Our Accountants Confidence Index indicated a contraction in the coming three months -- but saw a light at the end of the tunnel, or at least six months from now.
The ACI, created in partnership with ADP, is a monthly economic indicator that leverages the insights of accountants into the strength and prospects of businesses in the U.S. Both the 3-Month and 6-Month ACI readings for this month were up from August, though only one remained below 50: The 3-Month ACI came in at 47.74, while the 6-Month climbed up to 50.95.
A reading under 50 indicates that the panel expects a contraction.
The panelists increased their forecasts for almost all the components of the index -- though in many cases they remained below 50, indicating that our respondents may not yet be enthusiastic about the economic, just less gloomy.
The ACI is created from a monthly poll of the Accounting Today Executive Research Council, an online community of more than 1,500 tax and accounting professionals, who are asked to provide their estimates of the growth prospects of their own firms, their small, midsized and large business clients, and of the U.S. economy as a whole. Their responses are weighted and averaged to produce the ACI.