manufacturing	a need for velocity on new product development	
Manufacturing	ACA	
Manufacturing	Believe increase in interest rates will only hurt US economy as other countries	
	keep rates low.	
Manufacturing	Changing markets for goods sold	
Manufacturing	Continued drop in commodity prices including base metals, petroleum and natural	
	gas.	
Manufacturing	Customer retention	
Manufacturing	Employee Productivity	
Manufacturing	Executing and integrting acquisitions	
Manufacturing	FDA regulations	
Manufacturing	Finding material	
Manufacturing	Globalization of our business	
Manufacturing	Government policies that increase cost of operations.  For example, cost comply	
	with ACA reporting.	
Manufacturing	Growing the business with new customers	
Manufacturing	Industry regulation changes affecting demand	
Manufacturing	Inventory destocking of customers.  Push is on you hold it until I need it.  Lead	
	time shrinkage.	
Manufacturing	Lack of focus by government in improving business conditions and productivity.	
Manufacturing	lack of leadership in Washington DC	
Manufacturing	launching new MRP system and impact on running our business	
Manufacturing	low oil prices that affect the markets where we sell our products	
Manufacturing	Managing a viable business through the oil and gas sector downturn.	
Manufacturing	na	
Manufacturing	Obamacare taxes are beginning to have an effect on employees.	
Manufacturing	Overall position in the cycle - we appear to be at a peak	
Manufacturing	political uncertainty	
Manufacturing	political unrest, more layoffs at large corporations we source our components	
	from, strikes	
Manufacturing	Potential loss of customers due to re-compete of major contracts	
Manufacturing	raw ingredient sourcing - drought	
Manufacturing	Rising interest rates effect on economy	
Manufacturing	rising interest rate effect on overall economy	
Manufacturing	Risks related to inventory, intelectual property related to sustaining new products	
Manufacturing	Stagnant economy and ACA costs results with higher out of pocket costs.	
Manufacturing	State Economics	
Manufacturing	supply chain issues created by our vendors ability to supply our needs	
Manufacturing	Supply costs	
Manufacturing	Tariffs	
Manufacturing	The ability to ramp up quickly enough to meet increasing market demand.	
Manufacturing	Trans Pacific Partnership Deal - (NAFTA all over again)	
Manufacturing	Uncertainty in the global economic status.US shows no income growth as medical	
	and local taxes inc.	
Manufacturing	We do not have weak demand for our products, but we struggle with how to have	
	double digit growth.	
Mining/Construction	Continued squeeze on profit margins due to P&C insurance companies to cap claim	
	estimates/payouts	
Mining/Construction	Expanding into new types of work/markets	
Mining/Construction	Foreign competition	
Mining/Construction	Managing growth and meeting customer expectations.	
Mining/Construction	Plant productivity, shrinking capital market, rising cost of raw materials	
Mining/Construction	Raw goods and commodities are currently what they were 10 to 20 years ago,	
	when will inflation begin	

9 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

3b. Other than your answers to 3a, please write any new challenges or emerging risks that your firm anticipates in the next year. 

Mining/Construction	Terrorist attacks on U.S. targets, keeping employees safe	
Other	Additional employee mandates from government	
Other	aging staff	
Other	declining member base	
Other	Decreased reimbursement from Medicaid is creating a number of issues.	
Other	deteriorating infrastructure	
Other	Global terrorism security concerns presses identical election in the USA?	
Other	Governmental regulations with out the funding to implement	
Other	Health care costs will cost us more jobs over 55 jobs out of 100.	
Other	Increased competition	
Other	Increased difficulties i repatriating funds and conflicting government requirements.	
Other	International terrorism returning to the US	
Other	low price of mined products: copper, gold, iron- we do business on 4 continents	
Other	Mergers and acquisitions	
Other	Minimum wages and changes in DOL regulations.	
Other	Need to improve program profitability	
Other	new competition coming into market.	
Other	Politics and related poor decisions.	
Other	Qualified labor force	
Other	Regulatory Constraints	
Other	Shortage of qualified employees	
Other	Some slowing of growth in the luxury hospitality market	
Other	Technology changes	
Other	Terrorism fear affecting the international exchange programs.	
Other	uncertain trajectory of interest rates	
Other	Union relations/bargaining.	
Other	We receive funding from WV State, they are facing increasing challenges.	
	University enrollment down	
Pub Admin	Health care costs number 1 issue.  Sky rocketing provider cost increases Cadillac	
	tax huge issue	
Pub Admin	health insurance cost are sky rocketing	
Pub Admin	World unrest	
Retail/Wholesale	Channel Blurring	
Retail/Wholesale	competing with big box stores	
Retail/Wholesale	Cost of Corporate Taxes and Insurance	
Retail/Wholesale	global economic impact of terrorism	
Retail/Wholesale	Impact of technology on middle class jobs	
Retail/Wholesale	local county tax and regulation	
Retail/Wholesale	Potentially slower economic growth, which would pressure sales.	
Retail/Wholesale	Recruiting talent	
Retail/Wholesale	Slower growth environment	
Retail/Wholesale	stable senior leadership	
Retail/Wholesale	Strong US dollar continue to challenge Mexico peso valuation	
Retail/Wholesale	Terrorism	
Retail/Wholesale	terrorists attacks on financial institutions and or commodities desks.	
Retail/Wholesale	The cost of healthcare goes up each year and changes making it less likely that we	
	will offer it.	
Services, Consulting	A decline in corporate earnings driving down the stock market causing additional	
	layoffs and recess	
Services, Consulting	All the above	
Services, Consulting	Attracting new business	
Services, Consulting	Borrowing money	
Services, Consulting	Changing landscape in our industry	
Services, Consulting	Cuts in Government grants.	
Services, Consulting	Decreasing demand for our services.	

10 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

3b. Other than your answers to 3a, please write any new challenges or emerging risks that your firm anticipates in the next year. 

Services, Consulting	Delays in governmental action, specifically, the delay in renewing the expired	
	Federal tax deduction	
Services, Consulting	Domestic Terrorism	
Services, Consulting	ensuring Continuing economic growth	
Services, Consulting	Find qualified people.	
Services, Consulting	Global economic softness.	
Services, Consulting	Global security threats from terrorism.	
Services, Consulting	GLobal uncertainty and it's impact on our business	
Services, Consulting	health insurance issues	
Services, Consulting	Healthcare cost and an economic slow down due to the political issues in the	
	middle east	
Services, Consulting	lack of understanding of the marketing activity	
Services, Consulting	Loss of Key personnel for retirement	
Services, Consulting	Macro economic risk in Asia Pacific, China esp and Latin America, Brazil esp.	
Services, Consulting	Market acceptance of products.	
Services, Consulting	Market fluctuation	
Services, Consulting	Metal commodity price drops	
Services, Consulting	New regulatory opportunities occur to bureaucrats every day.	
Services, Consulting	Political uncertainly	
Services, Consulting	Qualified and affordable workforce	
Services, Consulting	Regulations from our government are stifling the entire economy.	
Services, Consulting	Replace it with a republican one that is business friendly and follow through on	
	what they promise.	
Services, Consulting	Retaining customers & increasing customer base.	
Services, Consulting	Risk of another liberal Democrat being elected President and the tanking of the US	
	economy.	
Services, Consulting	The ongoing threat of terrorism abroad and the effect on the oil and gas industry.	
Services, Consulting	The successful award of prime contracts within of marketplace.	
Services, Consulting	Turmoil in Europe depressing business activity and spreading to other parts of	
	the world.	
Services, Consulting	USA Govt. regulations on export/import	
Services, Consulting	We foresee a continuing decline in economic activity and the market we serve (HD	
	Trucks)	
Services, Consulting	Worldwide Terrorism	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Best case is a flat economy due to demand limitation for GNP being reached.	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Capital markets from higher interest rates	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	China's investments into core technology infrastructure (e.g. semiconductors,etc.)	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Competitor action	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Continuing increase in regulation and no change in the tax code=50	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Cost of potential exit strategies for owners.	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	customer retention, product launches	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Geopolitical risks (ISIS)	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Global credit crisis. Significant ISIS events	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Health Legislation and additional direction toward Acute Care Organization	
	formats	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Increased competition with less opportunities	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Increased technology demands	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Lack of growth causing a pause and uncertainty how to regain it again.	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Not enough high skilled labor available.	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Rising real estate rental costs	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	terrorism globally	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	We were recently purchased by Stanley Black and Decker and were all on pins	
	and needles.	
Transp, Public Util	employee dissatisfaction with health care cost solutions	
Transp, Public Util	Increasing supply of industry capacity without corresponding increasing demand	
Transp, Public Util	Industry changes.	

