Northern Society of Chartered Accountants

ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) findings for Q2 2016 23 May 2016

The latest ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) shows a drop in business confidence to its lowest point in four years as businesses react to the current economic and political uncertainty.

The index, remains positive though it has fallen in all but one of the last seven quarters.

Key UK findings this quarter

• Confidence remains on the downward trend this quarter as the economic growth slows further and the index is only just in positive territory at +0.8 (down from 11.4 last quarter)
• Domestic sales growth continues to soften, while exports start to improve. As a result, turnover growth stabilises but a slower pace than a year ago.
• Profit growth declines further as businesses are only able to achieve modest growth in the prices they charge.
• Capital investment and R&D growth remains weak due to uncertainty in the wider economy.
• Employment growth is lower than a year ago, and it is expected to soften further, while salary growth stays broadly in line with the last year.
• Confidence in the Service sector and Construction has fallen sharply this quarter into line with the Production sector.

You can read the full UK Q2 2016 ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) report here.

Attend our UK BCM and Economic Review Breakfast Briefing on 22 June 2016

Find out more about the latest UK BCM findings and an update on the current economic climate based on the Bank of England’s latest forecasts at our event on 22 June 2016 in Newcastle.

We hold regular Business Confidence Monitor Breakfast Briefings during the year – search for our next event in our events section norsca.co.uk/events

Find out more about the ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor

You can read more about the Q2 2016 ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) key findings and the press release at icaew.com/bcm

About Northern Society

Northern Society of Chartered Accountants (NorSCA) represents ICAEW members working in business and the finance profession across the North East of England, Teesside, Northern Yorkshire and Cumbria. We have been assisting businesses in the north of England and producing chartered accountants for over 130 years.