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]	11
4. Relative to the previous 12 months, what will be your company's PERCENTAGE CHANGE during the next 12 months for:
[Unweighted - Sorted]	12
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]	13
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]	14
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]	15
Q5.  What is the hurdle rate that your company uses to evaluate investment projects?	16
Q6a. Does your company pursue all NPV>0 projects?	17
Q6b.  Does a shortage of management time or expertise prevent your firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that you would
otherwise pursue?	18
Why doesn't your firm hire more managers to reduce the shortage?	19
Why doesn't your firm hire more managers to reduce the shortage? - OTHERS	20
What managerial hard skills are most scarce?	21
What managerial intangible skills are most scarce?	23
What tasks and responsibilities cannot be delegated to new managers?	24
Q6c. Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a higher expected return because of a shortage of management time
or expertise? ALL Respondents	25
Q6c. Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a higher expected return because of a shortage of management time
or expertise?  Shows responses of those who indicated a shortage of management time or expertise prevent their firm from
pursuing some NPV>0 projects that you would otherwise pursue?	26
Q6d.  Does a shortage of non-management labor prevent your firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that you would
otherwise pursue?	27
Q6b_d.  Shows how many pass up NPV>0 due to a managerial or non-managerial labor shortage  (Excludes Don't Know's)	28
Why doesn't your firm hire more labor to reduce the shortage?	29
Why doesn't your firm hire more labor to reduce the shortage?  - OTHER	30
Which skills are most scarce among potential hires?	31
Q6e.  Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a higher expected return because of a shortage of non-management
labor?  ALL RESPONDENTS	33
Q6e.  Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a higher expected return because of a shortage of non-management
labor?  Shows responses of those who indicated a shortage of non-management labor prevent their firm from pursuing some
NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue?	34
Q7.  Compared to 3 years ago, has the number of NPV>0 projects that your firm has 'back-logged' changed?	35
Q8a.  Does your company have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified technology employees?	36
Q8b.  Which areas/aspects of your organization are currently adversely impacted by a technology talent shortage? ALL
RESPONDENTS	37
Q8b.  Which areas/aspects of your organization are currently adversely impacted by a technology talent shortage?  Shows just
responses if company has difficulty attracting and retaining qualified technology employees	38
Which areas/aspects of your organization are currently adversely impacted by a technology talent shortage? - OTHERS	39

j. Weighted Average Cost of Capital	40
k. Workforce	41
On August 21, 2017 the annual yield on 10-yr treasury bonds was 2.18%. Please complete the following:  (Winsorized)	42
Return on assets (ROA=operating earnings/assets)  (Winsorized)	43
Manufacturing capacity utilized  (Winsorized)	44
Industry	45
Industry (Other specified)	46
Sales Revenue	47
Statistics - Sales Revenue (Millions)	48
Number of Employees	49
Statistics - Number of Employees	50
Where are you personally located?	51
Where are you personally located? - Other specified	52
Ownership	53
Foreign Sales	54
In what region of the world are most of your foreign sales?	55
What is your company's credit rating? 	56
Your job title (e.g., CFO, Asst. Treasurer, etc):	59
Other job title:	60

 1 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	1=More optimistic	121	32.7 %	± 4.8 %
	0=No change	141	38.1 %	± 5.0 %
	-1=Less optimistic	108	29.2 %	± 4.6 %
	Total	370	100.0 %

	Mean = 0.04
	SD = 0.79

	Missing Cases = 1
	Response Percent = 99.7 %

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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 = 100

	Mean = 65.87

	Median = 70

	Standard Deviation (Unbiased Estimate) = 16.18

	95 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 64.12 - 67.62

Quartiles

	 1 = 55
	 2 = 70
	 3 = 76.75

Valid Cases = 329
Missing Cases = 42
Response Percent =  88.7%

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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	174	47.7 %	± 5.1 %
	0=No change	110	30.1 %	± 4.7 %
	-1=Less optimistic	81	22.2 %	± 4.2 %
	Total	365	100.0 %

	Mean = 0.25
	SD = 0.80

	Missing Cases = 6
	Response Percent = 98.4 %

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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 = 5

	Maximum = 100

	Mean = 70.19

	Median = 75

	Standard Deviation (Unbiased Estimate) = 17.89

	95 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 68.25 - 72.12

Quartiles

	 1 = 60
	 2 = 75
	 3 = 84.25

Valid Cases = 329
Missing Cases = 42
Response Percent =  88.7%

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Difficulty attracting / retaining qualified employees	153	41.4 %	± 5.0 %
	Cost of benefits	128	34.6 %	± 4.9 %
	Government policies	117	31.6 %	± 4.8 %
	Regulatory requirements	111	30.0 %	± 4.7 %
	Economic uncertainty	110	29.7 %	± 4.7 %
	Data security	100	27.0 %	± 4.5 %
	Employee productivity	87	23.5 %	± 4.3 %
	Weak demand for your products/services	80	21.6 %	± 4.2 %
	Rising wages and salaries	65	17.6 %	± 3.9 %
	Access to capital	52	14.1 %	± 3.6 %
	Corporate tax code	49	13.2 %	± 3.5 %
	Employee morale	48	13.0 %	± 3.4 %
	Geopolitical / health crises	35	9.5 %	± 3.0 %
	Other	30	8.1 %	± 2.8 %
	Cost of borrowing	28	7.6 %	± 2.7 %
	Rising input or commodity costs	28	7.6 %	± 2.7 %
	Currency risk	15	4.1 %	± 2.0 %
	Deflation	4	1.1 %	± 1.1 %
	Inflation	2	0.5 %	± 0.8 %
	Total	1242

	Number of Cases = 370
	Number of Responses = 1242
	Average Number Of Responses Per Case = 3.4
	Number Of Cases With At Least One Response = 370
	Response Percent = 100.0 %

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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

Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Competition	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	High tech partially	
	collasping in No. Ca.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Legal environment - need	
	tort reform badly!	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	tax reform	
Healthcare/Pharm	Controlled growth	
Healthcare/Pharm	Government/State	
	Reimbursement	
Healthcare/Pharm	poor government	
	leadership	
Manufacturing	launch of new software	
Manufacturing	organic revenue growth	
Mining/Construction	Congress' ineptitude	
Mining/Construction	LAbor Shortage	
Mining/Construction	President's ability to lead	
	and make good decisions	
Mining/Construction	Succession plannng	
Other	Confusion/uncertainty	
	caused by Trump	
	administration	
Other	Increasing clients	
Other	operating systems to be	
	more efficient	
Other	Republican house and	
	senate not acting on	
	President Trumps Agenda.	
Other	Weather	
Retail/Wholesale	bricks and mortar problems	
Retail/Wholesale	Market penetration	
Services, Consulting	Consolidations	
Services, Consulting	The flood in Houston	
	where I am located	
Services, Consulting	Weak governmental	
	leadership	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	foreign country tax policies	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	New clients	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Price compression/low	
	revenue growth	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Revenue growth	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Sales / revenue growth	
Transp, Public Util	competition	
Transp, Public Util	Weather- extreme hot	
	summer	

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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	Access to capital related to movable structures, i.e. Greenhouses	
Agr, Forestry, Fishing	Access to seasonal workforce considering unclear Federal policy.	
Agr, Forestry, Fishing	I never see any indication that my brain children are coming to life.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	China stumbles -- b/c internal issue like debt constipation or bank problem. or	
	external issue with Taiwan, N. Korea or reckless U.S. -- and the world economy goes	
	into another four-year dimming.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Competition in our industry is fierce.  Customers now look at our product as a	
	commodity.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Consolidating movement triggered by mediocre and changing demand for services.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Consumer demand	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Corporate tax rates not changing	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Cost of benefits and excessive taxes--local, state and national.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Credit worthiness of customers	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Donald Trumps policies will negatively impact our future economy (but benefit him and	
	his family personally), the stock market will have a significant crash and it will ripple	
	through the economy.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Interest rate level - need to see gradual increases in rates	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	N/A	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	N/A	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	none	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Regulatory and compliance concerns continue to consume more time and resources	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Supply/Demand imbalance in Housing market. High tech partial collapse in northern	
	California	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Technology	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Terror attacks in high traffic vacation destinations.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	The uncertainty and gridlock in Congress needs to unwind at some point.  There is a	
	level of anxiety as we wait for some shoe to drop.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Uncertainty over health care market and impact on cost of benefits.	
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	We are related to a membership organization with declining menbership so our chief	
	challenge is developing new markets for our insurance products.	
Communication/Media	Continued demand from clients for longer payment terms, forcing us to utilize	
	additional capital with low ROI	
Communication/Media	Ensuring that the business model is correct.	
Communication/Media	Global terrorism	
Communication/Media	Government policies interfering with productivity and client retention.	
Communication/Media	Opening new revenue streams	
Energy	Fossil fuel/Big Oil back in control of  Washington!	
Healthcare/Pharm	Affordable Care Act	
Healthcare/Pharm	As a nonprofit, competition for donor dollars is high. There will be more expenses for	
	marketing in order to attract donors to us and or cause.	
Healthcare/Pharm	Changes in healthcare and tax codes.	
Healthcare/Pharm	Collection of accounts receivables, how the new franchisees will perform and staff.	
Healthcare/Pharm	Continuing uncertainty concerning healthcare costs and how possible changes by	
	Trump administration could affect our business...sales to hospitals as well as cost of	
	healthcare insurance for employees	
Healthcare/Pharm	Electronic medical records	
Healthcare/Pharm	Healthcare reform not getting done in 2017	
Healthcare/Pharm	Industry consolidation.	
Healthcare/Pharm	Presidential uncertainty; external events such as terrorism.	
Healthcare/Pharm	uncertainty about repeal and replace the ACA	
Healthcare/Pharm	US tax code reform, US medical policy uncertainty, US geopolitical status	
Healthcare/Pharm	Worker training; Opioid Crisis; Legal Environment	
Manufacturing	Being able to keep up with customer demand	
Manufacturing	Degrading reputation of the U.S. in the world due to Trump.	

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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

Manufacturing	deterioration of market growth	
Manufacturing	Difficulty growing	
Manufacturing	DONALD TRUMP..who knows what happens with him. totally unstable	
Manufacturing	Findinng New Customers	
Manufacturing	Foreign exchange exposure	
Manufacturing	general economic conditions may restrict growth in our served markets	
Manufacturing	global enterprise complexity for a SBE	
Manufacturing	hedge fund activity	
Manufacturing	Identifying and mitigating risk around global expansion	
Manufacturing	Industry consolidation, regulations, health care reform	
Manufacturing	instability internationally can affect our business	
Manufacturing	Lack of bipartisan action at both the Federal and State levels	
Manufacturing	Lack of control of China and her unfair business practices	
Manufacturing	Lack of growth in revenue. Continuing decline in distribution channel used to move	
	product	
Manufacturing	Lack of skilled labor - specifically in the housing industry.	
Manufacturing	none	
Manufacturing	Organizational change required to address changing economy	
Manufacturing	Overall spending of customers due to market pressure.	
Manufacturing	Political instability in Washington	
Manufacturing	Political unrest	
Manufacturing	political uncertainty	
Manufacturing	recent increases in commodity prices may have an adverse effect later in the year.	
Manufacturing	Rising political uncertainty in the US.	
Manufacturing	Shifting consumer patterns, driven by e-commerce and especially Amazon	
Manufacturing	Significant need to increase manufacturing process efficiency.	
Manufacturing	Supply Chain Management with China	
Manufacturing	Supply chain risk	
Manufacturing	The ability to meet our customers demands under our current business model.	
Manufacturing	US government instability. Republicans and Democrats refusing to work together. In	
	addition alt left and right groups trying to grab center stage ahead of the issues that	
	'actually' need to be address	
Manufacturing	Water limitations in California (becoming a National issue that is not really discussed	
	for Business)	
Mining/Construction	corporate mentoring for management as revenues grows	
Mining/Construction	disruption in the business climate due to major political infighting and severe lack of	
	leadership in the President and in Congress	
Mining/Construction	Inability of the current President to do anything and the lack of any Republican	
	congressional leadership	
Mining/Construction	Litigation/liability	
Mining/Construction	NA	
Mining/Construction	The media's constant campaign to impeach our president.	
Other	A general sense that the economy will turn bad.	
Other	Ability to finance growing needs	
Other	Ability to secure competent engineering and fabrication talent and services.	
Other	along with Ee retention, lack of vocational education / training for repair technicians	
Other	Barriers against free global trade	
Other	Cash flow and levelof contributions	
Other	Changing face of higher education	
Other	collection of a bad debt (vendor in bankruptcy)	
Other	Congress not allowing any tax or infrastructure policies to get passed.	
Other	Equity acquisitions of our clients.  The margin requirements on Equity investment lower	
	overall margins for our company.	