11 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

3b. Other than your answers to 3a, please write any new challenges or emerging risks that your firm anticipates in the next year. 

Transp, Public Util	Need federal govt action to fund infrastructure investments in the US	
Transp, Public Util	The effect of new regulations on the core business.	
Unspecified Industry	lack of sales commitments from customers	
Unspecified Industry	none	

12 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months? [Unweighted - Winsorized] 

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

Health care costs	8.14	6.52	7.48 - 8.81	7	-6.52	23.72	311

Technology spending	6.46	9.08	5.33 - 7.59	5	-15	31.63	298

Revenue	6.18	11.45	5.01 - 7.35	5	-20.90	34.82	31

Earnings	6.05	15.15	4.33 - 7.77	5	-30.70	44.82	297

Marketing/advertising spending	6.03	10.94	4.69 - 7.37	3	-22.90	38.54	368

Dividends	4.62	6.19	2.44 - 6.80	2	0	24.23	256

Research and development spending	3.84	5.48	3.00 - 4.68	1	-7.36	15.72	296

Number of domestic full-time employees	3.58	7.41	2.73 - 4.42	2.50	-14.90	22.38	196

Wages/Salaries	3.35	3.26	3.00 - 3.69	3	-10.50	18.01	120

Productivity (output per hour worked)	3.07	3.87	2.55 - 3.59	2	-5.30	12.17	278

Cash on the balance sheet	2.67	12.75	1.22 - 4.11	0.50	-27.40	34.85	212

Capital spending	2.66	17.46	0.72 - 4.60	3	-39.60	47.43	163

Number of domestic temporary employees	1.77	7.21	0.76 - 2.78	0	-19.50	23.43	368

Number of offshore outsourced employees	1.57	3.40	0.97 - 2.18	0	0	12.16	105

Prices of your products	1.43	4.10	0.94 - 1.91	2	-9.64	11.90	248

Share repurchases	0.44	4.86	-0.49 - 1.37	0	-20.80	22.53	345

13 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months for:   [Unweighted - Sorted]

(N=464)

	Mean & SD	Positive	Zero	Negative
	  	1	0	-1	
	0.89	320	13	12
Wages/Salaries	0.41	92.8%	3.8%	3.5%

	0.87	331	25	12
Health care costs	0.43	89.9%	6.8%	3.3%

	0.65	180	50	18
Technology spending	0.61	72.6%	20.2%	7.3%

	0.61	143	56	13
Productivity (output per hour worked)	0.60	67.5%	26.4%	6.1%

	0.58	18	13	0
Dividends	0.50	58.1%	41.9%	0.0%

	0.58	281	18	69
Revenue	0.79	76.4%	4.9%	18.8%

	0.52	157	75	24
Marketing/advertising spending	0.66	61.3%	29.3%	9.4%

	0.51	197	52	47
Number of domestic full-time employees	0.75	66.6%	17.6%	15.9%

	0.50	84	76	3
Research and development spending	0.54	51.5%	46.6%	1.8%

	0.48	206	28	63
Earnings	0.82	69.4%	9.4%	21.2%

	0.43	168	62	48
Prices of your products	0.77	60.4%	22.3%	17.3%

	0.37	189	47	75
Capital spending	0.85	60.8%	15.1%	24.1%

Number of domestic temporary	0.29	75	102	19
employees	0.63	38.3%	52.0%	9.7%

Number of offshore outsourced	0.24	29	91	0
employees	0.43	24.2%	75.8%	0.0%

	0.23	149	68	81
Cash on the balance sheet	0.85	50.0%	22.8%	27.2%

	0.08	13	87	5
Share repurchases	0.41	12.4%	82.9%	4.8%

14 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months?  [All Companies - Winsorized - Revenue Weighted - Sorted] 

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

Earnings	6.85	14.14	5.33 - 8.36	5	-30.70	44.82	332

Technology spending	5.98	8.59	4.98 - 6.97	5	-15	31.63	227

Dividends	5.28	4.99	4.36 - 6.19	5	0	24.23	375

Revenue	4.23	8.62	3.35 - 5.10	4	-20.90	34.82	354

Cash on the balance sheet	3.79	10.69	2.59 - 4.99	1.50	-27.40	34.85	281

Marketing/advertising spending	3.72	7.87	2.80 - 4.64	2	-22.90	38.54	335

Research and development spending	3.30	4.93	2.66 - 3.94	2	-7.36	15.72	306

Capital spending	2.61	13.94	1.16 - 4.06	2	-39.60	47.43	114

Prices of your products	0.78	3.44	0.41 - 1.15	1	-9.64	11.90	169

Share repurchases	0.05	6.33	-0.91 - 1.00	0	-20.80	22.53	288

15 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months?  [All Companies - Winsorized - Employee Weighted - Sorted]

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

Health care costs	7.06	5.67	6.48 - 7.65	6	-6.52	23.72	248

Wages/Salaries	2.93	2.59	2.67 - 3.20	3	-10.50	18.01	324

Productivity (output per hour worked)	2.61	2.99	2.24 - 2.99	2	-5.30	12.17	239

Number of domestic full-time employees	2.40	6.82	1.66 - 3.14	2	-14.90	22.38	175

Number of offshore outsourced employees	2.33	3.56	1.80 - 2.86	0	0	12.16	369

Number of domestic temporary employees	0.83	7.71	-0.15 - 1.80	0	-19.50	23.43	358

16 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months?  [Public Companies - Winsorized - Revenue Weighted] 

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum

Earnings	9.47	12.84	7.35 - 11.58	8	-30.70	44.82

Cash on the balance sheet	6.29	10.11	4.52 - 8.05	5	-25	34.85

Dividends	5.36	4.99	4.44 - 6.28	5	0	24.23

Revenue	4.35	7.31	3.18 - 5.51	3	-12	30

Share repurchases	-0.01	7.38	-1.41 - 1.40	0	-20.80	10

17 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

4b. For 2016, what is your planned change in capital spending...

