Accountancy firms lose confidence about future growth prospects, reveals report

The UK's accountancy sector is seeing confidence plunge as more firms become more pessimistic about their future prospects compared to what their outlook was a year ago.

The main concerns revolve around issues such as retaining clients and managing costs.

New study

The preliminary findings of the 'Business Small Change Index' report from Aon Risk Solutions point to a drop in the amount of firms with a positive outlook, falling from 59 per cent to 47 per cent. The report tracks business leader attitudes to risk every six months.

The latest study found that UK economy decision makers were also less confident about the coming six months, with the number thinking that there would be a contraction rising from 5 per cent to 12 per cent.

Chief concerns

Among the main concerns for accountants were issues surrounding keeping hold of existing clients, how to price existing products, managing overall costs and how best to focus on core products and services.

Aon Risk Solutions Affinity managing director, Chris Lee-Smith, commented: "What was notable with the finance and accounting sectors was a double-whammy - more businesses predicting contraction and fewer predicting growth. In other sectors a decline in confident outlook was matched by more businesses predicting a static future."

Lee-Smith promised to further explore digital security issues in his company's next stage of research and pointed out that less than one in 30 business leaders placed a high level of importance on the issue.