Chief financial officers are becoming more optimistic regarding the economy, as a new ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA ® (Institute of Management Accountants) Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) suggests that confidence
among accountants and finance professionals edged slightly higher in Q2 2024 and is just above its historical average.
For CFOs, all the key global indicators rose, with sharp gains evident in the New Orders and Capital Expenditure indices.
Asia Pacific saw a small rise off the back of a huge gain previously, and the New Orders Index increased strongly. The region is benefitting from improvements in the global economy, including in the manufacturing sector and the upward moving technology cycle.
The GECS also asks accountants to rank their top three risk priorities and, for the first time in a year, the economy is not the top concern for respondents working in financial services, although it is close to the highest it has ever been for those in the corporate sector.
Further, the Q2 survey reveals how organisations are increasingly struggling to get a grip on cybersecurity, which was ranked as the
third-highest risk priority for all sectors combined.Â