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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

Other	government is getting bigger and putting more barriers in place with little	
	accountability on their side.  This will cause small business owners to have more	
	obstacles or barriers to entry	
Other	Increasing competition, efficacy of back office function consolidation	
Other	Increasing minimum wage with minimal probability that revenue rates will increase at	
	the same pace.	
Other	Increasing polarization, angry rhetoric and growing political unrest and violence on	
	both sides.	
Other	Integration of acquisitions	
Other	Minimum wage increases greatly affect our profitability in NY, may have to cut	
	employment there to compensate.	
Other	none	
Other	Office relocation	
Other	Rising wages to be able to attract and retain employees and the clients budget cuts for	
	janitorial services.  We want to make sure our employees can make a fair wage.	
Other	Uncertainty regarding the current Administration.	
Pub Admin	cost of health insurance	
Pub Admin	Funding	
Pub Admin	Geopolitical uncertainty	
Pub Admin	Geopolitics.	
Retail/Wholesale	Border tax, trade war, import duties,	
Retail/Wholesale	China's on going factory closures for environmental and financial viability audits	
Retail/Wholesale	Clinical trial development	
Retail/Wholesale	Finding sufficient employees	
Retail/Wholesale	Hiring & retaining qualified people	
Retail/Wholesale	Impact of weather events....Harvey Irma.	
Retail/Wholesale	Industry consolidation	
Retail/Wholesale	More companies have available products for our products sold.  More competition due	
	to manufacturers opening more companies to sell their products	
Retail/Wholesale	N/A	
Retail/Wholesale	Providing competitive benefits for our employees	
Retail/Wholesale	Rising wages and salaries, data security	
Retail/Wholesale	Stealing.  CA has had major changes for leniency regarding prisoners and is allowing	
	out of jail.  Many of drug problems and they now steal to serve their addiction.  Also,	
	marijuana becomes legal.	
Retail/Wholesale	Talent pool, unrest in the radical left, Government failure to reform healthcare	
Retail/Wholesale	Trying to do everything right, but getting an unforseen lawsuit.	
Services, Consulting	business outlook unless the USA government gets to correct the current ineffectiveness.	
Services, Consulting	Changes that might be made in Free Trade Agreements; NAFTA,CAFTA, AGOA,	
Services, Consulting	Client interest in Risk Management Consulting Services.	
Services, Consulting	Competition from online startups	
Services, Consulting	Cybersecurity	
Services, Consulting	dysfunctional government	
Services, Consulting	Emergence of Artificial Intelligence and the affect it will have on the profession.	
Services, Consulting	European regulations	
Services, Consulting	Facility and data security	
Services, Consulting	government polices	
Services, Consulting	Increased competition from large firms who need more business.	
Services, Consulting	Increasing commodity costs.	
Services, Consulting	Lack of confidence in the US economy and US leadership on the part of allies.	
Services, Consulting	NLRB Joint Employer standard, Franchise legislation	
Services, Consulting	none	
Services, Consulting	Retaining top talent	
Services, Consulting	Terrorism	

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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	The recovery of Houston and its impact on refinery prices for gasoline and heating oil	
	for the winter....	
Services, Consulting	The total uncertainty surrounding any policy out of Washington DC. From health care	
	implications, to tax uncertainty (tariffs etc) to lack of respect for the office of the	
	President.	
Services, Consulting	We have lost two significant client relationships this year -- both due to merger /	
	acquisition of our clients by much larger entities.	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	1.  Credit risks for our larger customers  2. Continued consolidation in the IOT whereby	
	lage companies are buying up smaller firms.	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Changing immigration policies	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Geopolitical crises--we do a lot of business in China	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	H1B Visas	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Lack of growth in Telecom industry	
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	relationships with customer's home countries- our country's leaders doing stupid	
	things	
Transp, Public Util	Changes in the commodity markets, particular the electric market.	
Transp, Public Util	Economic slowdown	
Transp, Public Util	Increase ordering of new vessels destabilizing the shipping industry	
Transp, Public Util	Managing growth in cap ex	
Transp, Public Util	The healthcare issue in America must be addressed and improved by Congress.	
Unspecified Industry	California specific labor laws regulations	
Unspecified Industry	California specific regulatory and labor laws	

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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

Earnings	9.11	23.24	6.52 - 11.70	5	-60	87.28	309

Health care costs	8.58	6.11	7.92 - 9.25	8	-6.69	24.91	322

Revenue	8.28	14.63	6.69 - 9.88	5	-36.10	58.17	324

Technology spending	5.95	11.69	4.60 - 7.30	5	-45.60	62.01	288

Capital spending	5.69	16.34	3.81 - 7.57	3	-34.80	46.29	291

Marketing/advertising spending	4.50	9.49	3.40 - 5.61	1.50	-23.90	36.06	282

Wages/Salaries	4.42	4.75	3.91 - 4.94	3	-12.50	22.42	327

Number of domestic full-time employees	4.11	8.37	3.17 - 5.05	2	-18.10	26.70	303

Research and development spending	2.21	5.26	1.55 - 2.88	0	-12.80	17.59	239

Prices of your products	2.07	3.81	1.63 - 2.52	2	-11.70	16.40	280

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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

(N=371)

	Mean & SD	Positive	Zero	Negative	Total
	  	1	0	-1	  	
	0.92	305	17	5	327
Wages/Salaries	0.33	93.27%	5.20%	1.53%	100.00%

