Signs of recovery based on fragile evidence, says ACCA survey

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Claims that the world’s economy is recovering is based on fragile evidence, according to the latest Global Economic Conditions Survey by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
It has repeated its warning that world economic leaders should guard against complacency – and not confuse less panic over the crisis with strong evidence that the recession is over everywhere.
“Our survey shows that business confidence is recovering more slowly in the third quarter than earlier in the year when respondents may have stopped panicking about a recession which had seemed to be out of control,” said Helen Brand, ACCA Chief Executive, adding that, “the evidence is that little has changed in trading or orders to suggest that a reliable recovery will happen before the end of 2010.
“We have already warned governments not to allow a growth in confidence to lead to complacency which may stop them from taking necessary steps to reform the economic system. While the situation may not worsen, the view from finance professionals is that a sustained recovery is still someway off and that many economies are in a fragile state.”
ACCA’s third quarter survey of 1,200 finance professionals in 92 countries has shown that while more finance professionals now believe the downturn has ‘bottomed out’ they also believe that a reliable recovery is still unlikely to return before late 2010 – more than a year away.