U.S. business execs report rosier outlook
BUSINESS RECORD STAFF Jun 3, 2016 | 7:56 pm
<1 min read time
0 wordsAll Latest News, Economic Development, Retail and BusinessBusiness executives are feeling more confident about the U.S. economy’s prospects than last quarter, but still more guarded than last year, the American Institute of CPAs’ second-quarter survey found.
The organization polls chief executive officers, chief financial officers, controllers and other certified public accountants in U.S. companies.
Some 37 percent of survey takers expressed optimism about the U.S. economy over the next 12 months, up from a three-year low of 28 percent last quarter.
“The good news is the slide in sentiment about the U.S. economy has reversed course and key performance indicators are pointing back up,” said Arleen R. Thomas, the AICPA’s senior vice president of management accounting and global markets. “But there’s a long way to go to get back to the levels of optimism we saw in late 2014 and early 2015. On top of that, the presidential election and global economic uncertainty add some wild cards going forward.”
Other key findings of the survey:
- The projected head count increase for the next year rose to 1.1 percent from 0.5 percent last quarter. Business executives continue to worry about finding skilled help.
- Fifty-eight percent of business executives said they expect their companies to expand in the next 12 months, up 6 percentage points from last quarter.
- Companies plan to spend more on technology, and overall capital spending is expected to rise.
- In a reversal from last quarter, inflation is once again a bigger concern than deflation.
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