New York, August 15--Accountants who are also chief executives and chief financial officers of small U.S. corporations are less optimistic about the U.S. economy than they were six months ago, a survey showed on Friday.
The semi-annual Business and Industry Economic Outlook, conducted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), said 57 percent of CPAs, who are also senior corporate executives, now have a positive outlook on the state of the economy, as opposed to 71 percent in December, 2004.
AICPA surveyed 1,465 of its members and found that rising energy and employee costs and the cascading effect of regulations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act were fueling concerns about the economy.
The AICPA surveyed both private and public companies with less than a $1 billion in turnover and 205 CEOs and 830 CFOs. The survey respondents were also concerned about escalating home prices, corresponding levels of financing and the high degree of consumer debt.
