In November 2012, CFO Research conducted a survey of senior finance executives at U.S. companies to examine their current goals, and how they plan to achieve these goals, for planning, budgeting, and forecasting.
They gathered 236 detailed survey responses from companies in a broad range of company segments. Key findings include: companies are putting increasing emphasis on the hunt for growth opportunities and shifting away from the intense focus on cost control that carried them through the economic crisis; there is a slight shift towards conservatism and away from optimism in recent years; endorsement of business modelling and scenario analysis; and, process improvement is considered as one of the most valuable changes a company can make as part of its efforts to plan, budget, and forecast more effectively—one that merits substantial management attention.
