2012 AFP Business Outlook Survey

Financial professionals expect the U.S. economy will continue its pace of modest growth and job creation in 2012.  Specifically, financial professionals anticipate the economy will grow 1.9 percent and create 1.1 million jobs in 2012. At the same time, financial professionals see a number of factors limiting economic growth and job creation including uneven consumer demand and business investment, and mounting uncertainty emanating from the eurozone crisis.

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The 2012 AFP Business Outlook Survey also asked financial professionals to look closer at the issues being debated in Washington, D.C. An overwhelming majority of survey respondents support efforts to reduce the federal budget deficit and believe that a reduction in government expenditures should play an important role in any deficit solution.  But more than half of them believe that tax increases also should be a part of any agreement to resolve this crucial issue. In addition, more than half of financial professionals do not support a third round of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve, currently proposed by some members of the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) as well as by other policymakers.

In its eighth year, the AFP Business Outlook Survey asks financial professionals about their (and their organizations’) view of the economy and the impact business conditions may have on business decision making. The 2012 AFP Business Outlook Survey, underwritten by SunTrust, was conducted November 29 - December 7, 2011 and generated 741 responses. 

Financial professionals are in a unique position. Not only must they observe business conditions that affect their organizations and make assumptions on how those conditions will change in both the short and immediate term, but they must also make critical business decisions—including those concerning corporate borrowing and business investment—based on those observations and assumptions. Because financial professionals work in a wide range of industries in public and private organizations of varying sizes, their views are excellent indicators of future business conditions.