Almost 14 per cent of US finance chiefs expect to renegotiate or violate the terms of their companies’ debt agreements within the next six months, the latest sign the financial crisis will remain a strain on corporate America’s balance sheets.

According to the latest quarterly CFO Outlook survey by Financial Executives International and Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business, more than 64 per cent of the 334 polled said they were curtailing hiring and capital costs.