Chicago, IL (PRWEB) March 18, 2011–Prime Advantage, the leading buying consortium for midsized industrial manufacturers, announced the findings of its third annual Group CFO Survey, revealing the top financial concerns of its member companies' CFOs in 2011. CFOs are seeing solid signs of the economic recovery in U.S. manufacturing and planning more hiring and capital expenditures this year. Hiring plans may be limited, however, by a shortage of skilled machine operators and welders and an increase in health insurance costs.

Summary of Findings

• Seventy-four percent of CFOs feel more optimistic about the economy (up from 67 percent in 2010)
• Sixty-seven percent are more optimistic about their companies' financial prospects in 2011 (up from 64 percent in 2010)
• Nearly all respondents are planning significant capital expenditures in 2011, with 88 percent indicating they will buy manufacturing equipment and 56 percent planning to buy computer hardware.
• Seventy-four percent said the ability to use business investment tax credits is accelerating plans to invest in manufacturing equipment this year
• Eighty-six percent said their customers are at least somewhat affected by the cost or availability of credit, though forty-five percent said borrowing conditions have improved since 2010
• Health insurance premiums increased for all respondents in 2010, with 48 percent experiencing an increase in costs of 11 percent or more
• Sixty-seven percent said ensuring a quick response to changing economic environments was their top priority (a jump from 52 percent in 2010).
• Sixty four percent believe that developing new products and services in response to changing consumption patterns is a top priority (compared to 55 percent in 2010). Cutting operational costs, a top priority in 2010, fell to third place, with 56 percent in agreement.

Optimism about U.S. Economy and Capital Spending
Overall, CFOs are even more optimistic about the manufacturing economy than last year, with 72 percent expecting growth in the U.S. manufacturing economy (up from 64 percent in 2010). This finding is much more positive than that of Bank of America's CFO Outlook 2011 survey, which saw only 45 percent of manufacturing CFOs predicting sector expansion.

The large majority of Prime Advantage CFOs (67 percent) are more optimistic about the financial prospects for their own companies this year (up from 64 percent in 2010) and are more positive than respondents in the recent Duke University/CFO magazine survey (56 percent more optimistic).