	0.89	292	24	6	322
Health care costs	0.37	90.68%	7.45%	1.86%	100.00%

	0.69	266	16	42	324
Revenue	0.69	82.10%	4.94%	12.96%	100.00%

	0.64	200	71	17	288
Technology spending	0.59	69.44%	24.65%	5.90%	100.00%

	0.53	221	32	56	309
Earnings	0.78	71.52%	10.36%	18.12%	100.00%

	0.53	163	102	15	280
Prices of your products	0.60	58.21%	36.43%	5.36%	100.00%

	0.46	147	117	18	282
Marketing/advertising spending	0.61	52.13%	41.49%	6.38%	100.00%

	0.45	183	73	47	303
Number of domestic full-time employees	0.75	60.40%	24.09%	15.51%	100.00%

	0.42	165	83	43	291
Capital spending	0.74	56.70%	28.52%	14.78%	100.00%

	0.31	85	144	10	239
Research and development spending	0.55	35.56%	60.25%	4.18%	100.00%

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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

Technology spending	5.23	8.56	4.26 - 6.20	5	-45.60	62.01	298

Earnings	4.71	12.23	3.35 - 6.08	5	-60	87.28	309

Revenue	4.30	8.54	3.36 - 5.24	4	-36.10	58.17	317

Capital spending	4.24	12.34	2.89 - 5.60	2	-34.80	46.29	320

Marketing/advertising spending	1.68	5.96	0.94 - 2.41	0	-23.90	36.06	253

Research and development spending	1.30	4.66	0.72 - 1.88	0	-12.80	17.59	247

Prices of your products	1.23	3.60	0.81 - 1.66	1.46	-11.70	16.40	278

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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	8.56	5.96	7.85 - 9.27	8	-6.69	24.91	270

Wages/Salaries	3.93	4.20	3.43 - 4.43	3	-12.50	22.42	267

Number of domestic full-time employees	3.37	7.50	2.45 - 4.30	2	-18.10	26.70	253

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Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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	4.62	9.43	3.28 - 5.95	8.11	-25	20

Revenue	3.01	6.71	2.10 - 3.93	4	-20	20

16 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Q5.  What is the hurdle rate that your company uses to evaluate investment projects?

What is the hurdle rate that your company uses to evaluate investment projects?

	Minimum = 3

	Maximum = 100

	Mean = 13.50

	Median = 12

	Standard Deviation (Unbiased Estimate) = 8.50

	95 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 12.56 - 14.43

Quartiles

	 1 = 9.35
	 2 = 12
	 3 = 15

Valid Cases = 317
Missing Cases = 54
Response Percent =  85.4%

17 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

 Q6a. Does your company pursue all NPV>0 projects?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Yes	35	9.6 %	± 3.0 %
	No	299	81.7 %	± 4.0 %
	Don't Know	32	8.7 %	± 2.9 %
	Total	366	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 5
	Response Percent = 98.7 %

18 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Q6b.  Does a shortage of management time or expertise prevent your firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that you would otherwise pursue?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Yes	144	39.3 %	± 5.0 %
	No	191	52.2 %	± 5.1 %
	Don't Know	31	8.5 %	± 2.8 %
	Total	366	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 5
	Response Percent = 98.7 %

19 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Why doesn't your firm hire more managers to reduce the shortage?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Financial constraints	69	47.9 %	± 8.3 %
	Our top management team does not have enough bandwidth
	   to oversee an expanded organization and expanded
	   managerial workforce	63	43.8 %	± 8.2 %
	It is difficult to hire potential managers that possess the
	   specific hard skills that we need	42	29.2 %	± 7.5 %
	It's difficult to quickly get new managers up to speed and
	   fully productive	37	25.7 %	± 7.2 %
	It is difficult to hire potential managers that possess the
	   intangible skills that we need	28	19.4 %	± 6.5 %
	It's difficult to find new managers who mesh with our work
	   culture	25	17.4 %	± 6.3 %
	Hiring more managers would reduce organizational focus	19	13.2 %	± 5.6 %
	Other	14	9.7 %	± 4.9 %
	Even if more managers were hired, some tasks and
	   responsibilities could not delegated to new managerial hires	13	9.0 %	± 4.7 %
	Total	310

	Number of Cases = 144
	Number of Responses = 310
	Average Number Of Responses Per Case = 2.2
	Number Of Cases With At Least One Response = 144
	Response Percent = 100.0 %

 Asked of those who indicated a shortage of management time or expertise prevented their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue

20 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Why doesn't your firm hire more managers to reduce the shortage? - OTHERS

IN	Why doesn't your firm hire more managers to reduce the shortage? -
Others	
		
Agr, Forestry, Fishing	lack of further vision	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Cyclical nature of projects make fulltime hires difficult to justify	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	Lack of decisiveness at BOD level	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	Too much already on our plate to effectively execute	
		
Manufacturing	Ownership restricts expansion	
		
Manufacturing	We do not have enough projects to cost justify the addition of a manager	
		
Manufacturing	We run a lean organization that focuses on the most substantive	
	opportunities	
		
Other	Scale of many projects is require only fractional FTE staffing	
	components but would require the hiring of full time staff, part of	
	whose costs would have to be covered from other sources.	
		
Other	Some projects create disruption to our customers and they must be	
	sequenced due to compounding costs	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Hiring quality staff for the manager to use to complete production	
		
Services, Consulting	Have not exhausted opportunities in core business - FOCUS	
		
Services, Consulting	We are a 'project' entity.  Hiring and then terminating is very difficult.	
		
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	startup funding	
		
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	We need to stay focused on core objectives	

Asked of those who indicated a shortage of management time or expertise prevented their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue

21 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

What managerial hard skills are most scarce?

IN	What managerial hard skills are most scarce?	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Accounting, other technical skills	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Experienced decision makers that can perform automonously	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	industry experience	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	Ability to understand future costs	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	evaluate risk, manage complex organizations	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	home health care experience	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	resource management	
		
Manufacturing	Engineering and supervision	
		
Manufacturing	General Management breadth	
		
Manufacturing	Industry specific knowledge	
		
Manufacturing	INJECTION MOLDING	
		
Manufacturing	Problem Solving	
		
Manufacturing	pure experience in manufacturing	
		
Manufacturing	Sales, IT savvy, decision-making/judgment	
		
Manufacturing	technical/engineering	
		
Manufacturing	understanding all the variables in the business	
		
Mining/Construction	sub contractor in construction and the legal experience, contract exp	
		
Other	entreprenurial experience	
		
Other	quantitative analysis	
		
Other	sales/engineer type	
		
Pub Admin	common sense	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Flooring knowledge	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Industry specific knowledge	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Productive discipline	

Asked of those who indicated a shortage of management time or expertise prevented their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue

22 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

What managerial hard skills are most scarce?

