ACCA: We will not hit targets

Fewer than a quarter of professional accountants in Ireland believe the Government will meet its spending targets over the next five years.

The number has almost halved from just three months ago, when 40% felt the Government was on track. But, according to the latest quarterly global economic survey from ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), now only 22% of Irish-based accountants believe that Government spending will be at the right level by the end of 2016.

Perhaps even more worryingly, nearly 60% of those surveyed feel that the Government will, in fact, under-spend. That figure has, over the past three months, shot up by nearly 15%. Additionally, over 25% of accountants feel Ireland will see “dangerous levels” of under-spending in the next few years.