UK accountants too negative, says ACCA

A survey of accountants found that an increasing number of UK professionals are concerned about the economy, but the ACCA in the UK and US-based Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) insist the negativity is irrational.

The quarterly Global economic conditions survey report: Q2, 2012 released this week has showed that less than than one in five (17%) of respondents were confident the global economy was improving or will do soon, down from 23% three months ago.

Over 500 UK accountants responded, with the results broadly similar to those across western Europe.

Manos Schizas, ACCA senior economic analyst said 'that there is little basis for such negative sentiment in the UK fundamentals. Both demand and employment appear to have strengthened consistently over the last nine months, while most indicators of cashflow stress, including late payment and customer/supplier failures, appear to have eased.'

Interestingly, US accountants marginally increased their optimism over the economy, with a 1% rise to 43% from the Q1 survey in March 2012.

Get the latest news in your inbox. Sign up to receive the Accountancy Live e-newsletter, HERE

Tweet