IN	What managerial hard skills are most scarce?	
		
Services, Consulting	Experience in finances, technical skills	
		
Services, Consulting	Industry expertise	
		
Services, Consulting	leadership	
		
Services, Consulting	technical regulatory knowledge	
		
Services, Consulting	valuation expertise	
		
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Technical	
		
Transp, Public Util	Subject Matter Expertise	

Asked of those who indicated a shortage of management time or expertise prevented their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue

23 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

What managerial intangible skills are most scarce?

IN	What managerial intangible skills are most scarce?	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	coordination, team skills	
		
Energy	judgment	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	Ability to deal with Regulatory changes and Forecasts	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	Communication; Listening	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	leadership & strategic thinking	
		
Manufacturing	Building a Team	
		
Manufacturing	communication, depth perception	
		
Manufacturing	discernment	
		
Manufacturing	Iron fist in velvet glove	
		
Manufacturing	WORK ETHIC	
		
Mining/Construction	soft skills, people skills	
		
Other	entrepreneurial experience	
		
Other	Leadership and drive for results	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Personal drive and time commitment	
		
Services, Consulting	communication skills	
		
Services, Consulting	Delegation	
		
Services, Consulting	integration, critical thinking	
		
Services, Consulting	Strategic thinking and thought leadership	
		
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Passion, Inquisitiveness	
		
Transp, Public Util	creative problem solving...consensus building	

Asked of those who indicated a shortage of management time or expertise prevented their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue

24 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

What tasks and responsibilities cannot be delegated to new managers?

IN	What tasks and responsibilities cannot be delegated to new managers?	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Decisions	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	Contract negotiation; Hiring	
		
Manufacturing	big new projects, i.e. acquisitions	
		
Other	Contracts/Financial Committments	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Industry specific	
		
Services, Consulting	industry knowledge	
		
Services, Consulting	Many	
		
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Experienced judgment and decision making	
		
Transp, Public Util	MOST ALL	

Asked of those who indicated a shortage of management time or expertise prevented their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue

25 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

 Q6c. Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a higher expected return because of a shortage of management time or expertise? ALL Respondents

	Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a
	higher expected return (e.g., set a higher hurdle rate)
	because of a shortage of management time or
	expertise?	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Yes	73	20.0 %	± 4.1 %
	No	272	74.5 %	± 4.5 %
	Don't Know	20	5.5 %	± 2.3 %
	Total	365	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 6
	Response Percent = 98.4 %

 

26 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

 Q6c. Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a higher expected return because of a shortage of management time or expertise?  Shows responses of those who indicated a shortage of management time or expertise prevent their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that you would otherwise pursue?

	Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a
	higher expected return (e.g., set a higher hurdle rate)
	because of a shortage of management time or
	expertise?	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Yes	46	32.2 %	± 7.7 %
	No	90	62.9 %	± 8.0 %
	Don't Know	7	4.9 %	± 3.6 %
	Total	143	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 1
	Response Percent = 99.3 %

 

27 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

 Q6d.  Does a shortage of non-management labor prevent your firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that you would otherwise pursue?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Yes	88	23.9 %	± 4.4 %
	No	256	69.6 %	± 4.7 %
	Don't Know	24	6.5 %	± 2.5 %
	Total	368	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 3
	Response Percent = 99.2 %

28 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

 Q6b_d.  Shows how many pass up NPV>0 due to a managerial or non-managerial labor shortage  (Excludes Don't Know's)

	Q6b_d	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Yes, pass up NPV>0	186	55.0 %	± 5.1 %
	No	152	45.0 %	± 5.0 %
	Total	338	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 33
	Response Percent = 91.1 %

29 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Why doesn't your firm hire more labor to reduce the shortage?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	It is difficult to find potential hires that possess the specific
	   skills we need	46	52.3 %	± 10.7 %
	It is difficult to find potential hires that possess intangibles
	   such as always being reliable and working a full day	25	28.4 %	± 9.6 %
	It's difficult to quickly get new employees up to speed and
	   fully productive	24	27.3 %	± 9.5 %
	We don't know how long we'll need the expanded workforce,
	   and it's costly to cut back later	24	27.3 %	± 9.5 %
	Current workers don't want to expand their hours	16	18.2 %	± 8.2 %
	Applicants don't pass background and related checks	13	14.8 %	± 7.6 %
	Benefits are too expensive	13	14.8 %	± 7.6 %
	Training new workers is too expensive or time-consuming	13	14.8 %	± 7.6 %
	Potential employees are hesitant to leave their current jobs
	   (and give up benefits/tenure in their current organization)	10	11.4 %	± 6.8 %
	Potential employees don't want to relocate (move homes) to
	   work here	8	9.1 %	± 6.1 %
	Other	6	6.8 %	± 5.4 %
	Potential employees are hesitant to work here because they
	   are worried about job security	3	3.4 %	± 3.9 %
	Potential employees don't know about our job opportunities	2	2.3 %	± 3.2 %
	Total	203

	Number of Cases = 88
	Number of Responses = 203
	Average Number Of Responses Per Case = 2.3
	Number Of Cases With At Least One Response = 86
	Response Percent = 97.7 %

 Ask of respondents who indicated a shortage of non-management labor prevent their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue?

30 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Why doesn't your firm hire more labor to reduce the shortage?  - OTHER

IN	Why doesn't your firm hire more labor to reduce the shortage?  - OTHER	
		
Manufacturing	Lack of certainty of project payback.	
		
Other	Financial constraints	
		
Other	High Costs	
		
Other	Same concern as described about concerning factiional FTEs.	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Ca minimum wage	
		
Transp, Public Util	There is a shortage of pilots and they don't stay in one place	

Ask of respondents who indicated a shortage of non-management labor prevent their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue?

31 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Which skills are most scarce among potential hires?

