Research conducted among 750 managers found controlling costs will be their number one priority in 2014, with budgets for wages and staff numbers forecast to remain the same, or even be cut.
When asked about different spending priorities, managers indicated that just three out of 11 budget areas were likely to see more investment, than last year.
Almost half (47%) of managers intend to increase spending in sales, 42% in IT and 41% in marketing. However, the study also found 67% of organisations will hold employee pay steady or cut it and 66% will freeze or reduce headcount.
Ann Francke, chief executive of the CMI, said: "After years of pay freezes and redundancies, many workers will be hoping to see the economic upswing improve their pay packets, but this is unlikely to be the case.
"This raises a question about how strong economic optimism really is, and if organisations are not investing in developing their teams to build that growth, such optimism could be short-lived."
