Blog: AICPA Economic Crisis and Recovery Center

AICPA Economic Crisis Center renamed

The AICPA’s Economic Crisis Resource Center’s name has been changed to the AICPA Economic Crisis and Recovery Center (ECRC).  This recent change was based on current conditions indicating a recovery has begun.  Fed Chair Ben Bernanke said in a recent speech at the Brookings Institute that he believes the recession is over though recovery will take a long time.

Unemployment seems to be holding steady, but isn’t going down. The market continues to be on the rise, though seems to be sensitive to every little financial news story that breaks. Full recovery (if there ever is such a thing) will take some time and we’ll all need to be patient.

The CPA community will be sought after to help their clients and the companies they work for recover. The ECRC is a great source of information to help CPAs through the recovery process. Previous articles, podcasts and resources focused on surviving the recession. Now the ECRC will focus on helping CPAs and their clients and companies get through the recovery faster.

On the employment side, the AICPA Job Finder is still offering free posts to CPA Firms looking to fill CPA positions.  Now’s the time to get your resume up on the Job Finder.  There were 150 jobs available on the site this week.  If you are a CPA Firm who will need to staff up for tax season, now’s the time to get that job posted while the postings are still free.  As a profession, we’ve been fortunate that the layoffs in our profession haven’t been widespread, but there are still good CPAs out there in need of work.

The Journal of Accountancy has a great online article titled “The U.S. Economic Crisis: Root Causes and the Road to Recovery” that discusses the excessive consumer spending and low savings rate at the center of this recession.

What are you doing to recover from the recession? Post a comment.

– Mark Koziel

AICPA/UNC Kenan-Flagler Business & Industry Economic Outlook Survey update shows continued optimism from C-Suite members

In keeping with the past, I thought I’d let you know the latest results (3^rd Quarter) of the AICPA/UNC Kenan-Flagler Economic Outlook Survey are available on the AICPA Financial Management Center.  On April 28^th my blog post was about the first quarter’s survey results and on May 21^st my blog post was on the second quarter results. The AICPA C-Suite members surveyed continue to show signs of improvement in the economy.

Respondents who were pessimistic about the economy dropped from 53% in the 2^nd quarter to 41% in the 3^rd quarter.  Pessimists still outnumber optimists, but it’s a good sign that the total number have dropped.  It does take time to shift opinion and the move from pessimistic to neutral can be considered a positive shift.  Hopefully by the 4th quarter, we will see optimists outnumber the pessimists.

While there were some positives, there is also some caution.  Respondents have pushed back their belief on when the economy will improve with over 60% responding with either 1st half or 2^nd half of 2009.  Over 10% believe recovery won’t begin until 2011 or later.

Similar to the 2^nd quarter results, respondents were more optimistic about their own organization’s recovery than the overall economy, showing signs that some companies may already be on their way out of the recession.

The news does continue to get better.

Are you seeing signs of recovery in your business? What are some of the signs of recovery that you are seeing? Post a comment.

– Mark Koziel