IN	Which skills are most scarce among potential hires?	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Ability to withstand failure and endure through learning process	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	Basic skill set and a willingness to learn and work	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	insurance licensing	
		
Communication/Media	Research and communcations	
		
Energy	Commercial Driver's License	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	healthcare skills	
		
Manufacturing	basic - show up on time, absenteeism	
		
Manufacturing	Coherent writing skills. Basic knowledge of physics and accounting.	
		
Manufacturing	ELECTRICAL / MECHANICAL	
		
Manufacturing	engineering	
		
Manufacturing	machine and equipment operators	
		
Manufacturing	Math & machining/(grinding) skills.	
		
Mining/Construction	Constrcution Project Management/Supervision	
		
Mining/Construction	Construction labor pool	
		
Mining/Construction	good work ethic, and the technical skills in our trade	
		
Mining/Construction	Problem solving and common sense	
		
Mining/Construction	Qualified Electricians, including those with supervisory skills	
		
Other	database management	
		
Other	Janitorial	
		
Other	operators of heavy equipment amd paving employees	
		
Other	personal care skills	
		
Other	truck / engine service technicians	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Basic math, basic work ethics	
		
Retail/Wholesale	commercial drivers license	

Ask of respondents who indicated a shortage of non-management labor prevent their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue?

32 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Which skills are most scarce among potential hires?

IN	Which skills are most scarce among potential hires?	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Customer service, selling	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Irrigation experience	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Sales skills and self motivation	
		
Services, Consulting	Deep understanding of the industry we serve and the ability to	
	comfortably communicate at the senior executive level.	
		
Services, Consulting	engineering	
		
Services, Consulting	Experience	
		
Services, Consulting	Hvac tech, plumbing	
		
Services, Consulting	Industry expertise	
		
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Developers, coders, QA, Systems	
		
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	Electrical and software engineering.	
		
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	IT Tech and Engineering	
		
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	SW developer skills	
		
Tech [Soft/Hard/Bio]	technology	
		
Transp, Public Util	specific training and hours	
		
Transp, Public Util	Type ratings for the planes we have	

Ask of respondents who indicated a shortage of non-management labor prevent their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue?

33 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

 Q6e.  Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a higher expected return because of a shortage of non-management labor?  ALL RESPONDENTS

	Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a
	higher expected return (e.g., set a higher hurdle rate)
	because of a shortage of non-management labor?	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Yes	34	9.2 %	± 3.0 %
	No	310	83.8 %	± 3.8 %
	Don't Know	26	7.0 %	± 2.6 %
	Total	370	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 1
	Response Percent = 99.7 %

 

34 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

 Q6e.  Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a higher expected return because of a shortage of non-management labor?  Shows responses of those who indicated a shortage of non-management labor prevent their firm from pursuing some NPV>0 projects that they would otherwise pursue?

	Does your firm require that proposed projects earn a
	higher expected return (e.g., set a higher hurdle rate)
	because of a shortage of non-management labor?	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Yes	20	22.7 %	± 8.9 %
	No	60	68.2 %	± 9.9 %
	Don't Know	8	9.1 %	± 6.1 %
	Total	88	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 0
	Response Percent = 100.0 %

 

35 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

 Q7.  Compared to 3 years ago, has the number of NPV>0 projects that your firm has 'back-logged' changed?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	We have more back-logged projects	73	20.2 %	± 4.1 %
	The number of back-logged projects is about the same	163	45.0 %	± 5.1 %
	We have fewer back-logged projects	67	18.5 %	± 3.9 %
	Don't Know	59	16.3 %	± 3.7 %
	Total	362	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 9
	Response Percent = 97.6 %

36 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

 Q8a.  Does your company have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified technology employees?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Yes, causing substantial adverse impacts to the organization	20	5.4 %	± 2.3 %
	Yes, causing moderate adverse impacts to the organization	127	34.4 %	± 4.9 %
	Yes, but causing little or no adverse impacts to the
	   organization	90	24.4 %	± 4.4 %
	No, we have no difficulties	132	35.8 %	± 4.9 %
	Total	369	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 2
	Response Percent = 99.5 %

37 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Q8b.  Which areas/aspects of your organization are currently adversely impacted by a technology talent shortage? ALL RESPONDENTS

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Operations support	128	34.5 %	± 4.9 %
	Innovation/product development support	112	30.2 %	± 4.7 %
	IT core functions effectiveness	97	26.1 %	± 4.5 %
	Analysis of big data	89	24.0 %	± 4.4 %
	Sales and marketing support	72	19.4 %	± 4.0 %
	Finance function effectiveness	71	19.1 %	± 4.0 %
	Customer service levels	70	18.9 %	± 4.0 %
	Strategic decision support	63	17.0 %	± 3.8 %
	Competitive intelligence	62	16.7 %	± 3.8 %
	Other	23	6.2 %	± 2.5 %
	Total	787

	Number of Cases = 371
	Number of Responses = 787
	Average Number Of Responses Per Case = 2.1
	Number Of Cases With At Least One Response = 308
	Response Percent = 83.0 %

38 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Q8b.  Which areas/aspects of your organization are currently adversely impacted by a technology talent shortage?  Shows just responses if company has difficulty attracting and retaining qualified technology employees

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Operations support	112	46.9 %	± 6.4 %
	Innovation/product development support	99	41.4 %	± 6.3 %
	IT core functions effectiveness	84	35.1 %	± 6.1 %
	Analysis of big data	72	30.1 %	± 5.9 %
	Customer service levels	62	25.9 %	± 5.6 %
	Finance function effectiveness	57	23.8 %	± 5.4 %
	Sales and marketing support	54	22.6 %	± 5.3 %
	Competitive intelligence	53	22.2 %	± 5.3 %
	Strategic decision support	51	21.3 %	± 5.2 %
	Other	7	2.9 %	± 2.2 %
	Total	651

	Number of Cases = 239
	Number of Responses = 651
	Average Number Of Responses Per Case = 2.7
	Number Of Cases With At Least One Response = 229
	Response Percent = 95.8 %

39 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Which areas/aspects of your organization are currently adversely impacted by a technology talent shortage? - OTHERS

IN	Which areas/aspects of your organization are currently adversely
impacted by a technology talent shortage? - OTHERS	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	None	
		
