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The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) has released its Board Confidence Index for the first quarter of 2012, and the results indicate the corporate directors’ confidence in the US economic recovery has increased from 55 in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 60.6. There are a couple of interesting data points in the report.

First, corporate directors are more optimistic about long-term (a year or more) economic growth than they are about short-term growth. The confidence index for the next three months is 55 while the index for the next year rose to 64.

Second, the larger the business, the greater the level of optimism:

[T]he smallest companies—those with revenues less than $1 billion—generally showed more optimism about the state of the economy. In 2012, while still generally the most positive, this outlook is shared with directors from mid-sized companies—revenues from $5 billion to $10 billion. However, directors from the largest companies—revenues of $10 billion or more—showed the most improved outlook in forecasting the next three months—a 15-point jump to 61.

A summary of the report is available here.