N=464		Total		Ownership		Foreign Sales	
				Public	Private		0%	1-24%	25-50%	>50%	
				A	B		A	B	C	D	
											
Number		464		54	322		240	143	43	28	
Percent		100.0%		14.4%	85.6%		52.9%	31.5%	9.5%	6.2%	
											
Within the US	
											
N		420		46	294		217	132	39	24	
Mean		9.3		7.3	7.6		10.4	7.4	11.9	2.0	
SD		34.9		25.0	29.6		39.8	29.7	31.4	10.5	
Median		3.0		2.5	3.0		3.0	4.0	1.5	0.0	
											
Outside the US	
											
N		236		32	162		94	83	32	24	
Mean		2.4		5.3	2.1		0.4	2.6	5.5	5.2	
SD		10.9		9.5	12.4		1.8	14.2	15.7	10.5	
Median		0.0		1.5	0.0		0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	
							CD		A	A	

Significance Tests Between Columns:   Lower case: p<.05   Upper case: p<.01

18 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

4b. For 2016, what is your planned change in capital spending... [Winsorized - Revenue Weighted] 

N=464		Total		Ownership		Foreign Sales	
				Public	Private		0%	1-24%	25-50%	>50%	
				A	B		A	B	C	D	
											
Number		408		197	211		128	143	146	36	
Percent		100.0%		48.2%	51.8%		28.2%	31.6%	32.3%	8.0%	
											
Within the US	
											
N		355		161	194		111	136	125	27	
Mean		3.5		2.5	4.3		4.6	2.3	4.1	0.4	
SD		15.9		12.4	18.2		16.4	19.3	10.5	7.3	
Median		3.0		3.0	2.0		2.5	3.0	2.0	0.0	
											
Outside the US	
											
N		260		140	121		52	92	108	27	
Mean		4.1		6.4	1.4		0.3	2.0	7.2	4.2	
SD		7.3		7.9	5.5		1.6	5.1	8.7	7.5	
Median		0.0		5.0	0.0		0.0	0.0	5.0	5.0	
				B	A		bCD	aC	AB	A	

Significance Tests Between Columns:   Lower case: p<.05   Upper case: p<.01

19 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

5. Compared to a "normal" economic environment, have the following factors affected your capital spending this year or next year?

(N=464)

	Mean & SD	Up	No Effect	Down
	  	+1	0	-1	
	-0.06	16	311	38
Currency valuation (2015 actual)	0.38	4.4%	85.2%	10.4%

	-0.04	20	283	34
Currency valuation (2016 planned)	0.40	5.9%	84.0%	10.1%

 	 	 	 	 

	0.06	60	302	37
Interest rates (2015 actual)	0.49	15.0%	75.7%	9.3%

	0.02	65	253	56
Interest rates (2016 planned)	0.57	17.4%	67.6%	15.0%

 	 	 	 	 

	-0.14	14	288	66
Slowdown in China (2015 actual)	0.44	3.8%	78.3%	17.9%

	-0.11	24	263	62
Slowdown in China (2016 planned)	0.49	6.9%	75.4%	17.8%

 	 	 	 	 

Economic/political changes in Latin	-0.04	10	318	23
America (2015 actual)	0.30	2.8%	90.6%	6.6%

Economic/political changes in Latin	-0.05	9	295	26
America (2016 planned)	0.32	2.7%	89.4%	7.9%

 	 	 	 	 

New or anticipated regulatory	0.05	106	204	88
requirements (2015 actual)	0.70	26.6%	51.3%	22.1%

New or anticipated regulatory	0.07	122	164	94
requirements (2016 planned)	0.75	32.1%	43.2%	24.7%

 	 	 	 	 

	-0.03	58	269	71
Price of fuel (2015 actual)	0.57	14.6%	67.6%	17.8%

	-0.01	50	267	52
Price of fuel (2016 planned)	0.53	13.6%	72.4%	14.1%

20 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

5. Compared to a "normal" economic environment, have the following factors affected your capital spending this year or next year?

	Mean & SD	Up	No Effect	Down
	  	+1	0	-1	

	0.05	20	270	6
Dividends/share repurchases (2015 actual)	0.29	6.8%	91.2%	2.0%

Dividends/share repurchases (2016	0.00	14	247	13
planned)	0.31	5.1%	90.1%	4.7%

 	 	 	 	 

	-0.11	5	55	13
Other: (2015 actual)	0.49	6.8%	75.3%	17.8%

	-0.06	8	47	12
Other: (2016 planned)	0.55	11.9%	70.1%	17.9%

21 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

5. How have the following factors affected your capital spending THIS year? (sorted)

(N=464)

	Mean & SD	Up	No Effect	Down
	  	+1	0	-1	
	0.06	60	302	37
Interest rates	0.49	15.0%	75.7%	9.3%

	0.05	20	270	6
Dividends/share repurchases	0.29	6.8%	91.2%	2.0%

New or anticipated regulatory	0.05	106	204	88
requirements	0.70	26.6%	51.3%	22.1%

	-0.03	58	269	71
Price of fuel	0.57	14.6%	67.6%	17.8%

Economic/political changes in Latin	-0.04	10	318	23
America	0.30	2.8%	90.6%	6.6%

	-0.06	16	311	38
Currency valuation	0.38	4.4%	85.2%	10.4%

	-0.14	14	288	66
Slowdown in China	0.44	3.8%	78.3%	17.9%

	-0.11	5	55	13
Other:	0.49	6.8%	75.3%	17.8%

22 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

5. How have the following factors affected your capital spending plans for NEXT year? (sorted)

(N=464)

	Mean & SD	Up	No Effect	Down
	  	+1	0	-1	
New or anticipated regulatory	0.07	122	164	94
requirements	0.75	32.1%	43.2%	24.7%

	0.02	65	253	56
Interest rates	0.57	17.4%	67.6%	15.0%

	0.00	14	247	13
Dividends/share repurchases	0.31	5.1%	90.1%	4.7%

	-0.01	50	267	52
Price of fuel	0.53	13.6%	72.4%	14.1%

	-0.04	20	283	34
Currency valuation	0.40	5.9%	84.0%	10.1%

Economic/political changes in Latin	-0.05	9	295	26
America	0.32	2.7%	89.4%	7.9%

	-0.11	24	263	62
Slowdown in China	0.49	6.9%	75.4%	17.8%

	-0.06	8	47	12
Other:	0.55	11.9%	70.1%	17.9%

23 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

6. Considering the normal aging of your assets and your rate of investment in new assets, by about how much has the age of your fixed assets changed relative to five years ago?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	+2=Large increase in age	27	6.0 %	± 2.1 %
	+1=Moderate increase in age	214	47.9 %	± 4.6 %
	0=No change	84	18.8 %	± 3.5 %
	-1=Moderate decrease in age	102	22.8 %	± 3.8 %
	-2=Large decrease in age	20	4.5 %	± 1.9 %
	Total	447	100.0 %

	Mean = 0.28
	SD = 1.02

	Missing Cases = 17
	Response Percent = 96.3 %

24 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

6b. Is the aging of your fixed assets a drag on your productivity growth?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	No	118	60.5 %	± 6.4 %
	Yes	77	39.5 %	± 5.9 %
	Total	195	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 46
	Response Percent = 80.9 %

25 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

7.  Going forward, is the nature of your business changing in a way that affects your firm's required amount of capital investment?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	-2=Much less capital investment will be required	13	2.9 %	± 1.5 %
	-1=Moderately less	46	10.3 %	± 2.7 %
	0=No change	171	38.3 %	± 4.4 %
	+1=Moderately more	168	37.6 %	± 4.4 %
	+2=Much more capital investment will be required	49	11.0 %	± 2.8 %
	Total	447	100.0 %

	Mean = 0.43
	SD = 0.92

	Missing Cases = 17
	Response Percent = 96.3 %

26 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Q7a. Why will you require LESS capital investment?

