A new biannual survey shows some perceptions of the economy are improving.

The Center for Audit Quality's fall 2022 Audit Partner Pulse Survey found almost 60% of audit partners expressed pessimism for the U.S. economy. However, the group's more recent fall 2023 survey showed overall pessimism dropped to 27%.

Julie Bell Lindsay, CEO of the center, explained audit partners are present in all public companies in the country. They are responsible for understanding risks and pressures affecting businesses and the industries they operate in.

"Certainly the economic outlook is stronger than a year ago," Lindsay noted. "But auditors still see the potential for inflation, while it is falling, to have a significant impact on business operations over the course of the next year."

Lindsay added almost 70% of auditors see what she calls "inflationary effects" hitting business for longer than 12 months. She asserted businesses are being heavily affected by the country's current regulatory environment, with a majority saying the effects have been negative, citing additional costs associated with compliance with new rules.

Lindsay acknowledged despite the various challenges plaguing the business community from cybersecurity to learning how to better handle artificial intelligence, the country finds itself in what she terms a "relatively strong position."

"The U.S. continues to have, I would say, the most liquid and strong capital markets in the world," Lindsay contended. "We are not without our challenges, but we seem to be coming out of the pandemic and an inflationary cycle in a fairly strong position."

According to the survey, companies' top three priorities are cost management, financial performance and overall growth. Lindsay noted while artificial intelligence was lower on the list of companies' priorities, it is high on their list of challenges because of data quality concerns and data security risks.

Lindsay added companies across the country are also experiencing a shortage of accounting and auditing professionals.

"It is not just getting talent into the companies," Lindsay stressed. "When you have less talent, that means the existing talent has to take on additional responsibilities and that can hurt retention."

While half of companies are focused on upskilling, the survey found one in three is working to increase compensation and workplace flexibility for current employees.


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Iowa lawmakers are considering reducing fines companies pay for breaking child labor laws. The state has said it's trying to find safe and creative ways to add more people to the workforce.

The proposal to rewrite Section 32 of the state's child labor laws would reduce fines for companies that violate them from $10,000 per instance to $2,500.

Iowa AFL-CIO President Charlie Wishman said Iowa has the infamous distinction of leading the nation in rolling back labor laws designed to protect minors.

"You've seen a lot of child labor law reform all across the country and it doesn't really seem to necessarily be based in partisanship," said Wishman. "You can see a place like Alabama that's strengthening it. You can see a place like Iowa that's loosening it."

The state has said it's looking at creative ways to add more people to the workforce, with shortages especially critical in rural areas.

Wishman said he worries reducing the fines would create even greater safety risks for minors in those places. The proposal is in the Legislature's joint Administrative Rules Review Committee.

Iowa is one of the only states that reports losing population, and with that out-migration goes a much-needed employee base.

As a labor advocate, Wishman said he isn't opposed to giving kids a chance to earn money and learn responsibility by working.

"But that doesn't mean that has to come at the expense of their schoolwork, their extracurricular activities or other things like that, or other responsibilities they have," said Wishman. "And when you lower the penalties that businesses would have for violating the law, you're just going to encourage more violations."

Recent changes to Iowa law allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work up to six hours on a school day, extends working hours for kids to 9 p.m. during the school year, and until 11 p.m. during the summer.

Just nine months into her tenure, Michigan state Rep. Mai Xiong, D-Warren, is ringing in the new year with new legislation. Now on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's desk, Xiong's bill allows public employers to increase contributions to workers' health plans.

A former Macomb County commissioner and the first Hmong American woman to serve in the Michigan House of Representatives, Xiong said she's passionate about helping people live better lives.

"With inflation and rising prices at the grocery store and the gas pump, it's just really hard," she said. "The cost of living has gone up - and so, whatever we can do as a government to help Michiganders, that's something that I want to contribute to doing."

Her bill also requires public employers to cover at least 80% of the total annual costs of the medical benefit plans they offer or contribute to, for their employees and elected public officials.

Xiong also has sponsored and supported legislation related to reproductive health data privacy, maternal care expansion and a resolution honoring Hmong soldiers who fought for the United States in the Vietnam War. Speaking on the House Floor in the Michigan Capitol last summer, she shared how her heritage and education have influenced her.

"My parents fought hard to bring me to this country because they knew how important education was," she said. "It is because of the teachers that I am here today - Miss Nolan, Miss Merriman and so many others - who shaped me into being who I am today."

Xiong started Mai&Co., a clothing business inspired by Hmong traditions, in 2017. She ran it from home while raising four young children, and said that experience helped shape her views on supporting small businesses and economic growth.


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As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, economists are weighing in on how his promised policies might shape what is ahead in 2025.

The economy topped the 2024 election, with gas and food prices a priority for many voters. Now, economists point to tariffs, the stock market, electric vehicles, agriculture and education as key issues for the new year.

Jason Miller, professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, predicted the tariffs Trump has promised will take center stage in 2025. However, he pointed to signs of a positive tailwind.

"Retailers have entered the holidays with inventory sort of in line with demand conditions," Miller pointed out. "November sales for motor vehicles were phenomenally strong for light trucks and SUVs; it was, on a seasonably adjusted basis, the third-highest month of all time."

Miller believes importers will stockpile Chinese goods to avoid tariffs but past tariffs failed to create jobs and instead drove up costs, raising prices for consumers.

Miller projected the first major supply-chain story of 2025 could unfold as early as Jan. 15, involving the International Longshoremen's Association. He noted the East Coast and Gulf port contracts are set to expire, raising the threat of a second round of port strikes.

"We may see port strike, Round 2," Miller observed. "No one is clear yet on how the incoming Trump administration would respond to that. Would they invoke the Taft-Hartley Act to end that strike, or would they let that play out?"

He added they are monitoring the potential for extreme weather events in early 2025, such as the polar vortex back in 2018, which could have a substantial impact on the economy.


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