Bank/Fin/Insur/Real Est	none	
		
Communication/Media	Data security & Privacy	
		
Healthcare/Pharm	not needed currently	
		
Manufacturing	N/A	
		
Manufacturing	none	
		
Manufacturing	none	
		
Manufacturing	none	
		
Manufacturing	Supply Chain support	
		
Mining/Construction	data security	
		
Mining/Construction	None	
		
Other	None, plethora of IT talent available	
		
Other	Operations	
		
Other	We don't have technology talent	
		
Retail/Wholesale	Warehousing and factory/production	
		
Services, Consulting	Information Security	
		
Services, Consulting	None	
		
Services, Consulting	None	
		
Services, Consulting	None	
		
Services, Consulting	none	
		
Services, Consulting	none	
		
Services, Consulting	security	
		
Transp, Public Util	N/A	

40 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

j. Weighted Average Cost of Capital

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

What is your company's overall weighted average
cost of capital (WACC) for 2017?	9.20	4.42	8.68 - 9.72	9	3	33	276

41 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

k. Workforce

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

What percentage of your workforce has a college
degree?	50.10	33.14	46.64 - 53.56	50	0	100	353

What percentage of your workforce is unionized?	5.72	17.85	3.87 - 7.57	0	0	100	358

How many years has the average employee
worked at your firm?	8.27	5.69	7.67 - 8.86	7	0.80	50	351

42 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

On August 21, 2017 the annual yield on 10-yr treasury bonds was 2.18%. Please complete the following:  (Winsorized)

	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:	1.33	4.90	0.80 - 1.86	2	-11.50	14.10	330

Over the next 10 years, I expect the average annual
S&P 500 return will be: Expected return:	6.50	3.06	6.18 - 6.83	6	0	17.60	343

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:	10.29	5.15	9.74 - 10.84	10	2	28.21	332

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:	-1.65	7.57	-2.47 - -0.83	0.15	-18	14.18	327

Over the next year, I expect the average annual S&P
500 return will be: Expected return:	5.47	3.68	5.08 - 5.86	5	-3.17	14.19	341

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:	10.05	4.45	9.57 - 10.53	10	1.20	19.47	328

43 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Return on assets (ROA=operating earnings/assets)  (Winsorized)

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

% Approximate ROA in 2016	9.55	11.82	8.18 - 10.92	7	-19.60	42.40	285

% Expected ROA in 2017	10.14	11.53	8.80 - 11.48	7.55	-19.40	43.60	285

44 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Manufacturing capacity utilized  (Winsorized)

	Mean	SD	95% CI	Median	Minimum	Maximum	Total

% of capacity utilized in first half of 2017	70.74	13.33	67.70 - 73.78	75	42.21	96.54	74

% of capacity utilization planned for the second
half of 2017	73.89	15.28	70.40 - 77.37	75	41.92	100	74

45 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Industry

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Manufacturing	78	21.1 %	± 4.2 %
	Services, Consulting	55	14.9 %	± 3.6 %
	Banking/Finance/Insurance/Real Estate	41	11.1 %	± 3.2 %
	Retail/Wholesale	37	10.0 %	± 3.1 %
	Technology [Software/Hardware/Biotech]	30	8.1 %	± 2.8 %
	Healthcare/Pharmaceutical	30	8.1 %	± 2.8 %
	Transportation & Public Utilities	15	4.1 %	± 2.0 %
	Mining/Construction	15	4.1 %	± 2.0 %
	Energy	8	2.2 %	± 1.5 %
	Public Administration	6	1.6 %	± 1.3 %
	Communication/Media	6	1.6 %	± 1.3 %
	Agriculture, Forestry, & Fishing	5	1.4 %	± 1.2 %
	Other Industry	43	11.7 %	± 3.3 %
	Total	369	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 2
	Response Percent = 99.5 %

46 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Industry (Other specified)

Accounting	
Advertising Agency	
Aerospace	
Aerospace/Defense	
Bulk liquid storage	
Chemicals	
Construction	
Construction	
Construction	
Consumer goods	
Design Build Commercial Construction	
Diversified	
Education	
education	
Entertainment	
Higher Education	
holding company across various fields	
Hospitality	
hospitality	
Hotel & hotel management	
Human Services	
Janitorial	
LOGISTICS	
Media/Entertainment	
NFP Higher Education	
Non Profit	
non-profit trade association	
Nonprofit	
Nonprofit - charity	
nonprofit	
nonprofit education	
Not For Profit	
Not for Profit - Religious	
Not for profit	
Not-for-Profit	
online marketplace	
private preschool and afterschool care	
Professional Sales	
Public Education	
Telecommunications	
Trade association for manufacturers	
Truck Dealership	

47 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Sales Revenue

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Less than $25 million	147	40.2 %	± 5.0 %
	$25-99 million	100	27.3 %	± 4.5 %
	$100-499 million	55	15.0 %	± 3.6 %
	$500-999 million	15	4.1 %	± 2.0 %
	$1-4.9 billion	26	7.1 %	± 2.6 %
	$5-9.9 billion	8	2.2 %	± 1.5 %
	More than $10 billion	15	4.1 %	± 2.0 %
	Total	366	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 5
	Response Percent = 98.7 %

48 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Statistics - Sales Revenue (Millions)

	Minimum = 25

	Maximum = 11000

	Mean = 930.67

	Median = 62

	Variance (Unbiased Estimate) = 6016039.76

	Standard Deviation (Unbiased Estimate) = 2452.76

	Standard Error Of The Mean  = 128.21

	95 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 679.38 - 1181.96

	99 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 600.53 - 1260.80

	Skewness = 3.28

	Kolmogorov-Smirnov Statistic For Normality = 8.18

Quartiles

	 1 = 25
	 2 = 62
	 3 = 300

Valid Cases = 366
Missing Cases = 5
Response Percent =  98.7%

49 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Number of Employees

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Fewer than 100	118	38.8 %	± 4.8 %
	100-499	88	28.9 %	± 4.4 %
	500-999	24	7.9 %	± 2.5 %
	1,000-2,499	29	9.5 %	± 2.7 %
	2,500-4,999	11	3.6 %	± 1.7 %
	5,000-9,999	13	4.3 %	± 1.9 %
	Over 10,000	21	6.9 %	± 2.4 %
	Total	304	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 67
	Response Percent = 81.9 %

50 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Statistics - Number of Employees

	Minimum = 100

	Maximum = 12000

	Mean = 1637.17

	Median = 300

	Variance (Unbiased Estimate) = 10582607.15

	Standard Deviation (Unbiased Estimate) = 3253.09

	Standard Error Of The Mean  = 186.58

	95 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 1271.48 - 2002.86

	99 Percent Confidence Interval Around The Mean = 1156.73 - 2117.61

	Skewness = 2.44

	Kolmogorov-Smirnov Statistic For Normality = 6.36

Quartiles

	 1 = 100
	 2 = 300
	 3 = 750

Valid Cases = 304
Missing Cases = 67
Response Percent =  81.9%

51 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Where are you personally located?