Agr, Forestry, Fishing	Older equipment and less sales.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Improvements in new location & technology higher in the past three years due to	
	rapid growth and development.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Strategic base already developed, can develop incrementally going forward	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Now doing branch expansion vs. mergers and acquisitions	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	More technology enables customers to do business with us remotely.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	more oriented toward services that require little capital investment	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Winding down company	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Choose to hold cash or buy shares rather than spend on investments in	
	thisenvironment	
Energy	being more efficient and end prices have dropped	
Energy	Current assets are relatively less aged and we have additional capacity with our	
	current assets	
Healthcare/Pharm	more outsourcing	
Manufacturing	We are seeking to outsource more production	
Manufacturing	Customers are demanding product in short delivery timeframes and expect it to be	
	available over night - for unique build to order products.  The amazon effect.	
Manufacturing	Attempting to grow the business	
Manufacturing	slowdown of the economy does not justify investment in new plants and delays	
	renewal of existing infrastructure	
Manufacturing	We have eliminated products that require a lot of in-house work.	
Manufacturing	Lower production volumes due to decreased customer demand.	
Manufacturing	Likely	
Manufacturing	better inventory management	
Mining/Construction	Transitioning to cloud based IT	
Other	Reaching a targeted level of investment	
Other	Will keep assets longer and will refurbish assets to extend useful life.	
Other	Completion of expansion project in early 2016	
Pub Admin	Incurred significant 2015 capital one time capital purchases that will taper in 3-5	
	years.	
Pub Admin	more internet transactions less brick and mortar	
Pub Admin	more internet transactions less brick and mortar	
Retail/Wholesale	just finished large project	
Retail/Wholesale	Less done in house	
Retail/Wholesale	Moved to a more franchised model	
Services, Consulting	Efficiency of scale and productivity	
Services, Consulting	technology costs decreasing	
Services, Consulting	Improvements and operational cost reductions from previously purchased	
	equipment and technology	
Services, Consulting	Built new plant this year.  Won't do that again for awhile.	
Services, Consulting	IT is cheaper	
Services, Consulting	service industry people are our product	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	We have achieved sufficient size, profitability and cashflow that we have access	
	to reasonable debt to finance our growth	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Partnerships with other players in the industry	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Moving to the cloud	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Our primary capital needs relate to technology infrastructure, and we may divest	
	portions of our revenue stream that are capital-intensive.	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Lower cost of new equipment, more features less cost.	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Smarter technology choices; have lessened the need for increase capital	
	investments.	
Transp, Public Util	less growth	

27 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Q7b. Why will you require MORE capital investment?

Agr, Forestry, Fishing	To meet company growth objectives	
Agr, Forestry, Fishing	to produce product to meet changing consumer demand for more 'natural' foods	
Agr, Forestry, Fishing	New products, lower cost of existing products, changing technology such as 3D	
	printing	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Tenant Improvements in order to capture higher market rents	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Acquisition by larger firm	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Intend to move from private non-traded REIT status to publicly traded REIT	
	sometime in the next 2 or 3 years.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Need to stay on the leading edge of the technology curve; cybersecurity	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Repairs and Maintenance, renovations.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	more technology	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Industry deliver platform requires technology investment	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	need updates to systems	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Expansion	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Maintain currency of technology	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Regulatory requirements	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Mostly on technology and some for new locations	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Growth requires facilities expansion and greater investment in technology which	
	is also driven by more more technology oriented delivery of our products and	
	services.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Technology needs, especially digital.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	To upgrade IT systems.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	continued upgrade in platform and compliance control software	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Cost to comply with with banking regs are rising annually	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Business requiring better data, so more technology spending will be required.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	increasing compettive environment	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Make larger loans to customers than historically required	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	technology and real estate	
Communication/Media	There are now a lot of best-in-class applications, rather than 1 main suite of	
	products	
Communication/Media	building new facility	
Communication/Media	Major market expansion	
Communication/Media	Technological advances in products	
Energy	we are growing as a company	
Energy	Capacity expansion to meet customer demand	
Healthcare/Pharm	IT and Regulatory requirements	
Healthcare/Pharm	More IT as Electronic Health Record is finalized	
Healthcare/Pharm	Information Technology	
Healthcare/Pharm	Technology, and we are growing.	
Healthcare/Pharm	Transformation of the core business	
Healthcare/Pharm	increased healthcare regulation	
Healthcare/Pharm	Aging equipment	
Healthcare/Pharm	New technology to stay competitive	
Healthcare/Pharm	To keep up with technology	
Healthcare/Pharm	greater use of tech	
Healthcare/Pharm	Divestiture of new revenue streams	
Healthcare/Pharm	older equipment	
Healthcare/Pharm	Healthcare reform is changing to be consumer centric and will require an	
	investment in big data	
Manufacturing	Bring new products to market.  Refresh existing products.	
Manufacturing	We are holding more inventory and doing a poorer job of production scheduling as	
	we grow.	
Manufacturing	our product mix and growth areas will dictate additional investments in higher	
	growth areas	
Manufacturing	Competitors are acquiring companies and increasing their economies to scale	
Manufacturing	Need to obtain more up to date equipment that will produce more product with	
	less quality issues	

28 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Q7b. Why will you require MORE capital investment?

Manufacturing	New technology for improved productivity	
Manufacturing	Additional manufacturing capabilities	
Manufacturing	technological changes require higher reinvestment into the business	
Manufacturing	growth	
Manufacturing	Insourcing	
Manufacturing	maintain leadership position, if you're not growing you're dying	
Manufacturing	purchasing line capacity, new line, new markets	
Manufacturing	Changes in USDA regulations and expectations require significant additional and	
	newer machinery and it's very expensive to keep up with the changes.	
Manufacturing	Restructuring, moving lines	
Manufacturing	To increase production efficiency as machines will replace people.	
Manufacturing	In time	
Manufacturing	to support growth and increase capacity	
Manufacturing	New technologies and M&A activity	
Manufacturing	Expansion into new product	
Manufacturing	Increased revenue	
Manufacturing	We may be forced to provide more rental options and need to invest in such.	
Manufacturing	Perhaps	
Manufacturing	To buy new equipment with better technology	
Manufacturing	expanding R&D and product offering to remain competitive in global marketplace.	
	Need to modernize factory and produce more efficiently	
Manufacturing	Change in product mix and sales volume	
Manufacturing	Growth and start up of new products	
Manufacturing	Updating product lines and expanding assortments to remain competitive	
Manufacturing	Expansion	
Manufacturing	Enhanced manufacturing processes, new assets required for increase in volume	
	and efficiency	
Manufacturing	Innovation to produce products more efficiently	
Manufacturing	changing market needs	
Manufacturing	Growth is not scalable now without more capital spending.	
Manufacturing	adding more automation in order to on-shore manufacturing and still remain price	
	competitive	
Manufacturing	New Development Programs, New Capital Equipment to support increased	
	production demands	
Manufacturing	Newer more modern plants are more efficient due to many small changes, not	
	disruptive change but cost prohibitive to retrofit older facilities	
Manufacturing	Our plant equipment is aging, and new equipment is just now hiotting the market	
	and we will need to invest quickly over the next few years to maximize the	
	productivity gains	
Manufacturing	manufacturing efficiencies/work flow	
Manufacturing	need to build new capacity to replace old, old capacity	
Manufacturing	Upgrade Machine efficency	
Manufacturing	May move to more automated processes	
Manufacturing	technological advancements	
Manufacturing	Change in technology required	
Manufacturing	Increased FDA regulation requires more testing equipment	
Manufacturing	need to automate also replace aging facilities	
Manufacturing	New program development	
Manufacturing	Automation	
Manufacturing	eventual growth after current downtrend	
Mining/Construction	Introduction of new and/or changes in existing technology	
Mining/Construction	need to invest in technology to keep up or get ahead of the industry	
Mining/Construction	Depleted inventories of land used to build on.	
Mining/Construction	Growth in the overall company	
Mining/Construction	Larger inventory of diverse repair parts required.	
Mining/Construction	Aging manufacturing plants need to be replaced.	
Mining/Construction	Economic opportunities exist from our capital investment	

