Do women take a gloomier view?
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 at 11:44 am
Well, when it comes to the economic outlook they do – according to a new survey of accountants!
I know not all of you (if any) will hold much store by what accountants think, but I recently read an article about what accountants around the world are saying about where the global economy is headed.
One of the main accountancy bodies in the UK (ACCA) carries out a quarterly survey. The most significant conclusion from the latest survey is that one in six respondents expects their government to get spending dangerously wrong over the next five years.
The survey also states that possibly the most worrying development during the last quarter has been the explosive rise of inflation. For the first time since the survey began, more than half of the professionals responding reported problems with rising operating costs, making this the most commonly cited business challenge.
One interesting fact highlighted is that, all things being equal, female staff tend to be less confident about their organisation’s prospects than men. Apparently, senior managers tend to be over-confident and women are less susceptible to this bias. But further analysis shows that women are more worried about permanent loss of capacity in the business and thus put less trust in cost-cutting drives.
Overall business confidence is still in negative territory, but there are major variations on this depending on geographical location. Those in the UK are much less confident about the global situation than almost any other accountants in the world (apart from Pakistan). Members in Africa were particularly confident about the situation.
Do you have a different view? Let me know.
July 7th, 2011 at 8:24 am
I am not sure I agree that women are gloomier, maybe male bravado hides latent insecurity?
Infaltion is a problem for business it does mean that everyone needs to review their pricing to make sure their profits do not fall.
July 7th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
I disagree regarding women being more pessimistic. Maybe women as a rule a more cautious in business – which maybe the need for security and the whole nurturing thing but gloomier – no.
There are many negative influences but again more recently we have seen a more positive approach in business. Maybe we are all fed up of the doom and gloom.
Inflation is a problem across the board but there will be otehr factors that will affect SME’s – for example the change in Pension Schemes which I feel people are already concerned about.