Business - 'Stop talking us into a recession,' say FDs
Finance directors fear business leaders and commentators are talking the UK into a recession.
Fresh analysis of responses by FDs to recent Big Question surveys carried out by Accountancy Age and Reed Accountancy Personnel shows plummeting business confidence and an increasing acceptance that recession is imminent.
But it was clear many FDs were fed up with what they though was the ‘talking up’ of the risk of a recession.
Peter Lancaster, FD of Prospect Contract Furnishings, said: ‘There is too much talk about recession. It could become self-fulfilling if we aren’t careful.’
John Witts, financial controller of All Sport, a sports picture agency, said businesses around him had already begun to panic: ‘People are running around like headless chickens,’ he said.
Another FD, who asked to remain anonymous, argued that talk of a recession was damaging the economy: ‘All the talk of a recession is accelerating a downturn, but not necessarily a recession.’
But the vast majority of FDs questioned – 68% – believed that a recession was, in fact, just around the corner.
Paresh Sanat, FD of SBJ Employment & Safety Services, commented: ‘All the market indications show that recession is not far away. Manufacturing output is down and the recent job losses are also a clear indication.’