CFOZone.com - The Network of Corporate Finance

The Conference Board released its Annual Salary Increase Budgets Survey today and the news is none too good. It reports the lowest yearly forecast for salary budgets since the survey began 25 years ago. The 2010 median forecast salary increase budget is 3% in all employee categories, down a half percent from the previous year. (Salary increase budgets refer specifically to the pool of money that an organization dedicates to salary increases for the coming year. Generally, it is represented as a percentage of current payroll.)

Changing market conditions throughout 2009 pushed companies to adjust downward their salary increases as the economy worsened. Comparing what companies originally forecast for their 2009 salary increase budgets and where they report actually expecting to finish the year is revealing.

The Conference Board survey reports a full percentage point drop in the medians of the 2009 increase budgets in all employee categories, except executive, from 3.5% to 2.5%. but it was the executive category that took the biggest hit -- down 2 full percentage points (from 3.5% to 1.50%).

What's the best game plan to deal with the continued shortfall?

Did you play the runescape? Do you know how to buy runescape gold. If you are a game master, I think you have so many runescape gold for sale. If you want fast wow gold purchase,please ask me, I will help you.