Accountants are not as optimistic about Canadian economy’s prospects as they were three months ago. In addition, fewer expect their companies to hire new employees.
In a recent survey of senior corporate accountants conducted by the Canadian Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada), 48% of respondents said they were optimistic about how the Canadian economy will perform over the next twelve months. This is a decline from 56% in the second quarter of 2014.
These senior accountants are, however, more sanguine about how their own companies will fare; 62% said they like the prospects for their company over the next twelve months. However, this is still less than the 66% who gave this answer in the previous quarter.
As for hiring employees, 44% of those surveyed are forecasting growth (down from 48% in the second quarter of 2014) while 39% predict no change, 16% expect layoffs, and the rest say they do not know.
“A dip in optimism is not surprising especially when you consider factors such as oil prices and global economic uncertainty along with conflict and unrest in certain regions,” says CPA Canada president and CEO Kevin Dancey. “It is reassuring that despite all that is happening globally, economic optimism is running ahead of where it was a year ago.”
