but they expect better for their own firms.
by kayleigh padar
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trade wars and interest rate trends are undermining accountants’ confidence in the u.s. economy, even as their outlook for their own firms strengthens, according to a new survey of 400 c-level cpas.
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only 57 percent said they were optimistic about the u.s. economy over the next 12 months, down from 69 percent in the previous quarter. cpas cite trade issues and rising interest rates as the main reasons for their pessimism.
despite this, 69 percent say they feel optimistic about their own businesses, which is a high percentage compared to past surveys. similarly, 67 percent expect their organizations to expand in the next 12 months.
“we see concern about potential trade conflicts and the impact of interest rate changes,” says arleen r. thomas, cpa, cgma, a managing director at the aicpa, which conducts the quarterly survey. “still, even though business executives are taking a more tempered view of revenue and profit growth in the coming year and expect to rein in spending in some areas, they maintain fairly broad optimism about business expansion and their own companies’ prospects.”
the top challenge for businesses is still “availability of skilled personnel,” which has been the top challenge since the third quarter of 2017. many companies say they have strong hiring plans but have trouble finding candidates with the right skill set and experience.
almost half of the survey respondents plan to raise wages in the next 12 months in order to help retention and recruitment.
other challenges include rising employee and benefit costs and increasing domestic competition. labor costs are contributing to concerns about inflation, consistent with last quarter.
the survey also finds expectations for profit and revenue growth falling significantly since last quarter, however, the expectations are still historically high.