Keeping their companies in the black and managing expenses are the two issues most likely to keep financial executives up at night, according to a survey by Robert Half Management Resources.
When asked about their companies' top business priority for the coming year, roughly a third of 1,400 CFOs surveyed (34 percent) cited growing revenue or sales, followed by managing expenses, cited by 22 percent. Other concerns included recruiting and retaining qualified staff (17 percent); gaining competitive market share (11 percent); and strengthening internal controls and streamlining business processes, cited by 6 percent each.
Nearly half of those surveyed (45 percent) expect employee health care plans to account for their biggest cost increase in the next 12 months, followed by technology spending (20 percent), employee recruitment and training (11 percent), and other employee benefits (6 percent).
Three percent of CFOs said that telecommunications would account for the biggest cost increase, while 4 percent were unsure and 8 percent cited "other" expenses, according to RHMR.
