After taking a step back in August, the Accountants Confidence Index held mostly steady for September.
With the party conventions having kicked off the 2020 presidential election in earnest, many respondents took a wait-and-see attitude, suggesting that the economic outlook would remain uncertain until Nov. 3. They varied wildly, however, in what they thought the election will bring, splitting more or less along party lines and predicting disaster if their favorite didn't win.
The ACI, published 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. The 3-Month ACI hit 43.91, off just a bit from the previous month's 44.33 (and still far below the 50 mark that separates expectations of growth from expectations of contraction). The 6-Month ACI, meanwhile, came in at 50.52, level with from last month's 50.6, and still barely in expansionary territory.
The index components were generally down across the board, though respondents' expectations for growth at their own firms was up two points in the mid-term.
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.