In January, ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA^® (Institute of Management Accountants) released their latest Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS).

The report found that global economic confidence bounced back in the last quarter of 2019 to around its level in mid-2019, with a particularly strong improvement in North America.

While the global poll of 2,560 accountants reported a recovery in economic confidence in all key regions, it also found that global confidence is below its long-run average and forecast continued modest expansion in the world economy in early 2020.

Warner Johnston, Head of ACCA USA, said, “In 2019, the global economy expanded at close to 3%, the slowest rate since the financial crisis ten years ago. The GECS foreshadowed this slowdown, which continued steadily throughout last year. Looking ahead, the GECS points to steady growth early this year, with no strong pick up but no global recession either. Many risks to the global economy in 2020 are the same as in 2019.”

GECS is the largest regular economic survey of accountants around the world, in terms of both the number of respondents and the range of economic variables it monitors. The full report is available here and at https://www.accaglobal.com/my/en/news/2020/january/global-economic-confidence-bounces-back-in-q4-completing-a-volat.html