OVER HALF of respondents to a survey by Accounting Technicians Ireland have expressed confidence that business levels in the companies where they work will either remain stable or grow over the next twelve months. The survey was completed nation-wide by 758 members of the Accounting Technicians Ireland professional body to determine their opinion about front line business conditions and the broader economy.
Over 55% of respondents in the survey work in companies of up to 50 employees, with the remainder working for businesses employing over 50 people. A small proportion are individually employed. The survey polled respondents across all industry sectors with a quarter of these representing the financial services area.
Job Security
On job security, nearly half of all respondents felt that their job was secure in the immediate future. A quarter of the survey believed their job was not secure and a further quarter said they were uncertain either way.
Business Levels
Almost 55% of respondents said they expect business at their place of employment will either remain steady at current levels or will grow over the next twelve months. About 32% said they were unsure as to how business will fare, while 13% said they expect business levels will fall.
Job Levels
On actual job levels, at least 50% of respondents said that the businesses where they work had let a number of people go in the past twelve months. 74% said they do not anticipate any increase in employment numbers at their location over the coming twelve months while 14% were uncertain and 12% believed employment would actually rise.
Economic Conditions
Six out of ten respondents (63%) said they believe overall economic conditions are disimproving. However 30% said conditions are stable and 7% said they are improving.
Pay & Remuneration
On pay and remuneration, 49% said they expect pay levels to remain stable at current levels with 27% anticipating a possible decrease, whereas just under 10% said they believe their pay levels will rise in the year ahead. The remainder were uncertain.
21% of respondents said salaries had increased at their location in the past twelve months – the majority said their pay was up by up to 5%. A smaller proportion had enjoyed higher increases ranging from 6% to over 20% in some instances.
47% of respondents said that salaries had been reduced at their location in the past twelve months. Of these, two-thirds had experienced pay cuts of up to 10%, with the remainder experiencing cuts of up to 20% or higher.
Banking Credit
On the banking credit front, where businesses had tried to access new or revised credit facilities, 59% of respondents said this had been difficult; 20% said it was impossible and 21% had found it ‘easy enough’. Just under 70% of respondents said that this issue was not applicable to their business, indicating they had either not looked for or considered new or revised credit facilities in the past twelve months.
Bad Debt
On bad debt levels and overdue payments, 55% said that bad debt is higher than twelve months ago. Of these, four out of ten businesses had seen bad debts increase by up to 10%. Close to half of all respondents who said bad debt was higher in their business stated this had increased by anything between 10% and 30%, indicating possible cashflow pressure for these businesses. Just over 40% of respondents said there had been no increase in bad debt.
Business Costs
A half of all respondents said that the cost of doing business in Ireland has stayed roughly the same over the past twelve months whereas a quarter said it decreased. However, the remaining quarter stated their business costs had risen during the period. Of the people who said costs had fallen, the majority reported reductions of between 5% and 10% from suppliers.
