December 6, 2012
CPA Poll Finds
Tepid Economic Outlook
A new survey of CPAs commissioned by the
New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA)
and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public
Accountants (PICPA) finds widespread pessimism among
respondents when it comes to economic forecasts. Many CPA
respondents predict conditions over the next year will be
“about the same as they were one year ago.” The survey looks
at economic trends both statewide and nationwide. Some of
the major findings include:
- 80 percent feel NJ’s
business climate is fair or
poor.
- 78 percent feel NJ’s tax
structure is worse than other
states.
- 58 percent feel NJ’s
business climate hinders
economic growth.
- 30 percent feel health care
reform is the largest area of
concern with regard to operating
a business in NJ.
New Jersey CPAs
reported that fiscal issues such as
the global economy (93 percent)
federal deficit (83 percent),
impeding fiscal cliff (80 percent),
entitlements (77 percent) and
federal regulations (75 percent)
negatively affected national
economic growth over the last year.
New Jersey
respondents gave feedback on a
variety of economic remedies both
nationally: deficit reduction
(45 percent); and statewide: reduce
property taxes (44 percent), reduce
red tape (40 percent) and
consolidate school districts (29
percent).
When asked about
organizational and client growth,
CPAs from both states agreed that
over the past year their
organizations or their clients’
organizations have not increased
their workforce and don’t expect to
do so in 2013. CPAs in both states
do, however, predict marginal
increases in firm/company revenues
in the coming year.
On a positive
note, the survey found that 40
percent of NJ respondents expect
their clients’ revenues to increase
over the next year, and 58 percent
feel that the business climate in NJ
has moderately or greatly improved
since Governor Chris Christie took
office.
“While there are
glimmers of hope, this survey shows
there’s still a lot of work to be
done,” said NJSCPA CEO and Executive
Director Ralph Albert Thomas. “A
large part of the negative numbers
is due to uncertainty with regard to
the tough fiscal policy decisions
that need to be made.”
The Franklin and
Marshall College Center for Opinion
Research University, on behalf of
the NJSCPA and PICPA, surveyed
high-level CPAs in public
accounting, industry, government,
nonprofit and academia in New Jersey
and Pennsylvania during the months
of September and October 2012. There
were 718 respondents for
Pennsylvania and 489 for New Jersey.
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