While spring may still be months away, the thoughts of corporate finance chiefs are already filled with visions of corporate matrimony. More than a quarter (27%) of CFOs surveyed recently by Robert Half Management Resources expect mergers and acquisitions to heat up in the next 12 months; at larger companies with 1,000-plus employees, 32.9% expect a surge.

Over the next two to three years, 48% of those surveyed expected to see a significant uptick. Robert Half conducted the survey of 1,400 CFOs of U.S. companies in August and again in late October 2006.

Not surprisingly, the primary drivers of this anticipated M&A activity are the record corporate cash coffers built up in the current business expansion cycle and an easy credit market, where interest rates have remained stubbornly low in the face of the Federal Reserve's efforts to raise them. The sectors where CFOs expect the most activity: transportation (44%), finance (42%) and manufacturing (38%).