The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta publishes a monthly report titled “Business Inflation Expectations” (BIE) that contains statistics from a survey of regional businesses’ views on various factors that impact profitability. These factors include unit costs, unit cost expectations, sales levels, profit margins, and other factors.
As described on the site:
Approximately 300 panelists receive the survey each month. Panelists represent businesses of various sizes headquartered within the Sixth District, which encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and sections of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Panelists range from executives of large corporations to owner-operators of small businesses. The industry composition of the panel roughly reflects the makeup of the national economy. Nevertheless, survey responses are weighted by industry shares of national gross domestic product.
An excerpt from the June 2020 BIE Survey dated June 10, 2020 (involving 206 firms responding):
- Inflation expectations: Firms’ year-ahead inflation expectations increased somewhat to 1.7 percent, on average.
- Current economic environment: Sales levels and profit margins “compared to normal” improved over the month but remain at historically low levels. Year-over-year unit cost growth remains at 1.2 percent, on average.
- Quarterly question: Firms’ long-term (per year, over the next five to 10 years) inflation expectations went relatively unchanged at 2.5 percent, on average.
- Special question: Firms indicated whether they requested federal financial assistance. They then provided a breakdown of which programs they applied to, which programs they received funds from, and how much they expect to have to repay. A breakdown of the results can be found in the special question section below.
The report also includes other questions and a variety of charts and tables depicting respondents’ answers.
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RevSD, LLC offers the above commentary for informational purposes only, and does not necessarily agree with all (or any) of the views expressed by these outside parties.
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ProfitabilityIssues.com is published by RevSD, LLC. RevSD, LLC is a management consulting firm and strategic advisory that focuses on the analysis of current and future business conditions, and given these conditions, offers corporations and businesses advice, strategies, and actionable methods on how to optimally increase revenues and profitability.