London Chartered Accountants see slow but steady recovery

The economy  ran in a regular business cycle of growth turning to boom followed by a credit squeeze to cool things down and then a quarter or two of recession.
However, since the banking crisis, the whole Western world has had its entire economic predictability torn to shreds. It has been thrown into a recessionary vortex which is even starting to affect China’s rapid growth which relies so heavily on exports to the West.
Of course, month after month of economic contraction or near zero growth are leading to stagnant or falling living standards which, in turn, are impacting the political cycle with incumbent governments being ousted in favour of other parties whose previous inability to improve things seems to be quickly forgotten.
Anyone trying to plot a course through this unprecedented quagmire can be excused for being totally confused by all the conflicting expert advice on offer.
The politicians will come out with explanations and remedies which largely reflect their own position. The coalition parties remain adamant that the economy is gradually healing while the opposition claim that it is flat lining with no improvement on the horizon.
For their part, London economists are performing their usual trick of splitting in two and somehow conspiring to provide two totally conflicting points of view.
In this uncertain environment, some of the most useful pointers can be gained from the big firms of chartered accountants in London who obviously have their finger on the pulse via daily contact with a complete cross-section of industry and are ideally placed to know what’s happening at the coal face. It seems that London accountants have boiled the problem down to the simple fact that fewer consumers and businesses want to borrow to spend or invest while those that do cannot get the banks to lend it.
Not surprisingly, some would say, it appears that the EU is hampering recovery by taking so long to rectify the problems of the Euro and by bringing in new directives like Basel 3 which are restricting the amount banks can lend. Just as the banks are starting to get back on their feet and restoring their balance sheets after all their heavy losses, European regulators have decided it would be a good idea to make them keep more in their capital reserves rather than to lend more out to consumers, house buyers and companies.
Headwinds like this are probably only delaying recovery rather precluding it and , in the meantime, if recent encouraging data is to be believed, the UK’s push to rebalance its economy by encouraging a revival in domestic manufacturing and a switch in the export effort away from the Eurozone towards more dynamic emerging markets seems to be steadily reaping dividends.
HW Fisher & Company is a mid-tier top 25 London chartered accountancy firm. Their commercially astute organisation has a personal, partner-led service aimed at entrepreneurial small, medium enterprises (SMEs), large corporates and high-net worth individuals. Their reputation is grounded in quality, delivering premium advisory services efficiently and cost-effectively.