More CFOs Say Their Companies May Not Make It

For those lucky enough to have a job, the bad news is that there's little likelihood of a salary raise this year, according to a new nationwide survey of chief financial officers.

Two-thirds said they were going to cut costs by freezing salary levels, but more worrisome was that some 40 percent of financial honchos who said they were more concerned about their company's survival this year than in 2008.

This was the fifth -- and gloomiest -- survey that Grant Thornton, the audit and tax advisory company, has made of senior financial executives. In recent weeks, the company asked 530 comptrollers and chief financial officers about their concerns.

The results weren't encouraging. More than three-fourths cited employee benefits such as health care and pensions as costly. The cost of energy and raw materials also concerned one-third of those responding.

Nearly a third of the financial officers reported their company had difficulties in getting credit. But only 15 percent said they relied on bank credit because they couldn't access alternative financing.

Some 59 percent of executives responding said they were cutting back on recruiting and hiring, and nearly as many were paring back staff. Business travel was being reduced, 56 percent of executives said.

Bonuses are also getting the axe -- 47 percent said no bonuses this year -- reflecting not only cost cutbacks but also the sour public view of such big-bucks rewards.

Another perk, according to the Grant Thornton Survey of Senior Financial Executives, that appears set to bite the dust is 401(k) matches -- 25 percent of those responding said they were reducing those contributions.

Survival, though, was on the mind of many. Some 29 percent said that compared to this time last year they were more worried about the company continuing as a going concern. Another 11 percent said they were "much more worried" -- combining to 40 percent. That was on top of the 46 percent whose worries were "about the same." Only 4 percent were "much less worried."

The survey follows the firm's findings earlier this month -- in a separate survey -- that only 23 percent of financial executives expect the economy to improve in the next six months, and 39 percent anticipated reducing their employee ranks.

by Elizabeth Olson