That's where the concern about revenue comes in. The surveyed finance chiefs expect an average of 5.9% in sales gains, compared with the 6.3% revenue-gain expectations in the previous quarter. The latest quarter's result is a low for the survey. (The U.S., as opposed to the North America expectation, is 5.2%.) And it is the eighth straight quarter in which CFO earnings projections have outpaced their sales expectations.

"Improving earnings, investment and hiring projections in the face of slowing revenue growth suggest CFOs have confidence in their companies' ability to get even more efficient," says Greg Dickinson, who leads the Deloitte CFO Signals survey. "But if efficiency improvements fall short or if companies continue to be hit with rising input costs, their renewed optimism may be short lived."

The survey indicated that CFOs are only cautiously optimistic about cash deployment, with 27% planning "a solid dose of domestic investment," as Deloitte put it, and 24% seeing liquidity maintenance. Paying down debt is envisioned by 13%.

Were taxes not a factor, CFOs said, they would invest more at home. Half say they will increase domestic investment, with one-third saying they will pay down more debt, and one-third aiming to increase dividends.