What Recovery? Philadelphia-area CEOs and CFOs Say We Are Still in a Recession

CHERRY HILL, N.J., Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alloy Silverstein Group conducted their quarterly survey of over 1,500 New Jersey and Philadelphia CEOs and CFOs, and of the 91 responses, 58% are not expecting to hire over the next 6 months, an increase of almost 10% from last quarter. An overwhelming 80% of our respondents indicated that increased demand and sales will encourage them to initiate hiring, not the payroll initiatives contained in President Obama's proposed Job Bill.

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"Clearly, government intervention is not enough to induce our businesses to hire," says Ren Cicalese, managing shareholder of Alloy. "We need the consumers to regain their confidence and start spending. The higher product and service demand will positively affect our region's hiring statistics."

Other notable findings include:

• Contrary to media reports, 59% of regional CEOs and CFOs believe the U.S. economy is still in a recession.
• 47% of area business executives are not in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
• Respondents continue to indicate that jobs should be the main concentration at both the national and local level. Second issue for national is the deficit (32%) and for local, taxes (24%).
• Although most of the recent debit card fees have been retracted, area CEOs and CFOs still expressed frustration with the initial imposition of the charges. This would have caused 43% of business owners to switch their banks.  Another 38% were against the fee but felt that changing institutions was too much trouble.

Despite a mediocre outlook for the remainder of the year, executives are paying close attention to the 2012 Presidential election. Two-thirds of CEOs and CFOs will be focusing on the candidates' plans related to the economy and jobs with secondary focus on tax reform (14%) and business policies (10%).  Although 44% of respondents believe it is too early to name a preferred 2012 candidate, 19% are leaning toward Mitt Romney, 13% for Herman Cain, and 12% for current President Barack Obama.

Alloy, Silverstein, Shapiro, Adams, Mulford, Cicalese, Wilson & Co. provides a wide range of services including accounting, auditing, tax planning and preparation, management consulting, financial and estate planning, business valuations, litigation support, Eldercare, payroll processing, and information technology consulting.

For more information, contact Anne D'Amico, CPA/PFS, (856)667-4100 or [email protected].

SOURCE The Alloy Silverstein Group

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