U.S. executives turned significantly more optimistic about the economy and prospects for their own businesses after Donald Trump won the presidential election, with finance chiefs and other leaders expecting stronger growth in 2025 even as they see inflation as a risk, two surveys showed.
Two-thirds, or 67%, of U.S. business executives polled by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants said they are confident about the economic outlook for the year ahead, up from 26% of respondents in a survey conducted in August and 43% a year earlier. The AICPA conducted its latest survey from Nov. 6 through Nov. 26, after Trump triumphed over Democratic rival Kamala Harris, polling 273 members working for US companies.
Trump ran on a platform promising lower corporate taxes and less regulation, while threatening new tariffs on U.S. trading partners, a policy seen as potentially inflationary. Still, his generally business-friendly stance prompted executives to raise their expectations for revenue and profits after his win, the survey results released Thursday show.
Executives said they plan to spend more on expanding their businesses, and also indicated an improved outlook for hiring compared to the period before the election.
"Business executives say they're looking forward to less regulation and more favorable tax policies and we're seeing that optimism translate into higher profit expectations and revenue estimates," said Tom Hood, executive vice president for business engagement and growth at the AICPA, according to a release.
The findings mirror those from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Richmond, which polled over 500 U.S. finance chiefs and noted a surge in positivity following the election. The Duke survey, which came out on Wednesday, highlighted a shift in CFO priorities and sentiment after Nov. 5, resulting in chief financial officers expressing more favorable views of the broader economic outlook as well as their own companies' prospects.
Executives at manufacturing and construction firms in particular took a more positive stance after the election result was known, the researchers found.
"This jump in optimism reflects the resolution of uncertainty about the presidential election, combined with a sense that the tax and regulatory policies of the new administration will broadly benefit the corporate sector," said John Graham, a finance professor at Duke and the academic director of the survey, according to a release. "A similar surge in business optimism occurred the first time President Trump was elected in 2016."
Apart from inflation — which surfaced in both surveys as a potential worry — CFOs in the Duke survey also pointed to monetary policy, potential consequences from tariffs and availability of labor as key concerns. Respondents in the AICPA survey also flagged raw-material and energy costs as potential negatives.
While the Duke survey only polled CFOs, the AICPA polled a broader range of executives, including controllers, presidents, chief executive officers and others.