29 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Q7b. Why will you require MORE capital investment?

Mining/Construction	More locations	
Mining/Construction	We need better equipment that works more efficiently; each labor dollar spent	
	must be more productive.  The inability to hire and retain employees  means	
	technology must take the place of workers.	
Other	Age of facilities.  Deferred capital spending during lean years leaves growing need	
	to reinvest in physical assets	
Other	To Keep Assets Current	
Other	distribution infrastructure globally	
Other	reinvest in physical plant	
Other	Technology changes and customer expectations.	
Other	Changing scope of operations will require less people-centric activities where	
	customer services levels would not be negatively affected.	
Other	better facilities to handle the increase in revenue growth	
Other	expanding locations	
Other	GO bonds	
Other	new equipment technology changing	
Other	Aging equipment and buildings must be replaced, and become more dire as time	
	advances without it being addressed.	
Other	Growing. Competitive acquisition environment	
Other	New systems and tools.	
Other	Stressed facilities.	
Other	Expansion	
Other	Updating our facilities where our guests stay.	
Other	We need to keep our properties up to date.	
Other	More research and development, New IT equipment	
Other	Bonding	
Other	competition	
Retail/Wholesale	Competition is driving newer, nicer stores.	
Retail/Wholesale	Business model change, Growth	
Retail/Wholesale	growth is driving need for more robust infrstructure	
Retail/Wholesale	Increased technological integration	
Retail/Wholesale	To build more hotels	
Retail/Wholesale	Need to reduce labor costs and increase productivity	
Retail/Wholesale	Keeping up with competition	
Retail/Wholesale	update assets to stay competitive	
Retail/Wholesale	New Growth in stores.	
Retail/Wholesale	opening new sales & warehouse locations	
Retail/Wholesale	Upgrade computers and invest in new technology to increase productivity	
Retail/Wholesale	Growth requires additional equipment purchases	
Retail/Wholesale	Expansion of plants and facilities	
Retail/Wholesale	Facilities need updating.	
Retail/Wholesale	Consumer expectations	
Services, Consulting	increase in staffing and increase in computer equipment and software	
Services, Consulting	Purchase of real estate	
Services, Consulting	Expansion of markets and new acquisition(s)	
Services, Consulting	growing company	
Services, Consulting	Equipment replacement	
Services, Consulting	For Software Development	
Services, Consulting	To keep up with the ability to improve the performance. As well as make it easier	
	for our clients to work with us and pay us.	
Services, Consulting	Expanding into new services offered.	
Services, Consulting	Increased use of technology to supplant labor increases	
Services, Consulting	upgrade building - increase collaberation	
Services, Consulting	New systems are needed to keep up with competiotion	
Services, Consulting	New technology	
Services, Consulting	New hardware is more expensive	
Services, Consulting	Technical obsolescence	

30 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Q7b. Why will you require MORE capital investment?

Services, Consulting	Replace fixed assets	
Services, Consulting	Keeping up with technology advancements	
Services, Consulting	Enter new markets	
Services, Consulting	Needs for new employees and for data security.	
Services, Consulting	New regulations mean growth, requiring capital.	
Services, Consulting	Growing in new markets	
Services, Consulting	Improve equipment	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Aging computer equipment will need to be replaced	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Product extension and customer capture	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	changing business model; new model requires a bit more capital	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	We need new servers, new computers, and new phones	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Growth and Expansion	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Expansion, go to market	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Acquisitions	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	We plan to significantly grow the business	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Continuing technology changes	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Growth and new product introduction and associated production capabilities	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Need for continued productivity improvement (higher cost of labor due to PBGC	
	costs, ACA and other regulations)	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Expansion plus replacement	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Expansion to handle increased bsuiness - domestic and global	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	To fund growth	
Transp, Public Util	We must invest to meet the demographic growth demands for goods in the US	
	Southeast. US Ports will reach capacity in 10-15 years.	
Transp, Public Util	Increased cost of replacement due to inflation, regulation (environmental) and	
	technology	
Transp, Public Util	growing customer base, turnover aged equipment	
Transp, Public Util	Clean Power Plan	

31 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

8.  For firms in your industry, do you believe increased payouts (dividends, repurchases) are constraining corporate investment?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	2=Yes, a lot	21	6.4 %	± 1.9 %
	1=Yes, a little	74	22.5 %	± 3.3 %
	0=No	234	71.1 %	± 4.6 %
	Total	329	100.0 %

	Mean = 0.35
	SD = 0.60

	Missing Cases = 135
	Response Percent = 70.9 %

32 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

9. By how much do you expect the value of the USD to change over the next 12 months? (e.g., -15%, +10%)

	Minimum = -40

	Maximum = 100

	Mean = 1.88

	Median = 3

	Standard Deviation (Unbiased Estimate) = 8.02

	95 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 1.11 - 2.64

	99 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 0.87 - 2.88

Quartiles

	 1 = -3
	 2 = 3
	 3 = 5

Valid Cases =388
Missing Cases =42
Response Percent = 90.2%

33 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

9. How has currency valuation affected your capital spending in 2015 broken down the change in the value of the dollar?

N=464		Total		Change in US dollar	

 		<-5
Large
depreciation	-5 to <0
Small
depreciation	
0
No Change	1 to <5
Small
appreciation	5
Medium
appreciation	>5
Large
appreciation	
		 		A	B	C	D	E	F	
										
Total		422		35	88	34	97	98	70	
		100.0%		8.3%	20.9%	8.1%	23.0%	23.2%	16.6%	
										
+1=Up		16		1	2	2	3	2	6	
		4.4%		3.8%	2.8%	8.7%	3.8%	2.4%	9.7%	
										
0=No Effect		311		22	60	20	69	70	50	
		85.2%		84.6%	84.5%	87.0%	87.3%	84.3%	80.6%	
										
-1=Down		38		3	9	1	7	11	6	
		10.4%		11.5%	12.7%	4.3%	8.9%	13.3%	9.7%	
										
Mean		-0.1		-0.1	-0.1	0.0	-0.1	-0.1	0.0	
SD		0.4		0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	

Significance Tests Between Columns:   Lower case: p<.05   Upper case: p<.01

34 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

9. How has currency valuation affected your capital spending plans for 2016 broken down the change in the value of the dollar?

