FACING a highly uncertain year ahead and a new US Administration, heightened geopolitical tensions, and various domestic economic and political challenges, the latest Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) of more than 1,800 finance professionals recorded a marked fall in confidence in Q4 2024.

Confidence in the US rose for the second-consecutive quarter, reflecting the ongoing resilience of the world’s largest economy. However, sentiment among Canadian survey respondents deteriorated sharply, as reflected in an overall fall in confidence in the North America region.

Confidence fell markedly in Western Europe and is at its weakest since Q3 2022. Strikingly, UK confidence is at a record low, amid the announcement of large tax rises for employers in the recent UK budget. There were also quite material declines in confidence in Asia Pacific and North America. Ongoing concerns about the Chinese economy and the risk of an increase in US tariffs likely weighed on sentiment in the former.

Globally, there was also a sharp deterioration in the Employment Index. But, on a more positive note, there were small gains in the forward-looking New Orders Index and the Capital Expenditure Index.

Encouragingly, cost pressures no longer look elevated by historical standards in most regions, although Western Europe is the clear outlier with almost three quarters of respondents reporting increased costs in Q4.

Jonathan Ashworth, chief economist, ACCA, said: “The global economy proved quite resilient in 2024, aided by the strength of the US economy. The greater resilience of the Global New Orders and Capital Expenditure indices would suggest that the global economy is not set to lurch downwards imminently. Nevertheless, while the Global Confidence Index can at times be volatile, its sharp decline attests to the significant nervousness among companies, given the enormous uncertainty at the current juncture. Against such a backdrop there are significant downside risks to global growth over the coming year.”

Alain Mulder, senior director of Europe operations and global special projects at IMA, said: “Confidence in the US registered a reasonable gain, after a large increase previously, and is now slightly above its historical average. There were also improvements in the other key indicators by varying degrees. This is clearly an encouraging sign, because the US is the only major engine of the global economy where activity is showing significant resilience at the present time.”

Accountants identified their top three risk priorities at the end of 2024. Although economic risks remained the highest priority for the second year running, talent scarcity, regulatory change, and cybersecurity ranked much closer to the top than in Q4 2023. Responses in Q4 2024 showed noteworthy regional and sectoral nuances. For example, Central and Eastern Europe was the only region to rank cybersecurity as its highest risk priority, while talent scarcity was most important in Asia Pacific and Western Europe. South Asia and North America also stood out for keeping geopolitics in their top three.

About ACCA

We are ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), a globally recognised professional accountancy body providing qualifications and advancing standards in accountancy worldwide. Founded in 1904 to widen access to the accountancy profession, we’ve long championed inclusion and today proudly support a diverse community of over 252,500 members and 526,000 future members in 180 countries.

Our forward-looking qualifications, continuous learning, and insights are respected and valued by employers in every sector. They equip individuals with the business and finance expertise and ethical judgment to create, protect, and report the sustainable value delivered by organisations and economies.

Guided by our purpose and values, our vision is to develop the accountancy profession the world needs. Partnering with policymakers, standard-setters, the donor community, educators, and other accountancy bodies, we’re strengthening and building a profession that drives a sustainable future for all.

Find out more at: www.accaglobal.com

About IMA (Institute of Management Accountants)

IMA is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA (Certified Management Accountant), CSCA (Certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis), and FMAA (Financial and Managerial Accounting Associate) certification programmes, continuing education, networking, and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices. Twice named Professional Body of the Year by The Accountant/International Accounting Bulletin, IMA has a global network of about 140,000 members in 150 countries and 200 plus professional and student chapters. Headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey, USA, IMA provides localised services through its six global regions: The Americas, China, Europe, Middle East/North Africa, India, and Asia Pacific. For more information about IMA, please visit www.imanet.org.

About GECS

The Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS), carried out jointly by ACCA and IMA, is the largest regular economic survey of accountants around the world, in both the number of respondents and the range of economic variables it monitors. The GECS has been conducted every quarter since 2011. Its main indices are good lead indicators of economic activity and provide a valuable insight into the views of finance professionals on key variables, such as investment, employment and costs.

Fieldwork for the 2024 Q4 survey took place between November 27 and December 13, 2024, gathering 1,837 responses.

Highlights and the full report available at https://www.imanet.org/about-ima/gecs.