American Toner and Ink: The Business Barometer

Nov. 14, 2012 - PRLog -- What has been overlooked by the doom and gloom messages of Republicans and the Democrats never ending barrage of negative messages is that the economy is doing better than expected.  Consumer confident has trended noticeably upward, homes are being built and sold and it seems likely that the plunge over the fiscal cliff will be averted.  Yes, Congress is still divided,but if things don't get appreciably better before the 2014 mid term elections, one of the parties will pay a stiff price so there is a strong incentive for bi-partisan cooperation.

     The small business owners I have talked to share the belief that he economy is started to rebound and they don't want to risk waiting too long to start doing the growth generating things that they haven't been doing - hiring, replacing and adding equipment, increasing inventories and advertising.  The elections, local, state and national, helped fast track the recovery by putting billions into the economy and a lot of businesses benefited from the outpouring of dollars.

     Accountant and lawyers, who are important advisers to all sizes of businesses, are a leading indicator of a recovery.  So, 2013 looks to be a very good year for these professional service firms.  Accountants seem to be hiring in anticipation of an excellent tax season which they believe will continue to provide them with work through most of the year.  They plan to stock up on equipment and supplies even earlier this year so they can be ready start serving clients as soon as the clock strikes 2013.

     We'll be monitoring accounting activity closely to see how much of the optimism translates to new customers and more business from existing customers.  We remain skeptical but if I was a betting man, I'd put my money on 2013 being the start of a substantial economic recovery.

     That's my opinion.  What's yours?