N=464		Total		Change in US dollar	

 		<-5
Large
depreciation	-5 to <0
Small
depreciation	
0
No Change	1 to <5
Small
appreciation	5
Medium
appreciation	>5
Large
appreciation	
		 		A	B	C	D	E	F	
										
Total		422		35	88	34	97	98	70	
		100.0%		8.3%	20.9%	8.1%	23.0%	23.2%	16.6%	
										
+1=Up		20		1	2	2	5	4	6	
		5.9%		4.3%	3.1%	9.5%	6.7%	5.2%	10.2%	
										
0=No Effect		283		19	54	17	66	66	43	
		84.0%		82.6%	84.4%	81.0%	88.0%	85.7%	72.9%	
							f		d	
										
-1=Down		34		3	8	2	4	7	10	
		10.1%		13.0%	12.5%	9.5%	5.3%	9.1%	16.9%	
							f		d	
										
Mean		0.0		-0.1	-0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	-0.1	
SD		0.4		0.4	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.5	

Significance Tests Between Columns:   Lower case: p<.05   Upper case: p<.01

35 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

10a. Is your firm's rate of productivity growth changing?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	-2=Slowing a lot	14	3.1 %	± 1.6 %
	-1=Slowing moderately	122	26.6 %	± 4.0 %
	0=No change	133	29.0 %	± 4.1 %
	+1=Accelerating moderately	182	39.7 %	± 4.5 %
	+2=Accelerating a lot	7	1.5 %	± 1.1 %
	Total	458	100.0 %

	Mean = 0.10
	SD = 0.92

	Missing Cases = 6
	Response Percent = 98.7 %

36 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

10b. Have the following factors affected the productivity growth rate at your company?

(N=331)

		Very				Very
	Mean & SD	positive	Positive	No impact	Negative	negative
	  	1	2	3	4	5	
	1.99	62	218	42	8	0
Automation and technology use	0.64	18.8%	66.1%	12.7%	2.4%	0.0%

	2.13	45	213	57	10	3
Process change	0.71	13.7%	64.9%	17.4%	3.0%	0.9%

	2.66	14	104	182	20	2
New business model	0.69	4.3%	32.3%	56.5%	6.2%	0.6%

	3.10	2	21	248	46	6
Currency valuation	0.54	0.6%	6.5%	76.8%	14.2%	1.9%

	3.23	4	36	168	114	3
Unit labor costs	0.70	1.2%	11.1%	51.7%	35.1%	0.9%

Business disruption from external events
(e.g., bad weather, political turmoil,	3.30	1	7	219	87	9
supply chain interruptions)	0.57	0.3%	2.2%	67.8%	26.9%	2.8%

	3.35	3	64	99	136	25
Economic conditions	0.91	0.9%	19.6%	30.3%	41.6%	7.6%

	3.71	1	18	115	131	59
Regulation	0.84	0.3%	5.6%	35.5%	40.4%	18.2%

	3.11	0	3	57	2	4
Other:	0.56	0.0%	4.5%	86.4%	3.0%	6.1%

37 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

10b. Have the following factors affected the productivity growth rate at your company? - Other specified

Manufacturing	Ability fo find skilled workforce	
Healthcare/Pharm	timing and type of contracts	
Pub Admin	affordable care act	
Other	Affordable Care Act	
Manufacturing	more SKUs	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	training	
Services, Consulting	Comets	
Other	declining reimbursement	

38 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

11. On November 16, 2015 the annual yield on 10-yr treasury bonds was 2.3%. Please complete the following: 

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual S&P 500
return will be: There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be less than:	1.11	6.11	0.51 - 1.71	2	-50	30	400

Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual S&P 500
return will be: Expected return:	6.49	6.66	5.85 - 7.13	5	-10	80	417

Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual S&P 500
return will be: There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be greater than:	12.40	50.43	7.44 - 17.35	9	-10	1000	398

Over the next year, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return
will be: There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be less than:	-2.90	9.09	-3.79 - -2.01	0	-40	25	397

Over the next year, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return
will be: Expected return:	4.32	4.47	3.89 - 4.75	4.50	-20	30	416

Over the next year, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return
will be: There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be greater than:	8.56	5.03	8.06 - 9.05	8	-10	30	395

39 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Revenue Weighted: 11. On November 16, 2015 the annual yield on 10-yr treasury bonds was 2.3%. Please complete the following: 

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum

Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will
be: There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be less than:	0.79	4.34	0.37 - 1.20	2	-8.93	11.16

Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will
be: Expected return:	5.99	3.77	5.63 - 6.35	5	-4.46	17.44

Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will
be: There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be greater than:	10.45	8.65	9.62 - 11.28	9	-10	95.35

Over the next year, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will be:
There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be less than:	-2.83	6.89	-3.49 - -2.16	0	-17.90	12.06

Over the next year, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will be:
Expected return:	4.18	2.88	3.90 - 4.45	4	-3.03	11.68

Over the next year, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will be:
There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be greater than:	8.33	3.65	7.98 - 8.68	8	0.28	16.83

40 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Employee Weighted: 11. On November 16, 2015 the annual yield on 10-yr treasury bonds was 2.3%. Please complete the following: 

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum

Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will
be: There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be less than:	0.92	4.39	0.49 - 1.34	2	-8.93	11.16

Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will
be: Expected return:	5.98	3.68	5.63 - 6.33	5	-4.46	17.44

Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will
be: There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be greater than:	10.53	9.41	9.62 - 11.45	10	-10	95.35

Over the next year, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will be:
There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be less than:	-3.02	7.18	-3.72 - -2.32	0	-17.90	12.06

Over the next year, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will be:
Expected return:	4.11	2.92	3.83 - 4.38	4	-3.03	11.68

Over the next year, I expect the average annual S&P 500 return will be:
There is a 1-in-10 chance it will be greater than:	8.22	3.75	7.85 - 8.58	8	0.28	16.83

41 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Return on assets (ROA=operating earnings/assets)

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

% Approximate ROA in 2014	9.83	15.73	8.27 - 11.40	6.90	-25	100	387

% Expected ROA in 2015	10.54	17.21	8.82 - 12.27	7	-25	100	383

42 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Manufacturing capacity utilized

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

% of capacity utilized in first half of 2015	69.89	18.13	66.21 - 73.58	70	1	100	93

% of capacity utilization planned for the remainder of 2015	68.54	19.41	64.59 - 72.48	70	1	100	93

43 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Manufacturing capacity utilized (Revenue Weighted)

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

% of capacity utilized in first half of 2015	73.15	16.34	70.14 - 76.17	75	1	100	113

% of capacity utilization planned for the remainder of 2015	72.25	16.76	69.15 - 75.34	70	1	100	113

44 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Industry

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Manufacturing	94	20.4 %	± 3.7 %
	Services, Consulting	77	16.7 %	± 3.4 %
	Banking/Finance/Insurance/Real Estate	58	12.6 %	± 3.0 %
	Retail/Wholesale	46	10.0 %	± 2.7 %
	Technology [Software/Hardware/Biotech]	40	8.7 %	± 2.6 %
	Healthcare/Pharmaceutical	34	7.4 %	± 2.4 %
	Mining/Construction	16	3.5 %	± 1.7 %
	Transportation & Public Utilities	15	3.3 %	± 1.6 %
	Public Administration	11	2.4 %	± 1.4 %
	Agriculture, Forestry, & Fishing	11	2.4 %	± 1.4 %
	Communication/Media	6	1.3 %	± 1.0 %
	Energy	5	1.1 %	± 0.9 %
	Other Industry	48	10.4 %	± 2.8 %
	Total	461	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 3
	Response Percent = 99.4 %

