CFO reports, according to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers between January and April, private companies are expecting revenue growth to soar far past that of gross domestic product (GDP) and are in a hiring mode not seen since pre-recession days.

CFO said while various GDP forecasts for the U.S. call for 2014 growth of less than 3%, the average predicted revenue gain for the next 12 months, among 213 private companies surveyed was 8.5%.

CFO notes that 63% of the participating companies, whose annual revenue averaged $368 million, anticipated growing their head count. That was 11 percentage points higher than a year ago and the highest percentage reported in PwC’s quarterly Trendsetter Barometer in years.

To view the full CFO.com report click here.