Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Accounting and Finance Professionals Are Only Slightly Less Optimistic Than They Were Last Quarter

Surveys, we love 'em!

The latest Mergis Group Finance and Accounting Employee Confidence Index has come down from its highest level in four years, decreasing 5.2 points to 52.6 in the second quarter of 2012. Fret not, the news is still mostly good. The 184 employed finance and accounting professionals surveyed seem to be mostly optimistic about the job situation within their industry, it's just that they aren't as optimistic as they were last time is all.

Here are the highlights:

  • Thirty-eight percent of employees believe the economy is getting weaker, an increase of 17 percentage points from the first quarter of 2012.
  • Only 21 percent of finance and accounting employees believe that job availability has increased, representing no change from the previous quarter. However, more than half (53 percent) believe that fewer jobs are available.
  • Forty-two percent of workers are confident in their ability to find a new job, a decrease of seven percentage points from first quarter of 2012.
  • Seventy-four percent of workers feel it is not likely they will lose their jobs (versus 73 percent in the previous quarter).
  • Sixty percent of respondents expressed confidence in the future of their current employer with only 15 percent expressing no confidence in their current employer.
  • Over half of respondents (59 percent) said they were not likely to switch jobs on their own in the next year.

Wait a second… is this fear or optimism?