U.S. Finance Executives Concerned About Healthcare Reform but Still Optimistic About the Economy

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 5, 2013) - Healthcare reform has made its way to the top of current economic concerns among America's chief financial officers, according to the most recent Quarterly Volatility & Variables Poll conducted the Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network in association with Adaptive Planning. However, finance executives remain optimistic about the overall economy.

With new healthcare laws going into effect as part of the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare"), 56 percent of the 304 finance professionals surveyed in the quarterly poll released today expressed concern over healthcare reform, with deficit reduction (51 percent) and unemployment (43 percent) rounding out the top three concerns. Despite these concerns, America's corporate financial executives remain positive about the overall condition of the economy. Eighty-two percent expect the economy to stay the same or improve over the next six months, and 81 percent predict the overall economy will perform the same, somewhat better, or much better throughout 2013 than in 2012.

Some 65 percent of America's CFOs agree that a meaningful and sustained improvement in job growth won't take place until at least 2014. They are split, however, on how long it will take after the New Year -- 36 percent say it won't happen until the second half of 2014 or beyond, while 29 percent predict it will happen during the first half of 2014. Another 19 percent say sustained job growth is already underway.

"Despite strong public markets and future indicators, financial executives remain cautious on job growth and concerned about how the new healthcare laws will affect the overall economy," said Dave Murray, Executive Vice President of the BPI Network, a global organization of business change agents, transformation leaders and innovators based in Silicon Valley.

One thing America's CFOs do agree on is that the level of economic uncertainty is decreasing. In the September 2012 poll, some 59 percent described the uncertainty facing their company as high or very high, versus 32 percent in today's poll.

"Even as the economy improves and the outlook becomes more stable and positive, financial professionals continue to adopt more frequent and more agile forecasting and budgeting," said Greg Schneider, Vice President of Marketing at Adaptive Planning. "They realize that more current insight into their business past, present, and future is a real competitive advantage."

Nearly 30 percent of respondents said they re-planned on a monthly or more frequent basis (three-plus times) during the last quarter, and 44 percent said they expect to increase their frequency of re-planning, re-forecasting and what-if analysis in the coming quarter.

The Q2 online poll conducted in April 2013 surveyed 304 financial professionals from companies in over 20 industries and ranging in size from under $10 million to over $1 billion in revenues. This is the 12^th poll examining perspectives on key economic conditions, individual company performance, and the role of planning and forecasting in the current economy. The Business Volatility and Variables Survey is conducted quarterly, with results tallied against those of previous quarters and years to identify trends in overall economic conditions and planning practices. For more information on the summary report the findings, visit, http://bpinetwork.org/r/business-volatility

About the BPI Network

The Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network is an influential group of senior-level executives driving transformation, process re-invention, organizational innovation, lean operation, and competitive adaptability in multi-national enterprises worldwide. Members of this change-centered affinity network represent companies with combined annual revenues of more than $1 trillion. The aim is to share thinking and advance best practices in how enterprises can "transform to better perform" as they seek to tap more complex, cost-sensitive, growth markets with large, diverse and evolving consumer and infrastructure needs. More information can be found at: www.BPINetwork.org.

Adaptive Planning

Adaptive Planning is the worldwide leader in cloud-based business analytics solutions for companies and nonprofits of all sizes. The company's software as a service (SaaS) platform allows finance and management teams to work together to plan, monitor, report on, and analyze financial and operational performance. With capabilities for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, consolidation, dashboards, and business intelligence, Adaptive Planning enables finance, sales, and other business leaders to make better, faster, more collaborative decisions that drive a true competitive advantage.

Adaptive Planning is used by over 1,600 organizations worldwide, from midsized companies and nonprofits to large corporations, including AAA, Boston Scientific, CORT, Konica Minolta, NetSuite, Philips, and Vail Resorts. The company is the 5th fastest growing software company in Silicon Valley on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ list; has the #1 brand in midmarket CPM; and ranks #1 in customer satisfaction in independent industry surveys. With customers and partners in 81 countries worldwide, the company has the strongest channel ecosystem in the cloud CPM space, with worldwide partners including Armanino McKenna, Intacct, IntuitiveTek, Plex Systems, SAP, and NetSuite, which offers a specialized version of Adaptive Planning as the NetSuite Financial Planning module. Adaptive Planning is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. and is funded by Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), ONSET Ventures, Monitor Ventures, and Cardinal Venture Capital.