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 December 2018 BIE Survey dated December 12, 2018 (involving 219 firms responding):
- Inflation expectations: Firms’ year-ahead inflation expectations increased somewhat to 2.3 percent, on average.
also:
- Quarterly question: Firms expect their unit costs to increase by 2.9 percent, on average, over the long term (per year, over the next five to 10 years).
- Special question: Firms provided their “biggest concerns” for the year ahead in an open-text question. Cost increases, labor quality and availability, and the overall health of the economy were among their top concerns. A listing of the top concerns for 2018 and 2019 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.