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Here's some good news about the economy: The money people at companies in the Southeast U.S. feel relatively optimistic.
That's according to a new survey from global audit and tax firm Grant Thornton LLP. In fact, 61% of chief financial officers and senior comptrollers in the Southeast say the national economy will improve during the next six months, the survey reports. That's up from 31% when the survey was last done in November.
The region's financial executives are even more optimistic than their counterparts nationwide, where only 48% of respondents say the U.S. economy will improve during the next six months, the survey states.
The regional optimism carries to the job market, where 38% of the Southeast U.S. respondents say their firms plan to hire more employees in the remainder of 2011, up slightly from 36% last year. Finally, 67% of the CFOs and financial executives who responded to the survey say they are optimistic about their own company's financial prospects, which is up from 48% last year.
Of course, this being a survey of financial folks, there is a “yeah, but.” In this case, it's inflation fears. For example, 54% of the respondents say their company will raise prices for its goods and products, up from 31% six months ago and 33% a year ago.
Moreover, a little less than half of the respondents, 47%, say they are worried about the price of energy. That's a dramatic rise from the 17% that felt that way six months ago. Similarly, 43% of the respondents say they are concerned about the price of raw materials such as food and metals. That's up from 27% since November.
Grant Thornton conducted the survey from March 22 through April 6. There were 318 respondents.
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