PwC: Canadian CEOs are more confident about the future

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

According to PwC’s 16th Annual Global CEO Survey released recently  in Davos, Switzerland, Canadian CEOs are generally more confident of their revenue prospects and the economy in the short and longer term compared to their global peers.

• Canadian CEOs  are  confident about their company’s prospects over the next three years. They have a higher confidence level than their global counterparts (60% vs. 46% globally).
• Canadian CEOs are less likely to provide global mobility and international experience opportunities to develop their leadership pipeline than in other countries. Only 39% of Canadian CEOs are focused on mobility opportunities, compared to the global average (61%).
• About half of Canadian CEOs say they expect the economy to stay the same in 2013 (49%), while more than a quarter expect some improvement (26%); Last year nearly half of leaders said things would get worse in 2012 (48%), and few were expecting an improvement (15%).

Whereas the majority of CEOs around the world cited policy concerns over taxes as their top threat to growth (62%), Canadian CEOs say they are more concerned about finding key skills in their workforce (63%), the speed of technological change (45%) and their ability to finance growth (43%).

Canadian CEOs feel the Government should focus its efforts on creating and supporting a skilled workforce, with 72% saying this should be the Government’s top priority. Over three-quarters of Canadian respondents said they will be increasing their investment in developing a skilled workforce (76%) and more than half expect to increase their headcount in 2013 (52%).