On December 12 the December Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey (pdf) was released.  It contains a variety of statistics regarding how CFOs view business and economic conditions.

In this CFO Survey, I found the following to be the most notable excerpt:

The fiscal cliff is among the greatest concerns affecting the corporate sector, trailing only weak consumer demand among external concerns. Worries about governmental policies, intense price pressure and the federal budget deficit round out top external concerns of CFOs.

The difficulty in maintaining profit margins is the top concern of internal U.S. firms. Other worries include the cost of health care, attracting and retaining skilled workers, and employee morale.

“These concerns have led to a continued erosion of optimism about the U.S. economy,” said Kate O’Sullivan, editorial director at CFO Magazine. ”Optimism has fallen to 51 out of 100, down from 60 last spring, and even slightly below Europe. This is worrisome because historically reduced optimism foretells slower economic activity over the next year.”

The CFO survey contains the Optimism Index chart, showing U.S. Optimism (with regard to the economy) at 51, as seen below:

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Please Note – The above is abstracted from the EconomicGreenfield.com (published by StratX, LLC) post of December 27, 2012, titled “December 2012 Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey – Notable Excerpts”

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StratX, LLC offers the above commentary for informational purposes only, and does not necessarily agree with the views expressed by these outside parties.

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StratX, LLC is a management consulting firm and strategic advisory that focuses on the analysis of current and future weak(ening) economic conditions, and offers businesses and other entities advice, strategies, and actionable methods on how to optimally adapt to such challenging, complex conditions.