Business View Magazine - September 2015

10 Business View - September 2015 Business View - September 2015 11 thusiasm for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) may be waning, with only 28 percent of finance chiefs planning to pursue M&A opportunities in the com- ing year (a 9 percent drop since fall 2014), CFOs of companies in certain industries had varied opinions: • For example, 37 percent of CFOs in the health care industry plan to pursue M&A in the coming year (9 percent higher than the national average) • Fifty-four percent of finance chiefs in the technol- ogy industry expect their industry’s financial pros- pects to improve, 10 percent higher than national average • Energy-industry CFOs are also surprisingly opti- mistic given the current downturn in oil and natural gas prices, with nearly 40 percent expecting their industry’s financial prospects to improve in the coming year and only 7 percent expecting them to worsen • In the manufacturing sector, 40 percent of manu- facturing CFOs say uncertainty in global markets could impact their growth, 15 percent higher than the national average Meanwhile, good news for finance professionals: CFOs are aggressively looking to develop and hire new talent. The vast majority (70 percent) of CFOs say finding and retaining the right talent is a critical need for supporting growth. Forty percent expect their business’s new hiring to increase in the next six months; 52 percent expect hiring to remain the same. A majority of CFOs (67 percent) plan to in- crease salaries in the coming year, holding steady since 2014.