CFOs Concerned About Inflation, Cost Pressures

Financial decision-makers' outlooks worsened this quarter amid heightened concern over rising costs and prices, according to the CFO Survey, a collaboration of Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond and Atlanta. The survey, which included 530 respondents, was fielded from May 18 to June 5, 2026.

Since the last survey, CFOs added 1.1 percentage points to their firm's unit cost and price growth projections for 2026. Financial executives also lowered their expectations for real GDP growth over the next four quarters to 1.8 percent, from 2.1 percent in the prior survey.

In a set of special questions, CFOs discussed the impact of higher oil prices on their firm. Roughly two-thirds indicated that elevated energy prices have driven their firm's unit costs higher - but only about one-third of firms have raised the prices they charge. This indicates that many companies have not yet passed through higher energy prices to customers.

The survey also asked CFOs how their firms would react under a scenario in which oil prices averaged $120/barrel through the end of the year. Under this scenario, companies would pass through substantially more to their customers: Average expectations for unit cost and price growth would grow sharply, increasing to 7.3 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively.

"One striking feature of the current situation is that while firms that are impacted by higher oil prices have only passed through a portion of the increased costs in the form of higher prices, should oil prices rise further and remain elevated, that pass-through increases to roughly 90 percent. This suggests that in an environment of sustained higher cost pressures, firms may be unwilling or unable to absorb any more costs," said Atlanta Fed economist Brent Meyer.

The CFO Survey is issued by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond and Atlanta. The latest survey, as well as historical data, can be found at https://www.cfosurvey.org. Sign up to receive email notifications when new results are posted.

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