45 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Industry (Other specified)

Advertising Agency	
Aerospace	
audult beverage manufacturer	
Charity	
CPA firm	
Dental services	
Education	
Education	
Education	
Education	
education	
Entertainment/ Hospitality	
Equipment rental	
For profit Education	
General contracting	
Governmenrt	
Higher Education	
Home Building	
Hospitality	
Hospitality	
Hospitality	
Hospitality consulting	
Human Services - Non Profit	
Leisure / Hospitality	
luxury hospitality	
Medical Membership Association	
Non Profit	
Non-profit	
Non-profit	
non-profit	
non-profit, religious	
non-profit-chamber	
Nonprofit	
Nonprofit Social Welfare	
Not for Profit	
not for profit	
not for profit	
not for profit - foundation	
performing arts	
PK-8 education	
Public Education	
Public Sector - Education	
Publishing	
Real Estate operation and development	
Religious Institution	
Rental & repair service	
Retail	
scientific research- brain processes	
Telecommunications	
telecommunications	
wholesale /light mfg	

46 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Sales Revenue

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Less than $25 million	172	37.4 %	± 4.4 %
	$25-$99 million	130	28.3 %	± 4.1 %
	$100-$499 million	80	17.4 %	± 3.5 %
	$500-$999 million	19	4.1 %	± 1.8 %
	$1-$4.9 billion	34	7.4 %	± 2.4 %
	$5-$9.9 billion	5	1.1 %	± 0.9 %
	More than $10 billion	20	4.3 %	± 1.9 %
	Total	460	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 4
	Response Percent = 99.1 %

47 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Weighted Sales Revenue (Millions)

	Minimum = 25

	Maximum = 11000

	Mean = 891.54

	Median = 62

	Variance (Unbiased Estimate) = 5795454.95

	Standard Deviation (Unbiased Estimate) = 2407.38

	Standard Error Of The Mean  = 112.24

	95 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 671.54 - 1111.54

	99 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 602.51 - 1180.57

	Skewness = 3.47

	Kolmogorov-Smirnov Statistic For Normality = 38.45

Quartiles

	 1 = 25
	 2 = 62
	 3 = 300

Valid Cases =460
Missing Cases =4
Response Percent = 99.1%

48 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Number of Employees

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Fewer than 100	150	38.3 %	± 4.3 %
	100-499	120	30.6 %	± 4.0 %
	500-999	27	6.9 %	± 2.1 %
	1,000-2,499	31	7.9 %	± 2.3 %
	2,500-4,999	22	5.6 %	± 1.9 %
	5,000-9,999	11	2.8 %	± 1.4 %
	Over 10,000	31	7.9 %	± 2.3 %
	Total	392	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 72
	Response Percent = 84.5 %

49 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Weighted Number of Employees

	Minimum = 100

	Maximum = 12000

	Mean = 1690.05

	Median = 300

	Variance (Unbiased Estimate) = 11240130.94

	Standard Deviation (Unbiased Estimate) = 3352.63

	Standard Error Of The Mean  = 169.33

	95 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 1358.16 - 2021.94

	99 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 1254.02 - 2126.08

	Skewness = 2.40

	Kolmogorov-Smirnov Statistic For Normality = 32.68

Quartiles

	 1 = 100
	 2 = 300
	 3 = 750

Valid Cases =392
Missing Cases =72
Response Percent = 84.5%

50 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Where are you personally located?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Midwest U.S.	120	26.2 %	± 4.0 %
	Northeast U.S.	97	21.2 %	± 3.7 %
	South Atlantic U.S.	82	17.9 %	± 3.5 %
	Pacific US	77	16.8 %	± 3.4 %
	South Central U.S.	49	10.7 %	± 2.8 %
	Mountain U.S.	33	7.2 %	± 2.3 %
	Canada	0	0.0 %	± 0.0 %
	Latin America	0	0.0 %	± 0.0 %
	Europe	0	0.0 %	± 0.0 %
	Asia	0	0.0 %	± 0.0 %
	Africa	0	0.0 %	± 0.0 %
	Other	0	0.0 %	± 0.0 %
	Total	458	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 6
	Response Percent = 98.7 %

51 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Where are you personally located? - Other specified

A	

52 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Ownership

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Private	322	73.7 %	± 4.2 %
	Nonprofit	42	9.6 %	± 2.6 %
	Public, NYSE	37	8.5 %	± 2.5 %
	Government	19	4.3 %	± 1.8 %
	Public, NASDAQ/AMEX	17	3.9 %	± 1.7 %
	Total	437	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 27
	Response Percent = 94.2 %

53 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Foreign Sales

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	0%	240	52.9 %	± 4.6 %
	1-24%	143	31.5 %	± 4.2 %
	25-50%	43	9.5 %	± 2.7 %
	More than 50%	28	6.2 %	± 2.2 %
	Total	454	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 10
	Response Percent = 97.8 %

54 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

In what region of the world are most of your foreign sales?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Europe	80	43.2 %	± 6.5 %
	Asia/Pacific Basin	41	22.2 %	± 5.3 %
	Canada	41	22.2 %	± 5.3 %
	Latin America	22	11.9 %	± 4.1 %
	Africa	1	0.5 %	± 0.9 %
	Total	185	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 29
	Response Percent = 86.4 %

55 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

What is your company's credit rating? 

	 	Number	Percent	Cumulative
	AAA	46	13.9 %	13.9 %
	AA+	37	11.2 %	25.2 %
	AA	43	13.0 %	38.2 %
	AA-	10	3.0 %	41.2 %
	A+	24	7.3 %	48.5 %
	A	34	10.3 %	58.8 %
	A-	29	8.8 %	67.6 %
	BBB+	21	6.4 %	73.9 %
	BBB	21	6.4 %	80.3 %
	BBB-	7	2.1 %	82.4 %
	BB+	12	3.6 %	86.1 %
	BB	13	3.9 %	90.0 %
	BB-	6	1.8 %	91.8 %
	B+	4	1.2 %	93.0 %
	B	7	2.1 %	95.2 %
	B-	7	2.1 %	97.3 %
	CCC	7	2.1 %	99.4 %
	CC	0	0.0 %	99.4 %
	D	2	0.6 %	100.0 %
	Total	330	100.0 %	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 0
	Response Percent = 100.0 %

56 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

What is your company's credit rating? 

