What is the CEO Confidence Survey?

The CEO Confidence Survey is a monthly survey of 100 executives from across the United States. The Conference Council, a global business membership and research association working in the public interest, orchestrates the survey. It conducts, analyzes and makes the report of the survey. The objective is to measure the economic expectations of CEOs, their concerns about their businesses, and their views on economic trends. The CEO Confidence Survey competes with the CEO confidence index.

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How is the CEO Confidence Survey Used?

Based on a survey of about 100 managers in various industries, this quarterly report describes in detail the positions and expectations of managers concerning the overall economy and their own industries. It is electronically distributed in PDF format. In 2013, the survey was extended to include executives from Fortune 1,000 companies and members of the Conference Board. The Conference Council asks management three questions. There are five possible answers to the question. The score for each question is determined by assigning the answers to the following values and calculating the average:

• much better - 100;
• moderately better - 75;
• the same - 50;
• slightly worse - 25;
• significantly worse - 0.

The results are then averaged for questions 1, 2 and 3. The survey asks managers to consider: current economic conditions compared to 6 months ago and the expectations for 6 months in the future. The Survey is usually an important indicator of economic activity, for example, changes in GDP growth used by investors and analysts in their macroeconomic analysis.

Related Topics

• Economic Conditions
• Leading Economic Indicators
• KOF Economic Barometer
• CEO Confidence Survey
• NAB Business Confidence Index