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Midwest U.S.	107	29.3 %	± 4.6 %
	South Central U.S.	68	18.6 %	± 4.0 %
	Northeast U.S.	65	17.8 %	± 3.9 %
	South Atlantic U.S.	51	14.0 %	± 3.5 %
	Pacific US	47	12.9 %	± 3.4 %
	Mountain U.S.	26	7.1 %	± 2.6 %
	Other	1	0.3 %	± 0.5 %
	Total	365	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 6
	Response Percent = 98.4 %

52 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Where are you personally located? - Other specified

Southwest UIS	

53 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Ownership

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Private	242	72.7 %	± 4.9 %
	Public, NYSE	40	12.0 %	± 3.2 %
	Nonprofit	30	9.0 %	± 2.8 %
	Public, Nasdaq/AMEX	14	4.2 %	± 2.0 %
	Govern-ment	7	2.1 %	± 1.4 %
	Total	333	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 38
	Response Percent = 89.8 %

54 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Foreign Sales

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	0%	172	47.4 %	± 5.1 %
	1-24%	135	37.2 %	± 4.9 %
	25-50%	43	11.8 %	± 3.3 %
	More than 50%	13	3.6 %	± 1.9 %
	Total	363	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 8
	Response Percent = 97.8 %

55 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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

	 	Number	Percent	95% CI
	Europe	65	37.8 %	± 6.8 %
	Canada	51	29.7 %	± 6.3 %
	Asia/Pacific Basin	33	19.2 %	± 5.4 %
	Latin America	20	11.6 %	± 4.4 %
	Africa	3	1.7 %	± 1.8 %
	Total	172	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 19
	Response Percent = 90.1 %

56 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

What is your company's credit rating? 

	 	Number	Percent	Cumulative
	AAA	42	16.0 %	16.0 %
	AA+	27	10.3 %	26.3 %
	AA	33	12.6 %	38.9 %
	AA-	11	4.2 %	43.1 %
	A+	22	8.4 %	51.5 %
	A	21	8.0 %	59.5 %
	A-	20	7.6 %	67.2 %
	BBB+	17	6.5 %	73.7 %
	BBB	15	5.7 %	79.4 %
	BBB-	4	1.5 %	80.9 %
	BB+	7	2.7 %	83.6 %
	BB	12	4.6 %	88.2 %
	BB-	6	2.3 %	90.5 %
	B+	7	2.7 %	93.1 %
	B	6	2.3 %	95.4 %
	B-	4	1.5 %	96.9 %
	CCC	3	1.1 %	98.1 %
	CC	0	0.0 %	98.1 %
	D	5	1.9 %	100.0 %
	Total	262	100.0 %	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 0
	Response Percent = 100.0 %

57 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

What is your company's credit rating? 

N=262		Total		Credit Rating	
		 		Actual	Estimate	
		 		A	B	
						
Total		262		90	172	
		100.0%		34.4%	65.6%	
						
AAA		42		20	22	
		16.0%		22.2%	12.8%	
				b	a	
						
AA+		27		11	16	
		10.3%		12.2%	9.3%	
						
AA		33		10	23	
		12.6%		11.1%	13.4%	
						
AA-		11		3	8	
		4.2%		3.3%	4.7%	
						
A+		22		6	16	
		8.4%		6.7%	9.3%	
						
A		21		6	15	
		8.0%		6.7%	8.7%	
						
A-		20		6	14	
		7.6%		6.7%	8.1%	
						
BBB+		17		5	12	
		6.5%		5.6%	7.0%	
						
BBB		15		5	10	
		5.7%		5.6%	5.8%	
						
BBB-		4		3	1	
		1.5%		3.3%	0.6%	
						
BB+		7		2	5	
		2.7%		2.2%	2.9%	
						
BB		12		7	5	
		4.6%		7.8%	2.9%	
						
BB-		6		1	5	
		2.3%		1.1%	2.9%	
						
B+		7		3	4	
		2.7%		3.3%	2.3%	

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

58 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

What is your company's credit rating? 

N=262		Total		Credit Rating	
		 		Actual	Estimate	
		 		A	B	
						
B		6		0	6	
		2.3%		0.0%	3.5%	
						
B-		4		1	3	
		1.5%		1.1%	1.7%	
						
CCC		3		1	2	
		1.1%		1.1%	1.2%	
						
CC		0		0	0	
		0.0%		0.0%	0.0%	
						
D		5		0	5	
		1.9%		0.0%	2.9%	

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

59 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

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

	 	Number	Percent
	CFO	188	51.6 %
	Controller	49	13.5 %
	CEO	42	11.5 %
	Other	38	10.4 %
	VP of Finance	35	9.6 %
	Treasurer	12	3.3 %
	Total	364	100.0 %

	Missing Cases = 7
	Response Percent = 98.1 %

60 

Duke CFO magazine Global Business Outlook survey - U.S. - Third Quarter, 2017

Other job title:

Business Development	
SVP	
SVP	
Senior Accountant	
Founder	
President	
Managing Partner	
Chief of Operations	
Partner	
Managing Director	
Partner	
owner	
President	
COO/President	
Strategic Advisor	
Senior Investment Manager	
Associate VP/Finance	
former CFO	
founding partner	
Senior Managing Director Asset management Practice	
General Manager	
mng dir	
COO	
President	
Program Director	
CFO/Controller	
CAO	
Chief Credit Officer	
Consultant	
co-ceo	
VP/CRO	
Managing Director	
CMO	
trustee	
SVP	
Deputy CEO