N=330		Total		Credit Rating	
		 		Actual	Estimate	
		 		A	B	
						
Total		330		134	196	
		100.0%		40.6%	59.4%	
						
AAA		46		26	20	
		13.9%		19.4%	10.2%	
				b	a	
						
AA+		37		18	19	
		11.2%		13.4%	9.7%	
						
AA		43		13	30	
		13.0%		9.7%	15.3%	
						
AA-		10		6	4	
		3.0%		4.5%	2.0%	
						
A+		24		5	19	
		7.3%		3.7%	9.7%	
				b	a	
						
A		34		14	20	
		10.3%		10.4%	10.2%	
						
A-		29		7	22	
		8.8%		5.2%	11.2%	
						
BBB+		21		11	10	
		6.4%		8.2%	5.1%	
						
BBB		21		8	13	
		6.4%		6.0%	6.6%	
						
BBB-		7		3	4	
		2.1%		2.2%	2.0%	
						
BB+		12		6	6	
		3.6%		4.5%	3.1%	
						
BB		13		4	9	
		3.9%		3.0%	4.6%	
						
BB-		6		5	1	
		1.8%		3.7%	0.5%	
				b	a	
						
B+		4		3	1	
		1.2%		2.2%	0.5%	

Significance Tests Between Columns:   Lower case: p<.05   Upper case: p<.01

57 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

What is your company's credit rating? 

N=330		Total		Credit Rating	
		 		Actual	Estimate	
		 		A	B	
						
B		7		1	6	
		2.1%		0.7%	3.1%	
						
B-		7		2	5	
		2.1%		1.5%	2.6%	
						
CCC		7		2	5	
		2.1%		1.5%	2.6%	
						
CC		0		0	0	
		0.0%		0.0%	0.0%	
						
D		2		0	2	
		0.6%		0.0%	1.0%	

Significance Tests Between Columns:   Lower case: p<.05   Upper case: p<.01

58 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Your job title (e.g., CFO, Asst. Treasurer, etc):

	 	Number	Percent
	CFO	183	40.8 %
	Controller	37	8.3 %
	CEO	20	4.5 %
	President	17	3.8 %
	Finance Director	7	1.6 %
	controller	7	1.6 %
	VP Finance	5	1.1 %
	Corporate Controller	5	1.1 %
	Chief Financial Officer	5	1.1 %
	COO	5	1.1 %
	VP	5	1.1 %
	Treasurer	4	0.9 %
	Owner	4	0.9 %
	Manager	4	0.9 %
	Managing Director	3	0.7 %
	Vice President	3	0.7 %
	president	3	0.7 %
	Managing Partner	3	0.7 %
	Partner	2	0.4 %
	Director of Accounting	2	0.4 %
	VP of Finance	2	0.4 %
	Director of Operations	2	0.4 %
	Principal	2	0.4 %
	Divisional CFO	2	0.4 %
	CMO	2	0.4 %
	SVP	2	0.4 %
	COO-CFO	1	0.2 %
	Asst. Treasurer	1	0.2 %
	CDO	1	0.2 %
	Accounting Manager	1	0.2 %
	CFO/Treasurer	1	0.2 %
	EVP & Chief Investment Officer	1	0.2 %
	Vice President Finance Accounting	1	0.2 %
	VP & CFO	1	0.2 %
	EVP	1	0.2 %
	Financial Analyst	1	0.2 %
	VP Treasurer	1	0.2 %
	Director, Treasury	1	0.2 %
	Senior Vice President & Treasurer/CFO	1	0.2 %
	Vice President of Finance	1	0.2 %
	VP of Finance and Admin	1	0.2 %
	VP Business Planning	1	0.2 %
	pres	1	0.2 %
	Strategic Advisor	1	0.2 %
	President/CFO	1	0.2 %
	Senior Manager	1	0.2 %
	director of Finance	1	0.2 %
	Sr Business Consultant	1	0.2 %
	SVP Financial Reporting/Corp Secretary	1	0.2 %
	Directer of Finance	1	0.2 %
	Auditor	1	0.2 %
	C. F. O.	1	0.2 %
	President mnÃ¹	1	0.2 %
	Managing partner	1	0.2 %
	CEO Owner	1	0.2 %
	evp	1	0.2 %
	Comptroller	1	0.2 %

59 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Your job title (e.g., CFO, Asst. Treasurer, etc):

	 	Number	Percent
	contractor	1	0.2 %
	Head of Finance	1	0.2 %
	Senior VP Finance	1	0.2 %
	Retired CFO and Investor	1	0.2 %
	owner	1	0.2 %
	Vp	1	0.2 %
	Director of Budget	1	0.2 %
	Director, Finance	1	0.2 %
	Tax Administrator	1	0.2 %
	Board Director	1	0.2 %
	President & CFO	1	0.2 %
	Treasury Manager	1	0.2 %
	Regional Director	1	0.2 %
	general mgr	1	0.2 %
	Principal/Owner	1	0.2 %
	President & CEO (Sole Owner)	1	0.2 %
	County Administrator	1	0.2 %
	VP Business Affairs	1	0.2 %
	Division Controller	1	0.2 %
	Sr. Finance Manager	1	0.2 %
	VP, Finance	1	0.2 %
	Senior Accountant	1	0.2 %
	General Manager	1	0.2 %
	sr vp financial srervices	1	0.2 %
	CEO - CFO	1	0.2 %
	Presdient/CEO	1	0.2 %
	CEO & President	1	0.2 %
	Co-CFO	1	0.2 %
	CFO & VP Finance	1	0.2 %
	Director Finance	1	0.2 %
	Asst Controller	1	0.2 %
	Sr Director	1	0.2 %
	Consultant	1	0.2 %
	CEO/Owner	1	0.2 %
	Manager, Financial Reporting	1	0.2 %
	VP-Finance & Analytics	1	0.2 %
	Global Controller - Divisional	1	0.2 %
	VP Finance & Admin	1	0.2 %
	Board	1	0.2 %
	CFO and CEO	1	0.2 %
	VP Finance and Group Controller	1	0.2 %
	Pres/CEO	1	0.2 %
	CFO/Controller	1	0.2 %
	Director of Finance and Operations	1	0.2 %
	EVP CFO	1	0.2 %
	President/CEO	1	0.2 %
	President/Owner	1	0.2 %
	Audit Committee Chair	1	0.2 %
	SVP, Finance and Treasury	1	0.2 %
	Invsestment Professional	1	0.2 %
	Director	1	0.2 %
	President, CFO, CEO and CIO	1	0.2 %
	Manager of Finance	1	0.2 %
	General manager	1	0.2 %
	VP Admin	1	0.2 %
	Board member/audit chair	1	0.2 %
	Chief Operating Officer	1	0.2 %

60 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Fourth Quarter, 2015

Your job title (e.g., CFO, Asst. Treasurer, etc):

	 	Number	Percent
	Chairman (& principal owner)	1	0.2 %
	BOD	1	0.2 %
	VP/CFO	1	0.2 %
	Sr. Dir. Fin & Acct	1	0.2 %
	CFO and EVP Operations	1	0.2 %
	Vice President and Controller	1	0.2 %
	Mg Dir	1	0.2 %
	VP FP&A	1	0.2 %
	Sr. Managing Director - Asset Management	1	0.2 %
	Director of Finance	1	0.2 %
	Director Facilities Finance	1	0.2 %
	CFO, Assistant General Manager	1	0.2 %
	Asst. Controller	1	0.2 %
	Shareholder	1	0.2 %
	Financial Reporting Manager	1	0.2 %
	Division controller	1	0.2 %
	owner-president	1	0.2 %
	senior vice president	1	0.2 %
	Senior Director Finance	1	0.2 %
	PRINCIPAL	1	0.2 %
	Regional Controller	1	0.2 %
	CIO	1	0.2 %
	VP - Financial Analysis	1	0.2 %
	Director of Finance/HR	1	0.2 %
	Total	448	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 16
	Response Percent = 96.6 %